For 7 years, Christine was the second principal of the Cape Wine Academy after Phyllis Hands. For 9 years she was chairperson of the Institute of Cape Wine Masters, and since then she has been occupied with consultancy work and writing a wine column for Die Burger and Beeld, along with freelance work for other publications.
She has travelled widely to the world´s wine countries, and tasted on international panels including the International Wine Challenge in London as panel chairperson, International Wine and Spirit Competition in the UK, Tastevinage in Burgundy and Valcaleppio´s annual Cabernet / Merlot competition in Italy.
Book contributions include the Platter Wine Guide, Best Value Guide and Wine Tourism Handbook annually. The regular local panels are Wine of the Month Club and Wine Magazine including various trophies, and competition judging is at Michelangelo, CAPPA Port Trophy, Young Wine Show and Veritas. Past wine judging has included Terroir Wine Awards, Woman Winemaker of the Year, SAA, Pinotage Top Ten, Paarl Shiraz Challenge, Grapeworx, Wineland, and Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year. She has written two editions of “A Guide to the Winelands of the Cape”.
Her early career was in FMCG marketing. The turning point and an enduring love affair with wine started when she tasted Chateau Petrus, without any prior wine knowledge, and just knew it was sublime.
The next morning, she enrolled in CWA courses to learn about wine. She completed the CWM exams in 1986, and the topic of her dissertation was “Botrytis in the Vineyards”.
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