Bennie Howard of the Institute of Cape Wine Masters; Mary-Lou Nash, winner of the 2011 Van Ryn’s Award for Brandy Excellence; and Shelley Ellse, Van Ryn’s SA brand manager.

Self-taught winemaker wins Van Ryn's award for Brandy excellence

LIQUOR NEWS

May 9th 2011, 08:56

Newly graduated Cape Wine Master (CMW) Mary-Lou Nash is the 2011 winner of the Van Ryn’s Award for Brandy Excellence, achieving the highest score in the section of the Cape Wine Academy’s Cape Wine Masters’ examination, devoted to brandy. 

Nash is the co-owner, winemaker, viticulturist, tractor driver, marketer, and general "Jill of all trades" at Black Pearl Wines. She received a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, with a major in anthropology from the University of New Hampshire in 1989, and then taught English in Japan for two years before going on a three-year world tour.

She finally joined her father in 1995 on his farm, Rhenosterkop in Agter Paarl, where she began to cultivate and develop her interest in wine and winemaking.

Teaching herself entirely, she planted 4,5 hectares of Shiraz in 1997 and 3 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon in 1998, learning the craft through trial and error and establishing her family-run boutique cellar in 2001. Much of what she makes is exported to the US.

The brandy module, added to the course in 2006, comprises a written and a tasting test involving brandies from round the world. Says Cape Wine Academy principal, Marilyn Cooper: “To win the Award for Brandy Excellence one must have an exceptional conversancy with brandy, both as a taster and in one’s theoretical knowledge. It requires not only dedicated study but passion, and genuine interest. As a self-taught winemaker, these are qualities Mary-Lou undoubtedly possesses and has had an opportunity to flaunt in this course.

“It is essential for Cape Wine Masters to become experienced brandy tasters in their role as ambassadors for the entire wine industry; an industry which includes and embraces spirits made from grapes. South African brandies are of exceptionally high quality, with the title of best brandy in the world awarded locally no fewer than nine times over the past 12 years. The brandy segment of the examination enables CMW candidates to acquaint themselves with such excellence.”

Van Ryn’s, which sponsors the CWM brandy award, has won the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s title for Worldwide Best Brandy three times and the Best Brandy trophy on the International Spirits Challenge, twice.

Former winners of the Van Ryn’s Award for Brandy Excellence, are Sarah Newton, a senior environmental chemist with an honours degree in Applied Chemistry from the University of the Witwatersrand; Dr Duane Blaauw, a medical doctor, public health specialist and health systems researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand; Dr Winifred Bowman, who holds a PhD in education; Dr Andy Roediger, a PhD in chemistry and a polymer scientist based at the Institute for Polymer Science at the University of Stellenbosch; and journalist Hymli Krige.

The Van Ryn’s Collection Reserve range is crafted at the Van Ryn’s Distillery along the banks of the Eerste River in the Vlottenburg Valley on the outskirts of Stellenbosch.