The Wine Show “Taste Team” are 6 wine lovers drawn from the members of our and are all visitors to the Show. They’ve been selected to taste and rate wines from the Show every month as a fun service to all our visitors. Most have no formal wine training, but know what they like and want to tell you all about the goodies!

Robyn Saul

30 yr old costume and dress-up fan Robyn caught our attention when telling us about her last glass of wine: “Come Hither” beckons the Odd Bins 269, as she drags you, far from unwilling, into her dark velvety boudoir. Who doesn’t want a glass of that!

Having all 5 senses (touch, taste, sight, sound and smell) and her own opinion, she was perfectly qualified to join the Taste Team and we’re delighted to have her onboard! Robyn also comes with exciting Karate-Chop Action (Jitsu, actually).

Pieter de Klerk

Pieter’s association with The Wine Show has been a fruitful one. He won a coveted place in The Whole Nine Yards vintage tasting at this years Show (worth R9,000!) and was very persuasive with his Taste Team application.

Pieter, 38, is something of a wine fanatic. He completed 2 Cape Wine Academy courses whilst still at varsity (but neglected to mention which degree he attained), has won the Pretoria Wine Taster of the Year Award each time he entered it (twice), Wine magazine has published 3 of his letters, and he co-chairs a local wine club called “The Noble Rotters”. He also appears to be a hit with the ladies.

David Porter

David’s a 26 yr old Management Consultant (with one of the biggies). Whilst he hasn’t had any formal wine training, he’s had a thesis published : “The Placebo effect in Wine Marketing”. In order to complete this arduous work, David had to host many wine tastings, both sighted and unsighted (we assume he means the bottles…) where he had to explain the art to less experienced wine tasters. We’re sure we’ve bumped into him in the kitchen many times, usually berating the hopelessly drunk lady with ice in her white.

Formal studies completed, David remains dedicated to research and told us “I have 4 house-mates, 2 guys & 2 girls (Aha ) and we host our own blind tasting events”. At the last one guests brought a bottle of red for under R50, which he says “was a fantastic way to identify a wine that’s value for money”. Well, if the Management Consultants aren’t watching the wallet, who will?

Ellen Crabtree

Ellen hails from chilly, but bonnie, Scotland but recently relocated to SA to run a Community Care Centre for people living with HIV in Hillbrow. When not caring for those in need, Ellen cares for good food and wine.

Having secured the WSET intermediate and advanced certificates (UK Wine & Spirit Education Trust) with distinction, she went onto win an essay competition for a piece she called "Tasting by numbers". The prize was GBP1,000 to spend on a trip to any wine region of her choice. Ellen chose South Africa... and the rest is history!

Gail

Gail Cameron is one of the newer and youngest members of our taste team and is quite a newbie when it comes to the more analytical side of wine. She fell in love with it during her university years at UCT, but now, as a working girl Jozi and with a bit more time on her hands, she is gaining more experience and is gaining an appreciation for the substance, getting close to her goal of 'Connoisseur'. Ultimately she'd like to travel the world as "Wine Taster Extraordinaire"!

For now though she's happy to be young and carefree, judging each bottle by its label and worrying about why red wine causes purple teeth.

Etienne Bester

When not building cars in Pretoria North, Etienne photographs, swims, cycles and lollops his way through life. He fell in love with wine after a friend convinced him to attend the Jo'burg wine show by telling him "Here's a ticket. It's free booze. I'm driving". He has been falling ever since.
Years later, and somewhat disappointed that the booze is no longer free, he still knows nothing about wine except that it is made from grapes in a process that involves people jumping up and down in barrels. He is trying his not so level best to maintain his ignorance for fear of ruining his unique tasting style, which as often as not requires a bib, a dictionary and a bottle of aspirin.