THE Cape Winemakers Guild, started in 1982, is widely regarded as creating the finest wines in the country. Membership of the guild – this year it has 41 members but the number fluctuates as new people make the cut and others don’t or leave – is by invitation, and impressing your peers has always been notoriously difficult.

As membership lies with the winemaker, not the estate, a member who moves to another winery retains membership, provided he or she has produced “outstanding wines for a minimum of five years and continue to do so”. That is, produced outstanding wines specifically for the guild, for sale at the annual Nedbank CWG Auction (this year on October 2) and which will carry the exclusive CWG label.

Member Philip Constandius was guild chairman for 2007 and 2008 and is the maker of Solo Wines – “Nobody can pronounce my name, so I didn’t think I should put it on the label.” Constandius is responsible for initiating the trust’s highly regarded protege programme in 2006.