Editorial: Revisiting the blind tasting era in SA fine wine
By Christian Eedes, 7 May 2025
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Back in the 2000s, when old media (i.e. ink on paper) was in its pomp and the fine wine sector of the South African fine wine industry was trying to find its way, if, as a producer, you wanted your wine to be taken seriously, you had to submit it to the rigour of a blind tasting.
No name, no label, no reputation to prop it up – just the wine, stripped of context and left to speak for itself. That was the great leveller, the crucible in which pretenders were found out and those that were the real deal emerged.
These days, though, many of South Africa’s most acclaimed producers – particularly in the rarefied air of top-end Chenin Blanc and Syrah – no longer feel compelled to play that game. And why would they? They already dominate the opinion polls, their reputations hyped constantly by critics, international and national.
But it raises the question: Are we letting the elites coast?
It’s not necessarily about integrity – no one doubts the commitment of, say, Chris Alheit or David and Nadia Sadie to their craft when it comes to Chenin; or Reenen Borman when it comes to Syrah. Their wines have become benchmarks precisely because of the obsession to detail, lavished from vineyard to bottle.
But if these wines are now assessed sighted, with the name on the bottle and all its brand allure in full view, how do we guard against unconscious bias? Even the most fastidious critic is human. The whisper of a name like “Magnetic North” or “Epilogue” carries with it an aura that’s hard to entirely block out.
There’s a case to be made, of course, that these producers have earned the benefit of the doubt. Reputation, after all, is not an accident – it’s forged over years, through consistent quality, often in the face of adverse conditions and stubborn scepticism.
South Africa’s top producers have done more than just make good wine; they’ve raised the bar for everyone. Alheit’s Cartology helped rehabilitate what role old-vine Chenin could play in a top-end blend. Sadie made single-vineyard Chenin not only viable but aspirational – Skurfberg, Mev. Kirsten. Mullineux, Rall, Van Loggerenberg – each in their way has pushed the envelope, and their success has forced the big guys to lift their game.
And yet, as soon as the tasting is sighted, most of the producers that score big still come from the usual suspects – small, hands-on outfits with a penchant for old vines and minimal intervention (this website guilty as charged).
I’m not sure how to feel about this. Do we see the gap between boutique brilliance and big-brand adequacy narrowing? Top-tier Chenin from legacy producers like Nederburg, Spier, or Kleine Zalze perform spectacularly well in blind tastings. But there is still the assumption that small equals superior. There seems an inherent reluctance among both trade and punters to let the best of big match the pinnacle of boutique…
Which brings us back to the original point: If we no longer demand blind tasting from the top guns, what happens to impartiality? Should the gatekeepers of critical acclaim be more militant about it?
Maybe. But maybe not. The landscape has changed. It could be argued that the producers at the top are there not because of blind tasting, but because they’ve built reputations that endure even outside it. And with the playing field tightening, with big players stepping up and new names emerging all the time, resting on laurels isn’t really an option – even for the elite.
Moreover, sighted tasting demands more rigour, not less. Transparency around process, critical self-awareness, and a willingness to call out even the revered when they falter – these are essential if credibility is to be maintained. SA wine needs champions, yes, but it needs honest ones.
Chenin Blanc and Syrah, more than any other varieties, has been the launching pad for South Africa’s wine renaissance. It’s appropriate, then, that the debate about fairness, rigour, and recognition finds its sharpest focus around these two varieties. Whether blind or sighted, what matters most is that we don’t forget what got us here in the first place: a relentless pursuit of quality, and a refusal to settle for anything less.
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Jenna | 8 May 2025
just an example of exactly what the article is getting at: Malie Mcgregor presented a tasting to our old tasting group wherein she had us (wine judges, winemakers, wine buyers and cape wine academy graduates) score numerous wines blind in a random order. She then re-poured all of the wines SIGHTED in a different order. Quite surprisingly, my scores were very similar, differing no more than 1-2 points, for all but one wine. This particular label was my highest scoring wine when tasted blind but my lowest scoring wine when sighted because I did not have a good experience while tasting at the farm and it left a bad impression of the wine label, said farm also has a few ethics I clash with (morally), albeit a beautiful wine. This was a big slice of humble pie for me. I still wont support that brand however I won’t shoot the wine down if someone brings it up in front of me – the wine was actually amazing.
Clifford Collard | 8 May 2025
Christian, you’ve touched a nerve — and rightly so.
Let’s not beat around the bush: the idea that South Africa’s most acclaimed wines are now “above” blind tasting is a worrying development. When critical platforms no longer apply the same rigour to the industry’s darlings as they do to everyone else, we don’t just risk bias — we institutionalise it.
At Wine-of-the-Month Club, we’ve based our entire selection process on blind tasting for 39 years. We do it because reputations are fragile when you remove the label — and because, when judged fairly, quality often comes from unexpected places. That’s exciting. That’s honest. That’s how progress happens.
The current system, where sighted tastings are the norm for the elite, rewards marketing, mythology, and scarcity more than what’s actually in the glass. And critics, to be frank, have become too cozy with these producers to call it out. We’ve created a class of wines that are praised before they’re even poured.
But here’s an idea: why don’t we regularly blind taste these benchmark wines against their peers — and just not name names? That way, no reputations are harmed, but the results would still be fascinating. Let the scores speak, not the brands. If the top wines are as untouchable as we believe, they’ll still rise to the top. If not, the industry needs to know.
Better yet — Christian, why not join our panel? We’ll gladly host the tastings. Let’s see how the benchmarks really perform in a level playing field.
We don’t need to embarrass anyone. But we do need to stop pretending that excellence is beyond question — or that those outside the inner circle aren’t producing wines that can compete.
In the end, blind tasting isn’t about tearing down legends. It’s about keeping the door open for the next one.
Clifford Collard
MD, Wine-of-the-Month Club
Brad Gold | 8 May 2025
I remember when I first ventured into the wine world; I would devour Wine Magazine from cover to cover. As a beginner, it played a crucial role in helping me understand quality. My journey involved tasting wines with varied scores, which ignited my passion and deepened my appreciation for wine.
As the years went by, I found myself diving deeper into the complexities of wine, discovering that there’s so much more than just quality and taste. Wine is truly consumable art, and like artists, some winemakers can command higher prices based on their unique styles. The challenge with smaller batch wines, however, is that they can be difficult to find due to high demand or limited production.
What I value about Wine Magazine and critics like Greg Sherwood (as noted in this link) is their ability to guide less experienced wine lovers through the industry’s intricacies, helping them build confidence. This support is crucial for the wine industry as a whole. To the “artists” who have established their reputations and no longer need to submit their wines for review, they have played a significant role in adding depth to the already rich tapestry of the wine world.
You will never get bored with wine and you will never finish learning…
David Minty | 8 May 2025
Blind tastings have to win!
I recall the old days of the wine mag doing blind tasting reports and then publishing the results with the related prices of each bottle. It served as a fantastic guide to me as a consumer starting my wine discovery journey.
My group of friends often tastes a line up blind now (we know which bottles to taste are up but not which glass they are in) and the results are always very interesting, especially when the big name wines are in the line up.
What does cloud my personal judgement is the story and experience behind the wine. Having experienced a tasting with the winemaker and having their dog sitting on your lap in their home definitely adds to the wine 😀. Which is actually one of the biggest things I love about enjoying wine!
Gavin Brimacombe | 7 May 2025
As a pre-qualifier to my comments below, we are are a small producer in Wellington.
A thought: Why do these tastings rely on a producer to submit (and in most cases pay to submit)? What if a credible independent critic/panel, purchased the wines on the open market, masked the branding, and assessed these on a blind basis? I understand there is a cost to doing so, but this is surely modest in the context of the value of a judgement based on a true evaluation of what is in the bottle/glass?
Further, would the independent critic/panel then be sufficiently independent to accept the commercial consequences of a poor assessment of a high value brand wine?
Erwin Lingenfelder | 7 May 2025
Reputation carries risk. In my profession I have seen many reputations
crash and burn. Why will it be different in the pursuit which we love?
Christian Eedes | 7 May 2025
For the record, Winemag’s tasting approach is as follows: day-to-day reviews by Christian Eedes are conducted sighted and designated as “CE’s rating,” while our category reports involve blind panel tastings, with labels out of sight.
Producers may submit wines for sighted review by Eedes at no cost, though publication is not guaranteed. Alternatively, they can opt for blind panel assessment – where their wine is judged alongside its peers as part of a category tasting. This involves an entry fee of R1,395 per wine.
Michael Fridjhon | 7 May 2025
I cannot pretend to be impartial when it comes to the blind tasting debate. Between Trophy Wine Show and Wine Wizard I have come down firmly on the side of labels-out-of-sight.
While it’s easy to understand why players with reputation may feel cautious about putting their wines into blind tasting space, many still do: they have to trust the judges, and they also know it’s the most honest feedback they will ever get.
Consumers who shop on the strength of sighted reviews/reports have only themselves to blame if they over-pay for their vinous pleasures: they have surrendered aesthetic control to the marketers and to their handmaidens – the critics who publish sighted scores as if these offer some insight into the intrinsic merits of a wine.
At the Wine Judging Academy we used to run a test where the students were served several samples while the labels were (more or less) evident. They were then served the same wines, (ie the same fluid from the identical bottle), blind. It should come as no surprise that wines poured from well-branded bottles scored higher – irrespective of what fluid had been put into the bottle.
Greg Sherwood MW | 7 May 2025
Worth noting that the phenomenon you described above applies to all global power brands, not just in SA. Few wineries ever submit for blind assessment once they have bagged a certain amount of critical acclaim. Nothing to gain, everything to lose. Way of the world… and the wine business!
Jos | 7 May 2025
As long as they are selling out vintage after vintage there is no incentive to participate. The upside is non-existent and the downside, while probably not that much, is still potentially material.
Also, blind tastings has it’s own issues, especially when doing a host of wines in a setting with palate fatigue potentially setting in.
In an ideal world you would have multiple samples per wine than you can do multiple blind tasting over a few days to truly get the best sense of each wine, but that simple isn’t realistic. It is what it is.
Kwispedoor | 7 May 2025
If you know what you’re tasting, it’s impossible to be entirely impartial. Some tasters can manage to get closer to impartiality, but it’s simply impossible to get all the way there. It really is a pity that we all have to do our own blind tastings nowadays to compare the top wines with others, because one obviously can’t exactly do that every day. The old blind tastings in the printed Wine Magazine were always fascinating. And very much missed.
I have some understanding for why the top wines (especially the really scarce and expensive ones) are not submitted. However, most of them are where they are for good reason and I don’t think the odd blind tasting will so easily do real reputational harm. What it will probably do, is put the spotlight on their relative value. Something that consumers will all enjoy seeing.