African Sun wines, the brand owner for MARA Wines has bagged two medals from the USA Wine Ratings Competition, placing the two winning brands ahead of its peers in terms of quality and class.
Mara Nyeupe won a gold medal from a panel of high-profile wine industry judges. The brand scored highly in three different categories - Quality, Value and Packaging - in order to take home a medal in competition.
Winning a gold medal at the USA Wine Ratings Competition is the ultimate seal of approval, showing that Mara Nyeupe borrowed from the Swahili word for white, is a high-quality wine with broad consumer appeal.
Inspired by Kenya, the Chenin Blanc was selected for its well-balanced acidity and playfulness between floral and ripe tropical fruit flavors. An approachable wine ideally matched to fresh seafood and chicken
At the same time, Mara Nyekundu won a Silver medal from the same competition. This also puts Mara Nyekundu on the global map in terms of quality and broad consumer appeal.
Mara Nyekundu from the Swahili word for red, clinched accolades for its delicious blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon with strong aromas of plums, vanilla and blackcurrants. The fruity wine is an approachable wine ideally suited to the traditional Kenyan Nyama Choma, Asian curries and a good old-fashioned steak.
One of the guiding principles of the USA Wine Ratings competition is that all wines that receive medals in competition should be those that consumers actually want to buy, whether it is shopping for a wine at a retail wine store, or ordering a wine off a restaurant wine list.
As a result, the USA Wine Ratings competition has created an entirely new 100-point rating system that takes into account three different criteria (Quality, Value and Packaging) rather than just winemaking technique or overall taste.
African Sun Wines which is a leading exporter of South African wine to growing international markets worldwide were really excited to have the two products, Mara Nyeupe and Mara Nyekundu score so highly on the various factors that determine the drinkability of a wine.
This attesting to the company’s utmost dedication to quality by putting a lot of emphasis on creating a wine with broad consumer appeal, and one that wine drinkers will enjoy for a variety of different occasions. This award is really a validation of its winemaking expertise.
Sid Patel, CEO and Founder of Beverage Trade Network, emphasized the importance of finding wines that score highly across all three categories rather than just one, “We feel that it offers a broad, comprehensive approach to evaluating wines the same way that consumers and trade buyers do.”
“Increasingly, consumers are thinking of wines as brands, just like they would any other product they find in a supermarket,” said Patel. “That’s why it was so important to include Packaging & Presentation as a key judging criterion - it means that the wine is being created with a specific type of customer or demographic in mind.”
The judging panel included wine industry professionals with commercial buying expertise, master sommeliers and masters of wine. The inclusion of so many high-profile judges ensured that wines awarded medals in competition were those with a high degree of commercial appeal.
About African Sun
African Sun Wines is the brand owner for MARA Wines and is a leading exporter of South African wine to growing international markets worldwide.
The company was founded in 2006 by the Sahi family.
A key feature of this product is that the beads that decorate the bottles are a means to provide groups of women with empowerment opportunities to create their own business so that they can produce and sell the beads to us and learn lost artisanal skills.
About USA Wine Ratings
The 4th Annual USA Wine Ratings competition took place in San Francisco this July. Winners were evaluated based on three separate criteria - Quality, Value and Packaging - and assigned a score out of 100 possible points.
The organizer of the event is Beverage Trade Network (BTN), which also hosts industry events around the world and owns media assets and platforms to connect the drinks industry globally.
