Hey, I’m Raphaela van Embden. When I realised that being able to consume a novel in a week and apply a feminist reading wasn’t exactly a marketable skill (shout out to my English degree), I turned to wine. I’ve done everything from tour guiding, wine repping, a vintage in Mudgee, Australia, e-commerce, branding, academic research and media production.

If you’re the kind of person who’s impressed by wine credentials, these are mine: a WSET Level 2 distinction, a graduate of the UCT GSB Business of Wine and Michael Fridjhon Judging Academy, named Veritas Young Wine Writer of the Year in 2019 and one of WineLand Media’s 30 under 30 in 2020. I also contribute to wine publications such as Port2Port, Wine.co.za, Wineland Media and Business Day, and am currently writing a Master’s thesis on old vine grapes.

However, if you’re the kind of person who isn’t impressed by official pieces of paper, I learnt most of what I know about wine from, well, drinking wine. Few people are safe from my insistence to “tell me what you smell!” with my wine glass unceremoniously shoved in their face.

Note: I only write about wines I like. This is a space for joyful, unbridled enthusiasm. If you’re looking for over-intellectualised wine scores or scathing reviews, this is not the place for you. Cheers!