The Investec Trophy Wine Show

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Judges 2026

The Trophy Wine Show judging takes place at the Grande Roche Hotel, Paarl from 11 – 14 May 2026. The panel comprises three international and at least six local judges covering a broad range of wine tasting experience, expertise and working with a 100-point scoring system for the blind tasting. The panel has been chaired by leading wine authority Michael Fridjhon since the inception of the show in 2002.

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Show Chairman

Michael Fridjhon

International Judges

Heidi Mäkinen MW (Finland)
Kenichi Ohashi MW (Japan)
Oz Clarke OBE
(United Kingdom)

South African Judges

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Heidi Duminy CWM
JD Pretorius
Kyle Davids
Mandla Patson Mathonsi
Cathy van Zyl MW
Malu Lambert
Malu Lambert DipWSET
Christian Eedes

Judges

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Michael Fridjhon

Show Chairman

Chairman of the judges at the Trophy Wine Show. Author of, co-author and contributor to, a number of wine books including The Oxford Companion to Wine, The Global Wine Encyclopaedia, and Platter’s South African Wine Guide. Recipient of the Chevalier de l’Ordre du Merite Agricole (France). Judge at numerous competitions including the Australian National Wine Show, the Six Nations Wine Challenge in Australia (now the Global Fine Wine Challenge), as well as benchmark tastings in France, the United States, Chile and South Africa. First international co-chairman of the International Wine Challenge (2007). Visiting Professor of Wine Business at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business and head of the Wine Judging Academy run in association with the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. Winner of the Louis Roederer International Wine Columnist of the Year award (2012). Recipient of the SA Wine Industry Wine Appreciation and Wine Advancement Award (2021).

Heidi Mäkinen MW (Finland)

International Judge

Finnish-born Master of Wine, wine educator and one of the top sommeliers in the world. She is currently portfolio manager for wine importer Viinitie in Helsinki, Finland, having previously worked at top restaurants and bars in the United Kingdom, Finland and Sweden, including London’s renowned wine club 67 Pall Mall. Judge at the Trophy Wine Show in 2017.

Kenichi Ohashi MW (Japan)

International Judge

The first Japanese resident to qualify as a Master of Wine, he is the foremost wine and Japanese sake expert based in Tokyo and president of Yamajin Co Ltd, which specialises in the distribution of wine, sake and other local spirits. He promotes both domestic as well as imported wine and sake via his consultancy company Red Bridge, in 2024 he opened Yamajin’s high-end wine and Japanese liquor store ‘IntertWine KxM’ in Tokyo’s Azabudai Hills, the tallest building in Japan, and he recently co-founded The Wine Station, Japan’s largest next-generation online wine community. Ohashi judges at wine competitions around the globe, including the International Wine Challenge, and serves as a co-chairman at the IWC sake competition, the largest Japanese sake contest in the world.

Oz Clarke OBE

South African Judge

Oz Clarke OBE judged at the inaugural Trophy Wine Show in 2002, and again in 2013. He is one of the world’s most celebrated wine experts. A household name from his years presenting the BBC’s iconic Food and Drink programme and his adventures alongside James May in Oz and James’s Big Wine Adventure, he has won every major wine writing award in both the UK and USA – including Glenfiddich, James Beard, Julia Child and the Lanson Special Millennium Award for outstanding contribution to wine communication. Described by Harpers as “the nearest thing to genius in the world of wine writing,” Oz is acknowledged as having one of the finest palates of anyone writing about wine today. His wit, warmth and no-nonsense approach have made him a global ambassador for the joy of wine – and we are honoured to welcome him back for the third time to the Trophy Wine Show for our 25th anniversary.

Heidi Duminy CWM

South African Judge

Cape Wine Master and principal of the Cape Wine Academy. Formerly communications manager for DGB, brand manager for Veuve Clicquot and Krug, as well as trade marketing manager of the LVMH portfolio of Champagnes and spirits. Wine marketing specialist and group marketing manager for Meridian Wines. Distinction graduate of the Michael Fridjhon Wine Judging Academy in 2011 and Advanced Wine Judging Academy attendee in 2014. Convener of the judging for the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge since 2017 and the Diner’s Club Winemaker of the Year panel in 2020. Sparkling wine judge at the Veritas Awards since 2011. Associate judge at The Trophy Wine Show in 2012, 2014 and 2015, and judge since 2016.

JD Pretorius

South African Judge

Cellarmaster at Warwick Wine Estate in Stellenbosch since 2019, chairman of the Cape Winemakers Guild. Distinction graduate of the Michael Fridjhon Wine Judging Academy in 2010. Regular judge at The Trophy Wine show and panel member for various South African wine competitions. BSc. Viticulture and Oenology, Stellenbosch University.

Kyle Davids

South African Judge

Assistant winemaker at Babylonstoren Wine Estate in the foothills of the Simonsberg in Paarl, having also worked harvests in the Napa Valley, USA, and the Nahe region of Germany. Davids graduated with a BSc in Viticulture and Oenology from Stellenbosch University in 2019 and was selected to participate in the Cape Winemakers Guild Protégé Programme in 2020. He attended the Michael Fridjhon Wine Judging Academy in 2022, passing with distinction, and was an associate judge at the Trophy Wine Show from 2022 to 2025.

Mandla Patson Mathonsi

South African Judge

Brand ambassador for Beck Family Estates’ Graham Beck Estate in Robertson and Steenberg Vineyards on the Constantia wine route. Recipient of the Eat Out Wine Service Award in 2014. Head sommelier at the DW Eleven-13 restaurant in Johannesburg and sales representative for the Reciprocal Wine Company from 2015 to 2018. Completed the Cape Wine Academy Certificate Course as well as WSET Levels 1, 2 and 3. A member of the Hugues Lepin Sommelier and Wine Academy. Graduate of the Michael Fridjhon Wine Judging Academy in 2016. Associate judge at The Trophy Wine Show from 2016 to 2018 and judge since 2019.

Cathy van Zyl MW

South African Judge

Master of Wine. Associate editor of Platter’s South African Wine Guide and co-author of the South African chapter in The Wine Report for several years. Chair of the Institute of Masters of Wine in 2023 and 2024; previous chair of its education committee. Lectures internationally, mostly in Japan but increasingly in London and Napa as one of the partners in Master Classes, an initiative created to support Master of Wine examination candidates, and occasionally contributing to wine journals and websites around the world. In 2019, named the Institute of Cape Wine Masters’ Personality of the Year for her passionate promotion of SA wine. An occasional panellist for several other local competitions, she has also judged overseas, with stints at VinItaly’s Consurso Enologico Internacional, the Sydney International Wine Competition, the Shanghai International Wine Competition, Decanter’s World Wine Awards and the International Wine Challenge. Judge at The Trophy Wine Show from 2003 to 2011 and from 2020 to 2023.
Malu Lambert

Malu Lambert DipWSET

South African Judge

A multi-award-winning wine writer and critic, holder of a Level 4 Diploma in Wines from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. In 2019 she was Mont Blanc Emerging Wine Writer of the Year at the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers’ Awards; in 2023, as co-author of Klein Constantia: The Home of Vin de Constance, she received an OIV Award in Paris; and in 2024 she was a finalist for the Gusbourne Estate Award for Long-Form Writing at the inaugural 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Awards.

Lambert is a wine columnist for various South African titles including Winemag, and globally, her work has appeared in Jancis Robinson, Decanter, Falstaff, The Telegraph and other publications. She has judged for Decanter, the International Wine & Spirit Competition and Concours Mondial du Sauvignon, while locally she is a taster for Platter’s SA Wine Guide and a regular judge at a number of competitions. A graduate of Michael Fridjhon’s Wine Judging Academy, she served as an associate judge at The Trophy Wine Show in 2022 and has been a judge at the show since 2025.

Christian Eedes

South African Judge

After graduating from Stellenbosch University with a BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Christian Eedes joined Wine magazine in 2000, serving as editor from May 2008 to December 2009. Following the magazine’s closure as a print title in 2011, he played a key role in relaunching the brand as a digital-only platform in 2014.

Over the course of his career, Eedes has conducted numerous interviews and produced extensive tasting notes, category reports and opinion pieces. His experience also includes judging at a range of local and international wine competitions, notably serving as a judge at the Trophy Wine Show on 15 occasions.