User Survey 2026 closes today – last chance to have your say

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• Charles Withington | 9 February 2026

  A very good question … and maybe the question to start it all is “Who is the consumer we want to engage ? . 1. Wine geek. 2. Healthy, wealthy and brand/ Image driven fashionista. 2. People who are focussed on good food, adventurour cooking and dining, and love “exploring” wines open mindedly and open heartedly. Extremely interested in all aspects of fooid/wine, passionate about all of but obsessed by none. Want to learn as much about the product as the people behind them. They love an interesting read but consider press release fawning stuff nauseating and a complete turn off.

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• Rex Aspeling | 9 February 2026

  Suggest a pensioners corner for people with a fixed income and a love for wine. Should include wines at affordable prices. Say Under R60 with minimum volumes for free shipping. I ordered 20 cases this month directly from the farm. We distributed it to various friends in our estate.
  Bar / Restaurant corner with wine pairing for volume sales

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  • Udo | 13 February 2026

    Under R60. OMG. Do you want grape growers and wine makers to have a normal living? Do you want to have a decent glass of wine? Raise your standard please.

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• Desmond Kruger | 9 February 2026

  To be honest, I enjoy the mag as it is. Good reviews and commentary (insightful and topical). That said, like the idea of more people behind the wines stories. Although the ask is to include “more affordable wines” in your reviews, believe you do not shy away from reviewing wines in the below R200 category. But a fun corner reviewing el cheapos would be interesting :-).

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• Derrick Beck | 9 February 2026

  First of all let me tell you an interesting story, I am from Denmark and I used to collect French Wines. My father in law had a wine cellar full of French wines. My mind opened to wines from all the world when the French government under Mitterrand sank Rainbow Warrior of Green Peace in Auckland. The then prime minister of Denmark said we will boycott there wines. So Denmark imported wines from all over the world. I tasted many different kinds. The one country that stood out was South Africa. I sold my whole French collection and only keep South African wine. I really enjoy a full bodied wine and damn South Africa is good at it. I traveled the wine route and enjoyd so many a varied kind. There is one wine called Silverboom which I buy in Denmark, why is it not sold in South Africa please enlighten me on this one. Thank you,
  Derrick Beck

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  • Greg Sherwood | 11 February 2026

    The Silverboom Shiraz – Merlot Special Reserve from the Swartland / or the Cabernet Sauvignon Black Label from Stellenbosch appear a lot on Vivino with a pretty good ratings of 3.7-4.0/5 made by winemaker Pieter Carstens. I can’t see a source producer but it looks like they are brands produced for the EU / Scandanavian export market specially. Looking at the names of people who left reviews, mostly very positive, they look all Scandinavian. Certainly not a producer I am familiar with but perhaps Winemag’s editor can request some samples from Silverboom to review?
    Email info@taster-wine.com

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    • Hanna | 11 February 2026

      winesworld.net shows Leeuwenkuil Family Estate, where Pieter Carstens is the head winemaker, as the producer of Silverboom Special Reserve Shiraz Merlot 2018.

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• Donald Griffiths | 12 February 2026

  Do commenters get an extra entry into the lucky draw? If they do I’m glad I left this comment. Seriously though……if there is one area for improvement its to get more entries into the Prescient reports so the sample size of wines and producers is larger, especially for the big categories. I think the brains trust at winemag need to come up with innovative ideas as to how to do this. A lot of producers I speak to say they just can’t afford to enter. And if there is a big corporate sponsor why is the entry fee and other associated costs not covered/part covered? It would also help drive more subscriptions ultimately.

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  • Christian Eedes | 12 February 2026

    Hi Donald, Growing the sample size of entries, particularly in major categories, is absolutely a priority. However, entry fees are not simply a revenue line item; they cover real costs associated with the judging process, administration, tasting infrastructure and reporting. While sponsorship contributes meaningfully, it does not fully underwrite these operational expenses. As with any marketing activity, producers make their own commercial decisions about whether participation represents value for their business. Ultimately, the onus is on us to demonstrate that exposure on our platforms is worth it.

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    • Donald Griffiths | 12 February 2026

      Thanks Christian. I guess its all about ROI and in these tough economic times often the marketing budget gets heavily pruned. I’m always slightly amused by the fact that many of the top producers can afford to enter but don’t (we can speculate as to why but the real reasons are only known by them) and many of the up and coming producers want to enter but can’t afford it. Leaving a middle layer much like the Hanepoot jam in a roosterkoek, very tasty but decidedly unexciting in the grand scheme of culinary exploration.

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