Aspiring Top Drop Awards 2026: Call for entries

Entries for the inaugural Top Drop Awards sponsored by courier company Aspiring are now open. To be eligible, a wine must retail for R120 a bottle or less, either at the producer’s cellar door or through a major retailer such as Checkers, Pick n Pay, Makro, TOPS at SPAR or Woolworths.

How results will be communicated

On the website, we balance quality (points) and value. To achieve this, we publish both 100-point scores and a derived value score.

Value Score = Quality Points × (Reference Price / Wine Price)

The higher the quality and the lower the price relative to the reference, the higher the value score.

In-store, we simplify to a single consumer cue. All wines at R120 or under that meet the selection threshold receive the same badge. The aim is clarity: one mark of approval signalling quality, affordability and trust, without score comparison or visual clutter.

Judges

Awards chairman is Winemag.co.za editor Christian Eedes. Judges are:

Robin Kenny, DipWSET
Malu Lambert, wine writer
Francois Rautenbach, hospitality and wine specialist
Lauren Segers, Brice & Burnett
Suné van der Merwe, wine consultant
Tarryn Vincent, Reciprocal Wine Company

Enter now

Entries close on Wednesday 29 July. For the rules and entry form, click here.

Prizes

The producer of the best wine overall in each of the respective categories wins shipping services worth R5 000 from Aspiring Couriers.