Excellent wines from Tim Atkin

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Tim Atkin 2026 – South Africa's Wines in the Special Report

Anyone taking a closer look at South African wine will hardly be able to avoid one name: Tim Atkin MW. The British wine critic and Master of Wine has been publishing his comprehensive South Africa Special Report for many years and is now regarded as one of the world's most influential critics of South African wine.

For his South Africa 2026 Special Report, Tim Atkin tasted 1,831 wines from 351 South African producers. He spent several weeks travelling through the Cape Winelands and tasted additional wines after returning to London. Atkin personally tastes and evaluates every wine included in his report.

The results once again demonstrate the outstanding level South African wine has reached in recent years.

Tim Atkin 2026: 1,420 South African Wines Scoring 90 Points or More

Of the 1,831 wines tasted, 1,420 wines received a score of 90 points or higher in the latest report. That means more than three quarters of all the wines tasted reached this level.

Atkin classifies his scores as follows: 85–89 points correspond to a Bronze Medal, 90–94 points to a Silver Medal, and 95 points or more to a Gold Medal.

In the South Africa 2026 Special Report, 247 wines scored at least 95 points. A total of 33 wines received 97 points, 18 wines scored 98 points, and one wine achieved 99 points. At the very top of the rankings this year is a South African wine with the perfect score of 100 points.

Particularly noteworthy is the continued increase in the proportion of wines scoring at least 90 points. Compared with the previous year, this figure rose from 73.75% to 77.55%. Tim Atkin attributes much of this performance to the quality of the 2024 and 2025 vintages.

Why Are Tim Atkin's Ratings So Important for South African Wine?

Tim Atkin's interest in South African wine goes back long before its recent international success. He first travelled to South Africa in 1990 and has returned more than 40 times since then.

This experience makes his annual report particularly interesting to us. Atkin covers well-known names as well as smaller producers and emerging winemaking talents. In the 2026 edition, he tasted wines from 351 producers and, according to his own statement, included virtually all of South Africa's leading brands.

His report is therefore much more than a simple list of scores. Every year, it provides a comprehensive snapshot of the South African wine scene.

And, of course, we are always excited to see how the wines and wineries we have known and supported for many years perform in the latest report.

Tim Atkin Ratings at South African Wines

Our range includes numerous South African wines that have been reviewed and rated by Tim Atkin in his current South Africa 2026 Special Report.

One thing is important to us: a high score alone does not make a great wine. However, the ratings of an experienced critic such as Tim Atkin can provide valuable guidance – particularly when it comes to a wine country offering such an enormous diversity of grape varieties, regions, styles and producers.

For this reason, we identify wines reviewed by Tim Atkin at South African Wines and display his ratings directly with the respective wine.

This allows you to discover for yourself which wines in our range performed particularly well in the latest report.

Discover our selection of South African wines rated by Tim Atkin.