Introduced to wine at a young age, through a thimbleful of sweet muscadel with Sunday lunch, Winnie’s immersion in the fruit of the vine deepened during her student days at Stellenbosch University and later through frequent travels to international winegrowing areas, and widened to include brandy and husk spirit.

A qualified physiotherapist and biomedical scientist, and holder of a PhD in Education, she is a Cape Wine Master, and regular judge at several local and international wine and spirit competitions.

Winnie also loves books, opera, travel and long dinner parties.

A Johannesburg company-sponsored informal winetasting group was the catalyst for architect Greg progressing from a ‘beer swiller’ in 1990 to a Cape Wine Academy student and, ten years later, one of the select few Cape Wine Masters.

With the immersion in wine came a pining for the Cape winelands and, in 1999, Greg accepted a commission to build and launch a wine estate in Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. He has since been a specialist consultant in winery and production process design, mentoring both architecture and CWM students in related thesis topics.

He has judged on a wide range of tasting panels, lectured for the CWA and contributed to several wine-industry publications. This is his 13th edition with the Platter’s team.

Tim, a Cape Wine Master, is an established and multiple award-winning winewriter, contributing freelance to local and international publications and websites, most frequently nowadays to Winemag.co.za but also a regular column to the London-based World of Fine Wine magazine.

He is also SA consultant to the World Atlas of Wine. Tim’s book, Wines of the New South Africa: Tradition and Revolution, was published in 2013.

He has been a taster (and associate editor) for this guide for many years.

Malu fell in love with wine while working as a waiter to pay for her studies, and the allure of the vine has since drawn her into a many-sided career, notably as a writer and judge.

Winner of the Veritas Young Wine Writer 2015 and Louis Roederer International Emerging Wine Writer 2019 awards, Malu contributes to numerous local titles and has written internationally on South African wine for Jancis Robinson, The Buyer and Decanter. The avowed wine-geek is a graduate of the Wine Judging Academy and currently enrolled in the WSET Level 4 Diploma programme.

She has served on various competition juries, and recently joined the Wine-of-the-Month selection panel. Away from wine, Malu runs Fable, a story-telling, social media and copywriting company, and occasionally helps her husband in their craft spirit distillery in Cape Town.

Since she arrived in South Africa in 1970, Angela has had a multifaceted involvement with wine.

It began as an amateur interest stimulated by her husband, Mark, and the Wine Tasters’ Guild of which he was a member. Her professional career began with running a wine centre in 1983; since 1985, she’s been a freelance wine-writer and -judge, receiving innumerable commissions both locally and abroad.

Her love of travel has seen her visit the world’s winelands, increasing her fascination for wine of every type. The privilege of being a member of Platter's tasting team for 36 years has opened doors on the many innovative, quality local wines.

Following an English degree at Cambridge University, Cathy fully intended to go into theatre production but travelled the world instead, gaining her both a husband and a love of wine.

After working at Adnams Wine Merchants in Suffolk, UK, where she earned the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 4 Diploma, she ended up in Cape Town, owning and running The Nose Restaurant & Wine Bar for several years.

Selling this in 2009 left her free to concentrate on writing, judging and, increasingly, teaching WSET courses. She went on to become the first WSET Approved Programme Provider in Africa and, in 2015, WSET Educator of the Year.

Her teaching has since taken her to locations such as Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Mauritius and the Maldives. Cathy continues studying and is currently a Stage 2 Master of Wine (MW) student.

Travel is said to broaden the mind, and Fiona, former editor of Wine magazine for eight years, has had her wine mind broadened by having been a long-serving jury president of several international wine competitions: International Wine Challenge, International Wine & Spirit Competition, Concours Mondial de Bruxelles and, now, Decanter World Wine Awards’ regional panel chair for South Africa.

Initially trained as a news journalist, she got into wine by happy accident, helping to organise The Mercury Wine Week in between reportage and newsroom management as the night news editor on that Durban broadsheet.

Currently freelancing, Fiona edits Cheers magazine, and contributes to a range of publications and websites.

Born in Honde Valley on Zimbabwe’s eastern highlands, Greg was raised near the capital, Harare, in Chitungwiza town.

A blind date with the vine almost two decades ago, as assistant at Mukuyu, one of the handful of local wineries, has developed into an enduring relationship spanning many levels – heading the awarded wine programme at Cape Town’s 12 Apostles Hotel for many years, serving as juror and panellist at competitions and professional tastings, mentoring world-class sommeliers, and reaching out to wine newcomers interested in furthering their knowledge.

Holder of multiple qualifications and accreditations, Gumbi – his clan name – has ‘plenty of wine experiences to share’ and he happily does so with clients of his newest venture, providing curated tours of wine country.

Zambia-born Christine’s love affair with wine started when she joined the then Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery after a Johannesburg FMCG marketing career.

Enrolling in the Cape Wine Academy, she achieved her Cape Wine Master qualification in 1986, then chaired the Institute of CWMs for nine years. She left SFW to run the CWA and, since her retirement in 2002, has been occupied with consultancy work, wine-judging, -lecturing and -writing.

Christine has a wine column in Die Burger newspaper, writes freelance for other publications, and has published two editions of A Guide to the Winelands of the Cape.

She provides technical assistance to the Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards, travels widely, and has done tastings and wine training on various luxury liners.

Christine serves as judge and chair on local and international juries, and has been a taster for this guide since the 2003 edition.

Penny is a sommelier and wine consultant who has just opened her own wine bar, Penny Noire, in Cape Town’s Heritage Square (serendipitously, home to the oldest wine-producing vine in South Africa, planted ca 1770).

Boundlessly passionate about wine, Penny is furthering her education with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 4 Diploma.

She has been a judge on various tasting panels. Penny is also a prominent promoter of women in wine.

A taster for this guide for over two decades, Dave has consulted to restaurants, game lodges and convention centres, taught wine courses and contributed to radio, print and other media.

He is co-author of One Hundred Wines – An Insider’s Guide to South African Wine, and drinks contributor to Posh Nosh.

A long-standing member of the International Wine & Food Society and the South African consultant for its Annual Vintage Chart, Dave is currently cellarmaster of the Cape Town branch.

A psychiatrist by day, he’s intrigued by language in general, and the lexicon of wine in particular.

Cathy started her wine journey on a bicycle: she asked her husband to ride SA’s famed Cape Town Cycle Tour with her; he accepted if she attended a wine course with him.

She has since notched up more than 21 tours - and passed the prestigious Master of Wine examination in 2005. Previously chair of the Institute of Masters of Wine’s education committee, she is now a member of the IMW’s council

Cathy judges locally and internationally, occasionally contributes to wine journals and websites around the world, but spends most of her wine-time as associate editor of this guide.

In 2019, she was named Institute of Cape Wine Masters' Personality of the Year for her passionate promotion of SA wine.

Bacchus and the Cape winelands lured Meryl away from her Gauteng legal career more than 30 years ago.

She remains happily under their spell, having qualified as a Cape Wine Master and graduated with distinction from the Wine Judging Academy. She has conducted wine presentations abroad on behalf of Wines of South Africa, lectures for the Cape Wine Academy and judges for various wine competitions.

Meryl has been associated with this guide for over 20 years, initially as wine coordinator and, since 2007, taster and copywriter.

Food and travel, especially to wine-making countries and destinations around Africa, continue to inspire her. Though constrained by Covid-19, the acquisition of a camper van has ensured that further journeys of discovery are firmly on the agenda.