Dr Andy Roediger headed an analytical laboratory that tests plastics, rubbers and paints at the University of Stellenbosch.
His daughter asked him to join her in attending the Diploma Wine Course at the Cape Wine Academy, as he had much experience in drinking wine and she was essentially a teetotaler. Soon thereafter Andy enrolled for the Certificate course and then Diplomas 1 and 2. During Diploma 2, the students always agreed that “we” must start a wine tasting group, but nobody took the initiative.
Andy took up the challenge, and presented tastings of international wines on a regular basis. One thing lead to another and with his many business trips abroad he always seemed to manage to make a turn past a wine region.
Andy himself started making wine under the Boschheim label in 2003 and maked 10 000 plus bottles in a boutique winery with a full gravity feed system, making both red and white wines.
He was involved in wine judging at the SA Young Wine Show, Veritas, Michelangelo and was also the chairperson of Shiraz SA judging for many years.
His Cape Wine Master thesis topic “Phenolic ripeness in South Africa”, has made him a leading expert in this field. During harvest seasons, he carried out phenolic ripeness analyses on a commercial basis in his laboratory for many leading wine producers in the Cape.
Andy sadly passed away on 15 January 2026 after a brave and courageous battle with illness.
