About Us

Address: Abingdon Wine Estate, Lions River, KZN.

The KZN School of Wine is situated in the KZN Midlands. Based on a wine estate, it is the ideal place to extend your love for wine and experience the wine making process first hand.

We are one of only two schools in South Africa accredited to teach the internationally recognised WSET qualifications.

Class numbers are limited and kept intimate to ensure students get the most out of the personalised tuition offered. Classes are held on KZN’s own Abingdon Wine Estate offering top class facilities for wine tasting, classroom lectures, cellar tours and lunch overlooking the vineyard. 
In addition to classroom courses, the KZN School of Wine also offers online options for all qualifications.

Our satellite school is based in Harare, Zimbabwe and is a new initiative and a first in our goal to branch out into more regions within Africa.

Owner & head lecturer

All courses are taught by WSET accredited educator, Laurie Cooper.
Laurie is the winemaker at Abingdon Wine Estate in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. She is a WSET Diploma graduate, the Moët & Chandon best Young Sommelier 2019 and Runner up Best Sommelier of South Africa 2023. Laurie has achieved her SASA Level 2 certified Sommelier qualification.

Laurie founded the KZN School of Wine in January 2015, realising the need for more wine education in KwaZulu-Natal. Laurie was a recipient of the Codorniu Raventos scholarship for achieving the top mark globally for the sparkling wine diploma exam. She is a distinction graduate from the Michael Fridjhon Wine Judging Academy and has served as a judge for the SAA wines selection panel as well as the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show and London based IWSC.
She works alongside the South African Sommeliers Association and Department of Tourism in training young sommeliers across South Africa, overseeing the KZN division.