Established

The Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards was established in 1997 to offer South African producers the opportunity of having their wines adjudicated locally by a highly experienced and respected panel of professionals from around the globe. Our primary objective was – and to a great extent still remains – to support local wine and spirits producers who are targeting international markets for exports and, through our international judges, are able to determine whether their wines will be well received both abroad and locally.

Big Changes

Since 2003 the competition has received an increasing number of entries from international wine producers; 2003 marked the start of a new era for the competition when the Michelangelo International Wine Awards moved to Stellenbosch, the main wine-producing area of South Africa.

Today

Now, in its 28th year, Africa’s largest wine and spirits competition, Michelangelo remains unique in Africa, in that all judges are hand-picked wine experts, hailing from five different continents. Since the start of the competition in 1997, more than 298 individual judges from 53 countries have served on the panels. All entries are judged blind by panels of 5 judges, using the 100-point internationally recognised judging system.