De Wet Viljoen, Vice Chairman Veritas, Janine van Zyl CWM and winner of the New Wine Writer Competition and Johannes Richter, Journalist, WineLand Media
The country’s Best New Wine Writer for 2026 is Janine van Zyl, a Cape Wine Master (CWM) and prominent wine industry personality, who submitted both the overall winning article and winning blog for the New SA Wine Writer of the Year Competition – a first double triumph in the history of the competition.
The eminently versatile Janine is also a qualified chef and sommelier, serving as the International Account Manager at FirstPour, a worldwide social media agency for wine and spirits. Based in Klapmuts, she also serves as the Account Manager for the International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC) managing Africa, New Zealand and Australia and as Sales and Advertising Manager for Club Oenologique, working with premium wine and spirits brands globally. She also does freelance consulting in the wine and spirits industry and sits on a number of wine judging panels.
She received R15 000 for her winning article, and R5 000 for the best blog entered, while Jo Muller, Marketing and Communications Manager at Saxenburg Wine Estate, Stellenbosch, earned R5 000 as runner-up for her article.
The results of the 14th year of the competition for writers 35 years old or younger were announced during a function at the SA National Wine Show Association (SANWSA) office at the Simonsvlei Wines Business Hub outside Paarl.
The two winners are poised to join the established, 84-strong wine and wine industry writing and blogging corps in South Africa. The goal idea is to add their young voices to this dynamic and diversified field, as listed in the latest edition of Wineland Media’s SA Wine Industry Directory.
The organisers, SANWSA, is a fully representative wine industry organisation that runs the Veritas Awards, SA Young Wine Show and SA Terroir Wine Awards, which aim to identify new word-wise talent in the wine industry.
The competition was judged in two categories, one for wine-related magazine print articles and the other for web blogs, dealing with one of five prescribed subjects.
Janine van Zyl’s overall winning entry dealt with the topic “Who will drink South African wine tomorrow?” and stated, “Tomorrow’s wine drinker is already here, standing at the braai with a can in one hand and a phone in the other … South African wine still has time to join the occasion, although it may need to loosen its collar first. At the braai, there is room in the cooler box. The bottle that earns it will be good, fairly priced and easy to place in the afternoon unfolding around it.”
Her winning blog dealt with “Ice in the Chenin and other South African wine crimes” and recommended, “Keep the wine cool, the glass clean and the company good, the rest can look after itself.” This, despite defying old wine standards, for instance, by pouring Cap Classique in an ordinary wine glass.
The runner-up article by Jo Muller from Somerset-West under the heading “The Portrait of a South African Winemaker: What does the future hold for winemakers beyond the cellar door?” stated, “Not every winemaker needs to be a storyteller, artist and conservationist all at once, but the cellar door is no longer the edge of the job. The winemaker who brings more than technical skill to a crowded room is the one people remember.”
The 2026 judging panel comprised seasoned wine journalists Wanda Augustyn, Cassie du Plessis, Joanne Gibson, Danie Keet, Neil Pendock and Maryke Roberts, who agreed that the 2026 entries displayed strong, creative writing and excellent observation with good understanding of the younger South African wine consumer. Intelligent and reader-friendly use of sources and arguments.
The editor of WineLand Media, Wanda Augustyn, said what stood out for her this year was the freshness and confidence of the new voices – clever and well-researched, yet readily readable, relevant and genuinely South African. “Exactly the type of new thinking we want to discover and develop.”
SANWSA chairperson Christo Pienaar added, “We are excited to see the enthusiasm in this competition from numerous new writers to relate the many interesting stories and join the debate about our industry, while speaking to the next generation of consumers and wine lovers.”
As the competition’s media partner, WineLand Media, will publish the winning articles and blogs. At the same time, Veritas will continue collaborating with the Departments of Journalism at the University of Stellenbosch, the University of Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology to encourage their students to write about wine.
ENDS
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