By Kelly Manuel.
KWV has been named Best Producer at the SA Young Wine Show for the second consecutive year, securing the prestigious Pietman Hugo Trophy alongside three national SA Champion trophies.
The Pietman Hugo Trophy is awarded to the producer achieving the highest combined score for its five best entries. The 2026 win marks KWV’s third Pietman Hugo Trophy overall, following victories in 2015 and 2025.
KWV received three national trophies:
- John McDonald Trophy – SA Champion Sauvignon Blanc: KWV Sauvignon Blanc (wooded)
- Vine Products Trophy – SA Champion Red Blend: KWV Petit Verdot/Pinotage/Carignan (wooded)
- Stephan Smit Trophy – SA Champion Other Red Cultivar: KWV Petit Verdot (wooded)
KWV was also named Class Winner in the unwooded Chenin Blanc category, bringing its overall tally to five class wins, nine gold medals and 26 silver medals.
Significantly, KWV has retained national champion status in two categories it won in 2025: Sauvignon Blanc and Red Blend. The result strengthens a run of performance across consecutive vintages, while the SA Champion Petit Verdot adds another national red-wine title.
“Winning the Pietman Hugo Trophy in consecutive years is particularly meaningful because it is based on performance across a number of wines, rather than a single standout result,” says KWV Chief Winemaker Justin Corrans. “The 2025 and 2026 vintages presented very different conditions, so to achieve this level of consistency speaks to the strength of our vineyards, the quality of the fruit we work with and, above all, the discipline of the teams across viticulture and winemaking.”
Dating back to 1833, the SA Young Wine Show is one of the world’s oldest wine competitions and provides an important early benchmark of each new South African vintage. Wines are judged while still young, before most have completed maturation or reached the market.
The 2026 judging brought together 14 panels and 88 judges across 17 competing categories. The results follow a highly variable and technically demanding harvest season which nevertheless delivered promising quality, with good flavour concentration and balance as well as strong colour development in red wines.
KWV’s red-wine results were particularly notable. Petit Verdot achieved the Stephan Smit Trophy as a varietal wine while also forming part of the Petit Verdot, Pinotage and Carignan blend named SA Champion Red Blend.
KWV’s Senior Winemaker Red Wine, Izele van Blerk, who received the awards on behalf of KWV, says the breadth of the results made the achievement especially rewarding.
“To see our Reds return as national champions, shows that the quality runs across different varieties and styles. It is a wonderful result for the entire KWV team and an exciting early indication of what the 2026 vintage has to offer,” says Izele.
Similarly, KWV Winemaker White White, Kobus van der Merwe highlights the significance of retaining the SA Champion Sauvignon Blanc title:
“The back-to-back Sauvignon Blanc win is especially rewarding, particularly in a vintage that required careful decisions in both the vineyard and cellar to preserve freshness, balance and varietal expression. To see Sauvignon Blanc recognised nationally again, alongside a class win for our unwooded Chenin Blanc, is a strong endorsement of the quality and precision we are seeing in the 2026 whites.”
The latest results add to a sustained record at the Young Wine Show for KWV, with its third Pietman Hugo Trophy in 11 years and consecutive Best Producer titles in 2025 and 2026.