2009 Marks the sixth year of the Landbouweekblad Woman Winemaker of the Year Award, joining our previous celebrated winners: Ivy du Toit-Oates, Debbie Burden, Eleanor Visser, Susan Wessels and Erika Obermeyer.

This competition has always evoked some emotional responses and comes with it's fair share of controversy: why an award for a woman winemaker? Should she not compete on equal footing with her male colleagues?

Yes, of course she should. And many of our previous years' winners and finalists have been honoured by other awards, proving their undoubted ability to make outstanding wines. But what we seek to find is not only a woman who makes good wine, but someone who is also an ambassador and a role model for women in the industry, in fact for all women.

To this end, the competition is run over two tiers – during the first round all wines entered are tasted blind by our all-woman panel. The winemakers who have entered the top six wines automatically are named finalists. During the second round each goes through a gruelling one-hour interview with the judges to determine the winner.

What does a winner look like? The judges seek someone who will be an ambassador for the South African wine industry, and indeed a role model for all women who are considering a career as a winemaker. Our winner will be someone who is motivated, professional and shows integrity, energy and initiative in her chosen field in the wine industry.

So, if you are such a person and you produced a particular good wine recently, we look forward to hearing from you. Entry forms and regulations are on this site, but for any enquiries please contact Lorraine via e-mail on lorman@yebo.co.za. You stand to win not only an all-expenses paid trip (valued at R30 000) to the French wine region of Bourdeaux where you will visit cellars and wineries not readily available to the public, meet the wine makers and get to taste the wines from the vats. The winner is also ensured of a year of excellent publicity for herself and her cellar.