Key facts
- Status
- Check with the provider
- Provider
- Cape Winemakers Guild Development Trust
- Study level
- University
- Last checked
- September 2026
The Cape Winemakers Guild showed no application call or closing date for the next Protégé intake on 29 September 2026; its 2026 protégés were announced in December 2025.
VerifiedThe Cape Winemakers Guild (CWG), an invitation-only group of 45 of South Africa’s leading winemakers, takes on about three newly qualified winemakers or viticulturists a year and places each of them with Guild members for three years. The Protégé Programme started in 2006 and is run through the CWG Development Trust. It is not a study bursary: protégés already hold a qualification and are paid while they work harvests, make wine and learn from their mentors. The Guild does not publish an application window or closing date on its website.
Three cellars, three mentors
Each protégé works alongside a different Guild member every year, so by the end of the programme they have seen three cellars and three styles of winemaking. The CWG’s programme brochure sets out the three years like this:
| Year | What the protégé does |
|---|---|
| Year 1: foundation and immersion | Induction at a CWG host winery; hands-on harvest and cellar work; an introduction to vineyard management; help with CWG events and auction preparation; life-skills training in resilience, financial literacy and DISC profiling |
| Year 2: exposure and expansion | A move to a new winery where the protégé makes their own wine; an international harvest exchange in France (the brochure names Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne); presentation-skills workshops, life coaching and leadership training; roles at VIP and formal tastings |
| Year 3: mastery and readiness | A final winery placement focused on leadership in the cellar; developing and presenting their own wine project to the CWG trustees; CV and interview workshops; speaking roles at CWG events; having their own wine sold on auction before graduating |
The wine each protégé makes in the second year is sold in the annual CWG Protégé Programme Auction, an online sale held alongside the main Guild auction. All proceeds of that auction go back into the programme. In 2026 the Protégé Auction runs on the Strauss & Co platform until 18:00 on 6 October and includes wines from four graduating protégés.
What a protégé place is worth
The Guild publishes the cost of each year so that companies can sponsor a protégé. These figures cover everything the Trust spends, not only what the protégé receives:
- First year: R297 000 per protégé, covering the stipend, educational courses, administration and psychometric assessments.
- Second year: R440 000 per protégé, including R150 000 for the Burgundy harvest exchange.
- Third year: R320 000 per protégé, covering advanced training and mentorship.
The Guild does not state the monthly stipend on its own.
Who the Guild selects
The CWG describes its protégés as talented winemaking and viticulture graduates “who may otherwise face barriers to entry” to the industry. The programme began with oenology (winemaking) graduates and now also takes viticulture graduates. The Guild has not published a formal list of requirements, but its announcement of the 2026 intake says the three new protégés were chosen from dozens of recent graduates who applied. Their qualifications show the range it accepts: a BSc Agric in Viticulture and Oenology from Stellenbosch University, a Diploma in Cellar Technology from Elsenburg Agricultural College, and a Bachelor of Agriculture from Elsenburg.
Since 2006, 41 protégés have completed the programme. The Guild reports that 22 of them now hold leading winemaking roles or run their own labels, among them the head winemaker at Hazendal and the founders of Tembela Wines and Thornleigh Wines.
Finding out about the next intake
On 29 September 2026 the CWG website showed no call for applications, no application form and no closing date for the 2027 intake. The Guild announced its last two intakes in December 2024 and December 2025, each group starting the following year. Graduates who want to be considered should ask the Guild directly: info@capewinemakersguild.com or 021 852 0408. The Guild’s office is at Block H, Olive Grove Business Park, Ou Paardevlei Road, Somerset West. The CWG Protégé Programme page lists the current protégés and their host wineries.
The Guild also runs a Buddy Project, started in 2020, which links current and past protégés with winemaking and viticulture students at Stellenbosch University and Elsenburg through quarterly visits to member wineries. Students who have not yet qualified can look at the Elsenburg bursary and the wider list of agriculture bursaries; the CWG Development Trust itself also supports the AgriSETA Billy Hofmeyr bursaries.
