At this year's Cape Wine Master graduation lunch at Lanzerac in Stellenbosch, we celebrated Jacques Lombard, the first blind Cape Wine Master. Hats off to him and his 3 compatriots for perservering through thick and thin to achieve the esteemed qualification. We also welcome Bradley Wood, Riaan vd Spuy and Janine van Zyl to the hall of Cape Wine Master fame. 2025 is signifant in many ways, with Afrikaans turning 100 alongside our indigenous grape variety Pinotage. There have been plenty of celebrations, including minting a commemorative Pinotage coin, honouring the creator, Abraham Perold, who quietly got on with planting his seeds in Stellenbosch in 1925. Alongside the Cape Wine Masters celebrations we took a few moments to honour our beloved Pinotage. We were taken through the wonderful story of Pinotage by none other than Mr Pinotage himself, Beyers Truter from Beyerskloof, who clearly has Pinotage flowing freely through his veins! Not only is he Mr Pinotage, having started the Pinotage Association 30 years ago, but he won the Robert Mondavi Trophy at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in 1991 for Best Winemaker in the World, for the 1989 Kanonkop Pinotage which he had produced.Listen to Beyers' story HERE To take us through the tasting of the wonderful Grand Vin Pinotages, we had another veritable giant of Pinotage, viz Abrie Beeslaar, who walked off with International Winemaker of the Year from the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) in 2024 and in 2008. Kanonkop was also named the South African Producer of the Year and won “Best Pinotage” for the Kanonkop Pinotage 2012. Clearly Pinotage is doing something right. We took time also to honour and thank Jenny McQueen who has done sterling work over many years doing the media coverage of the Cape Wine Masters graduation. Welcome also to Yolandi de Wet who is taking over from her. We wish Jenny a wonderful and healthy retirement. Much to shout about, including now having 120 Cape Wine Masters flying the flag! Thanks to the Pinotage Association, The Institute of Cape Wine Masters and Lanzerac for hosting a memorable event.