A poll of 25 selected wine professionals has put Sadie Family Wines way ahead as South Africa’s top winery. Voters were asked to name their top five wineries and to rank them. With five points given to their No. 1 choice, down to one point for No. 5, the results are as follows:
- Sadie Family Wines (100)
- Alheit Vineyards (53)
- Mullineux (49)
- Kanonkop (31)
- Savage (18)
The last time such a poll was undertaken was in 2018 when Sadie also placed first (see here). Alheit Vineyards has moved from third to second place, Kanonkop has dropped from second to fourth, Mullineux moves up one place from fourth to third and Savage enters the top five for the first time. Boekenhoutskloof is the winery that drops out. There were 37 wineries nominated for a top five place in total.
The poll was instigated by contributor Tim James in 2001 and this is the ninth time that it has been undertaken. Participants werer asked to nominate an additional 15 wineries in alphabetical order, to make up a Top 20 and this list will be published tomorrow but please note this will only be available to subscribers – to sign up, click here.
The voters:
Local
Stephanie Cartwright – sommelier, Marble Hospitality, Johannesburg
Pieter “Kwispedoor” de Klerk – consumer, Johannesburg
Christian Eedes – editor, Winemag.co.za
Matthew Freemantle – owner, Leo’s Wine Bar, Cape Town
Michael Fridjhon – critic, Johannesburg
Higgo Jacobs – sommelier at large, Cape Town
Tim James – wine writer, Cape Town
Angela Lloyd – wine writer, Cape Town
Cathy Marston – WSET educator, Cape Town
Corlien Morris – owner, Wine Menu, Johannesburg
Sinisa Nikolic – owner, Brasserie de Paris, Pretoria
Anzio Obery – manager, Publik Wine Bar, Cape Town
Roland Peens – consultant, Stanford
Francois Rautenbach – general manager, Singita Premier Wine Direct
JP Rossouw – owner, Wine Village, Hermanus
LeRoi van der Vyver – head sommelier, ëlgr restaurant, Cape Town
International
Marc Almert –sommelier, Switzerland
Tim Atkin MW – critic, United Kingdom
Lars Daniels – writer, Netherlands
Job de Swart MW – buyer, Netherlands
Jamie Goode – writer, United Kingdom
Greg Sherwood – buyer, United Kingdom
Alastair Viner – buyer, United Kingdom
Jo Wessels – sommelier, Germany
Maximilian Wilm – sommelier, Germany