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Along with the 86 points and the Best Buy rating Santa Rita 120 Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 received the following review:

”This perennial Best Buy shines in 2005. It’s clean, inviting and ready to go as piercing cherry, plum and cola flavours make a stand. Flush, warm and fairly full bodied, 120 is one of those bargain lines that satisfies.”

Wine Enthusiast Magazine has grown to become one of the world’s most respected and quoted publications in the field of wine and spirits. Since its founding in 1988 it has remained true to its original mission: to educate and entertain readers in the most accessible and user-friendly way, as part of an active, upscale and fulfilling lifestyle.

The magazine is an important source of ratings and reviews of both wine and spirits currently available in the marketplace, vital to both consumers and to the trade. The magazine’s distinguished tasting panel includes professionals with years of tasting experience, located across the globe in major wine producing areas of the world.

As Santa Rita states:
"It is a fact. A memorable moment. Cecilia Torres is “Winemaker of the Year” in Chile. The decision was made known on Wednesday night, November 15th, during the launching of Guía de Vinos de Chile 2007 (Chile's Wine Guide 2007), in which a group of 88 judges – composed of winemakers, sommeliers, wine industry journalists and consumers - designated the winemaker of Viña Santa Rita as the best in the country.

The excitement and happiness experienced by the Santa Rita team is doubly so since not only did it achieve the prestigious award as “winemaker of the year”, but in addition, for the first time, it was awarded to a woman, setting a milestone within the industry.

Santa Rita’s winemaker was given round after round of applause for the consistent quality and personality of her wines, all of which obtained an average of 3.2 glasses out of a maximum of 4; and with 46% of them ranked among the top 100.

Cecilia Torres went forward four times to receive awards. Medalla Real Chardonnay 2005, Best Chilean Chardonnay; Floresta Syrah 2004, Best Chilean Syrah; Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon – Syrah 2004, Bronze Medal; and, of course, to receive the award for Winemaker of the Year.

The Guía de Vinos describes her as “someone loved by all who has an audacious character masked behind her gentleness. Her boldness is perfectly portrayed in her wines, that have silently set trend after trend and today, she is widely regarded as a world class winemaker”.

"This award caught me at one of the best personal moments of my life. This is recognition not only of my work, but of the effort of the entire team. We are a very tight knit group and that is portrayed in the work we do at Santa Rita", stated the winemaker as she received a round of affectionate hugs.

A lifetime dedicated to wine. Cecilia Torres began working in the wine industry for Santa Rita in 1980 and since then, she has already received dozens of awards, making her, without a doubt, one of the most important people in Chilean viticultural history.

This award is unquestionably an outstanding recognition for a professional with a tremendous trajectory as well as an excellent result for Santa Rita who continues to set the trend from year to year."

As part of the Distell goal to become a leading international player, more than meet customer requirements and comply with legislation where they trade, they continually benchmark themselves against international standards and seek accreditation and certification that endorses their practices as world-class.

We are very proud to tell you that all Distell’s primary and secondary production units, as well as their distribution operations have been awarded an extension in ISO 9001:2000 certification till November 2008. Originally certified in November 2002, the extended certification is, they believe, a mark of their company’s capacity to work to internationally recognised quality and resource management systems. It also recognises their pursuit of even higher standards against which they measure their performance across all areas of their business and the premium they place on food safety.

Their Main Laboratory in Stellenbosch has been accredited to ISO 17025 since June 2003 hereby guaranteeing the high quality of analysis.

To date, seven of Distell´s sites - including Nederburg - have obtained British Retail Consortium (BRC), Food Global version 4 at level A certification (level A is the highest achievable level.

The site Adam Tas also has a listing for International Food Standard (IFS); the preferred requirement by some European customers. This has been attained at version 4 level. Distell has found that the controls implemented to achieve the IFS listing have been so beneficial to their operations that they are now implementing these in the vineyards from which they source their grapes to ensure environmentally sensitive spray programmes are responsibly applied and recorded.

Distell is also in the process of preparing their wineries to the latest version of the ISO 14001:2004 standard for environmental management. To date two of Distell´s sites have been certified – one of them is the Nederburg cellars - which is of course also ISO 9001:2000 and BRC certified.

Niel Bester was born and grew up amongst the vineyards of Durbanville, a mere 40 km from Cape Town in South Africa. It was here he developed a love and passion for grape growing and winemaking. In 1978, Niel matriculated at Durbanville High School and immediately did a two year stint in the South African Navy as a medical assistant. He then enrolled for a degree in Agriculture at the University of Stellenbosch, where in 1984 he obtained his B.Sc. Agriculture degree, majoring in Oenology and Viticulture. In 2001 and 2002 he enrolled at University of Stellenbosch Business School and completed the Program in Wine Management successfully.

Niel worked at a few cellars in the Stellenbosch area before he started to work for Stellenbosch Farmer’s Winery. In 1990 he was transferred to Nederburg wines in Paarl as red winemaker and soon after that he was offered the opportunity to become involved with Plaisir de Merle Cellar. This included the design of the cellar and equipment as well as appointing and training his small staff complement.

In 1992 Niel spent a harvest season at Chateaux Margaux under the guidance of Wine Director, Paul Pontallier, before returning to Plaisir de Merle for the maiden 1993 vintage. He has since completed 14 vintages at Plaisir de Merle, reaping awards and medals for many of his wines along the way. Recently a Shiraz and a red blend (Grand Plaisir) were introduced to his range of wines, setting new challenges for Niel and his team. “There are always opportunities to improve on quality; there is no time to become complacent with what you have achieved” With this motto Niel strives to continue the standard that was set from the start with the Plaisir de Merle wines. In his efforts to do so he has undertaken various study tours to Australia, California, France, New Zeeland and Washington State.

You have the chance to meet Niel Bester as follows:

Monday the 4th September 2006 at 20h00 Niel Bester will do a commented tasting in Dreisler Storkøb, Otto Mønstedsvej 1, 9200 Aalborg SV, Denmark. A limited amount of tickets are available by contacting Dreisler Storkøb on phone: +45 96 34 64 00.

Tuesday the 5th September 2006 Niel Bester will visit the ISO wine tasting in Øksnehallen, Halmtorvet 11, 1700 København V, Denmark. The wine tasting for consumers will take place from 19h00-22h00 and in this period of time you can meet Niel Bester at the cult bar serving Plaisir de Merle Grand Plaisir. Besides from that Niel Bester will do a little speech from 19h45-20h00 and again from 20h30-20h45. A limited amount of tickets are available by contacting your local ISO shop ( for further details please visit www.iso.dk ).

Wednesday the 6th September 2006 Niel Bester will visit AMKA, Vilnius, Lithuania, where he will do a closed wine tasting for invited guests only at the restaurant IDA BASAR, Subaciaus Str.3, Vilnius, at 18h00.