Michelangelo International Wine & Spitits Awards
The Michelangelo International Wine & Spitits Awards are unique in South Africa in that only internationally accredited wine judges serve on the judging panels. Over the past 16 years, more than 160 experts from over 36 different countries have served on Michelangelo's judging panels. The judges are carefully selected from around the world for their international experience, judgement skills and credibility and include representatives from across the industry such as oenologists, wine buyers, sommeliers and wine journalists. Over the years, this has ensured good publicity for the award-winning wines worldwide, with articles about Michelangelo's winners appearing every year in the electronic media and international consumer magazines as far afield as Northern Europe, South America, Japan and India. Owner and director of the company, Lorraine Immelmann, founded the company in 1997. She recognised the need for South African wines to be judged by international experts and wine industry professionals in South Africa - the Michelangelo International Wine Awards were born, with the main focus being on annually identifying wines that could position themselves well on the world markets. As a result, Michelangelo has served local producers as a guideline for their exports for years.