Judging takes place at Grande Roche Hotel in Paarl. Panels comprising three judges (and an associate judge) with extensive wine competition experience – and including one overseas juror per panel – taste and score the submissions in each class using Riedel glasses.
By means of the 100-point scoring system, they produce a consensus-driven result.
- Gold* = 90 points and over (superlative, world class)
- Silver = 80 to 89 points (excellent, wine of distinction)
- Bronze = 70 to 79 points (good to very good)
*The gold-medal wines in each class go through to the trophy judging where all of the panellists re-assess them from freshly opened bottles.
Tasters with producer interests are not in a position to judge their own wines at the first (medal) stage and their scores are disregarded at the trophy ballot. The competition results are audited by chartered accountants PKF.