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. 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.
Annual book contributions include the Platter Wine Guide currently, and Best Value Guide and Wine Tourism Handbook previously. She has written two editions of “A Guide to the Winelands of the Cape”.
The regular local panels are Wine of the Month Club, Absa Vintage Pinotage, IWSC on SA wine, and various varietal challenges. Past wine judging has included Michelangelo, CAPPA Port Trophy, Young Wine Show and Veritas, Terroir Wine Awards, Woman Winemaker of the Year, SAA, Pinotage Top Ten, Paarl Shiraz Challenge, Grapeworx, Wineland, Wine Magazine, Classic Wine and Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year. She has also done passenger and sommelier tastings on luxury liners QE2 and Seven Seas Mariner.
She is the recipient of three wine industry awards, Frans Malan Cap Classique trophy, Veritas Living Legend and, in 2022 at the Wine Harvest Commemoration Event, for Wine Appreciation and Advancement.
Her early career was in FMCG marketing in Johannesburg. The turning point and an enduring love affair with wine started when, having joined Stellenbosch Farmers Winery, 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”.
