Recent industry reports, such as Howie Young’s "The Decline of Digital Publishing: The Rise of AI Publishing", highlight a startling trend: major international news giants like Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal saw readership declining by 52% and 45% respectively during 2024.
However, in the South African wine landscape, wine.co.za seems to be bucking that trend, having seen a steady and significant increase in engagement throughout 2025. Our monthly readership has surged from 100 000 to over 200 000 unique visitors for each of the last three months.
Perhaps most encouragingly, the majority of our readers arrive directly at our pages rather than through search engines. This suggests that wine.co.za isn't just a search result; it is a trusted daily habit.
Who reads wine.co.za?
Our audience represents the entire heartbeat of the industry. From those who craft the wine to those who pour it, we serve:
- Global and local trade: Winemakers, producers, wine judges, buyers, distributors.
- The front line: Sommeliers, waiters, chefs, wine stewards, wine advisors and hospitality and wine students.
- Industry engines: Marketers, salespersons, journalists, PR firms, researchers.
- Wine enthusiasts: Consumers, wine lovers, wine clubs
- Wine buyers and agents: Both local and international buyers use the directory to source new brands and verify technical data.
- Journalists and media: Access the 30-year archive of news and facts to ground their stories in accurate historical context.
- Job seekers: THE place to find a new job in the SA wine industry.
30 years of accuracy: The core pillars
Founder Kevin Kidson was frequently seen crawling around under desks in the early days, getting wine farms connected. Three decades on, and the fundamentals still apply: "Ensure the content is accurate, up to date, valid and newsworthy and it will continue to attract readers."
What keeps this diverse audience coming back? It is the accuracy of a database painstakingly built over three decades:
- News: Sourced and curated daily by our editor
60k readers, 200k views, and 44k newsfeed views monthly
News makes up 34% of our readership
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- Wines: Thousands of fact sheets going back 30 years on some wines; giving them the stories, harvest info, cellaring, awards, food pairing and more.
90k readers, 200k views monthly
Wine content makes up 18% of our readership
- Events: Most likely the most comprehensive list of events in the Winelands
15k readers, 70k views, 8k diaryfeed views monthly
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- Wineries: An extensive list of wine brands.
- Tours: Assists in trip planning and finding restaurants, accommodation, venues, weddings, mountain-biking trails, etc. in the winelands.
- Learn: Plenty of info on varieties, with more coming soon.
- Ads: The go-to portal for all ads and in particular jobs in the winelands, publishing over 2 200 jobs in 2025 alone.
The powerhouses: Top 20 most viewed wineries
Visibility on wine.co.za translates to real-world interest. Content is king. By consistently sharing fresh news, wine, tourism and other info, brands stay top-of-mind for our readers.
Based on our data from the last 12 months, here are the Top 20 most-viewed wineries on our platform:
- Spier
- Babylonstoren
- Nederburg
- Boschendal
- Durbanville Hills
- Simonsig
- Diemersdal
- Kleine Zalze
- Steenberg
- Perdeberg
- Tokara
- Jordan Wine Estate
- Waterford
- La Motte
- House of Graham Beck
- Robertson Winery
- Boplaas
- Flagstone
- Paul Clüver Family Wines
- Quoin Rock
A trusted legacy
In an automated world, trust is the ultimate currency. We are humbled by the fact that as the digital landscape becomes more crowded with AI-generated noise, our readers are turning more frequently to the verified, expert-led content we have championed for thirty years.
Please email Judy Brower for any queries at judy@wine.co.za.