Michael Fridjhon is South Africa’s most respected wine judge, commentator and liquor industry strategist.  Visiting Professor at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, he teaches in the wine business programme jointly hosted by the University of Cape Town and the University of Adelaide.

Past chairman of the South African Wine Industry Trust – which determines strategy and administers funding associated with industry-wide business support and development projects – he has been an advisor to the South African Minister of Agriculture, and is a recipient of the French Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole.

He is the chairman of the South African Trophy Wine Show and has judged in countless international wine competitions. He is chairman of the South African Food & Wine Writers’ Guild, writes a weekly column for Business Day, and has written or contributed to more than twenty books including the Oxford Companion to Wine, the Hugh Johnson Wine Companion, the Global Wine Encyclopaedia, the John Platter Wine Guide and Icons – South Africa’s Champion Wines.

He is married to Janice and they have two sons.