Sue Brown has a certificate from the German Wine Academy, the KWV Final Diploma and the Diploma from the Cape Wine Academy.
She was admitted as a Cape Wine Master in 1992 with a research project titled “An evaluation of the marketing strategies of good wine from selected cooperatives”. Her current wine activities include helping to prune 5 Oaks Vineyard in the Yarra Valley and contributing articles on the Australian wine industry and judging local Australian wine shows.
Born and educated in the United Kingdom, Sue’s travels through Europe and southern Africa brought her to Johannesburg, where her interest in wine was stimulated by her husband’s involvement in the industry.
On completion of the KWV courses, she joined a major wine and beverage retailer and began to lecture for the Cape Wine Academy part time. When the Cape Wine Academy established a dedicated office in Johannesburg, Sue became the Manager, Transvaal and OFS, a position she held for eight years. During this time, the Academy grew both in numbers and credibility and the first of the successful CWM’s from the province emerged. She left the CWA to represent Klein Constantia in Gauteng, but remained a regular judge at local and Cape wine shows. As wine editor of Habitat magazine, she was able to travel extensively to wine areas both in the Cape and around the world and made guest appearances on radio and television.
In 1995, the Browns moved to Australia, where Sue continues to maintain a keen interest in all things vinous, contributing the occasional wine article and tasting tenaciously. She is currently an academic at the James Cook University in Cairns.
