For a chance to shine at this prestigious annual contest, winemakers should submit their top achievers no later than 12 August. At an additional cost and by special arrangement late entries will be received up until 21 August.

These wines will fall under the scrutiny of a team of specialist judging panels from 31 August to 4 September at the Nederburg Auction Complex. A strict set of international guidelines are used to evaluate these wines.

The winning wines will be crowned at a gala dinner at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) on 10 October 2009. Now in its 19th year, the Veritas Awards has been presented by the South African National Wine Show Association (SANW) in the interests of promoting the wine industry and acknowledging superior quality and consistent excellence. Wines vie for the honour of double gold, gold, silver and bronze status and each year sees the competition becoming fiercer.

As the 350th anniversary of the South African wine industry is celebrated this year, the management and board of Veritas have issued wine producers with a special challenge. The aim is to have at least 350 participants at Veritas this year and to get 2 500 wines submitted for this, SA’s oldest and biggest wine competition. As an incentive to achieve this goal, Veritas will refund all participants R100 per wine entered if both targets are met. Let’s make this a bumper crop!

The 2009 Veritas entry form and catalogue are available online at www.veritas.co.za and at the offices of the SA National Wine Show Society (SANW). For more information contact Elsabé Ferreira on tel (021) 807 3104, fax (021) 863 2079 or e-mail patricia@veritas.co.za