Winners of the 2022 Lumo Awards for wines and spirits

Black Horse was awarded a Gold medal for their Kolibrie & Passieblom Gin.

Empowerment of women takes many forms. The announcement of the Lumo Awards Woman Winemaker of the Year and Woman Distiller of the Year recognises female proficiency in winemaking and distilling. But as the male winners of the Cap Classique and Red Wine of the Year show, the Awards are not exclusive.

Women make up a significant percentage of wine and spirit buyers, yet surprisingly few marketing drives target them specifically. The Lumo Awards aims to rectify the oversight, being the only competition in South Africa solely judged by women. The goal is to recommend wines and spirits to try (and buy) – as well as to recognise the women behind the labels and barrels. It also provides another instrument for the wine and spirit marketer’s toolkit.

Held at the historic and luxurious Lanzerac Estate in late July, the Lumo awards is a rebranding of the SA Women’s Wine and Spirit Award, and the 2022 event was the seventh time it was convened. 

Specialist panels for both wine, spirits and liqueurs tasted a host of samples in Spiegelau Expert Tasting glasses, designed and manufactured specifically for skilled assessment. The goal was to ensure that the double-blind tasting found the best examples entered. The calibre of the trophy winners bears out the validity of this methodology.

2022 marked impressive growth – yet again – in the number of spirits entered into the LUMO Awards.

As befits its consumer popularity, gin dominated the numbers but the diversity pleased the judges, particularly in the ‘new styles’ and ‘London Dry’ segments. The use of herbs and botanicals was notable as was the emphasis on bold citrus for some entrants. Carla appreciated the variety overall while Caroline and Anriënka felt the traditional London Dry samples performed best since it allowed the juniper to shine.

For enquiries, visit the website at https://www.lumoawards.com/, or email Sanet van Heerden at general@lumoawards.com.