The Cape Winemakers Guild was established in 1982 by eight winemakers and held its first auction in 1985. Today it has 45 active members, and this year’s auction is the Guild’s fifth since formalising its relationship with Strauss & Co. The 58 wines going under the hammer this year are a celebration of their independence and diversity, and include a number of firsts: Adi’s youthful Grenache Blanc, Lukas’s Piekenierskloof Chenin Blanc and Andrea’s newly certified Sémillon Gris, among them. Though the wines are only the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

Take Samantha O’Keefe. When she planted vines in Greyton in the early 2000s as an American in Africa, it wasn’t an established fine-wine region. There was no obvious wine industry there waiting for her. She was effectively betting that this remote, cool-climate place could make serious wine. She was right. Then, in 2019, a fire destroyed much of Lismore, including the cellar, home and large sections of the vineyard. O’Keefe had to decide whether to rebuild. She did. More than two decades after planting, Lismore has helped put Greyton on the fine-wine map. This year, O’Keefe is offering her first Lismore Child of Venus Viognier for the Guild Auction. You aren’t simply buying a bottle of Viognier. 

And then there is Pieter “Bubbles” Ferreira. Ferreira has spent more than four decades chasing the perfect South African bubble. He worked at Pierre Jourdan, spent harvests in Champagne, joined Graham Beck in 1990 and helped turn Cap Classique from a fledgling category into one capable of standing alongside the world’s serious traditional-method sparkling wines.

His wines have been poured at key moments of South African history, including Nelson Mandela’s 1994 presidential inauguration, and at Barack Obama’s inaugural after-party.

Abrie Beeslaar is different. He spent 23 vintages at Kanonkop, becoming only its third winemaker in 50 years (at the time) and winning the IWSC International Winemaker of the Year title four times. His Paul Sauer 2015 became South Africa’s first 100-point wine from Tim Atkin MW. Yet when Abrie talks about making good wine, he reduces it to two questions: Does it make you hungry? Does it make you thirsty?

There is something appealing about that simplicity after a decade in which wine has become increasingly obsessed with making statements about itself. Abrie’s wines are about mastery, consistency and knowing what you’re doing well enough not to shout about it. His own Beeslaar wines also demonstrate that a winemaker’s reputation can travel with him. The bottle becomes a continuation of the person. And this person is one of SA’s humble greats.

Hannes Storm has spent 14 years decoding the Hemel-en-Aarde. Not vaguely. He makes Pinot Noir from all three of the valley’s appellations (and Chardonnay from two), allowing the differences between them to become part of the point. He works with small parcels, variable yields and difficult sites because he is interested in what happens when you keep looking at the same place for long enough. This year, Tim Atkin MW named him Winemaker of the Year. But the award isn’t really the interesting part. The interesting part is that Storm has spent years doing the same thing over and over again, becoming increasingly precise about it. So precise, that the world has finally noticed. That is what you are buying. One of the original pioneers of the Hemel-en-Aarde, and one of the disciples of Pinot Noir on the continent, when all the Burgundians said it couldn’t be done.

Adi Badenhorst is almost the opposite. If Hannes is obsession through precision, Adi is obsession through seemingly haphazard curiosity. The former Swartland revolutionary has spent years building a farm that feels less like a conventional wine estate and more like a piece of South African cultural history, with vines growing through it. There are old vineyards, new plantings, 73 varieties on Jakkalsfontein, family, farm workers, winemakers passing through, international harvest interns, a disco ball, pizza nights and a collection of wines that refuses to behave particularly neatly. He once described himself as a “cerebral dwarf” when it comes to chemistry. He was joking. Probably.

But behind the irreverence is one of the most serious wine operations in the country. His Guild Auction wine isn’t interesting because Adi is a famous winemaker. It’s interesting because it interested him.

The more time I spend with South African winemakers, the more I realise that wine is a remarkably good way of understanding the country. Not just its wine industry.

The 2026 Cape Winemakers Guild Auction has a new home in the heart of Woodstock at Strauss & Co, Brickfield Canvas, just minutes from Cape Town’s city centre.

Centrally located and easily accessible, it’s never been simpler to join the Auction. 

On Friday morning, from 10:00 to 12:00, all 58 Auction wines will be poured by the winemakers themselves in an informal, interactive tasting before the auction session begins. There will also be a self-pour tasting available throughout the Auction, while samples last.

It’s a chance to taste the wines, meet the people who made them, and perhaps start getting to know the personalities behind the bottles to help decide what you want to bid on.

I would register to bid.

And then I would do my homework, and go meet the people and taste their wines.