The Institute for Wine Biotechnology (IWBT), part of the Department of Viticulture and Oenology, was established at Stellenbosch University in 1995. The IWBT is an internationally recognised postgraduate training and research institute offering visionary training and innovative research to support the South African wine and grapevine industries.

The IWBT's research programme follows a globally unique, integrated and multidisciplinary approach, combining cutting edge high-throughput and systems-based approaches derived from the core sciences of biology and chemistry with the traditional wine sciences of viticulture and oenology. Themes include grapevine ecophysiology and molecular biology; microbial diversity, physiology and molecular biology; analytical chemistry; and computational biology.

The IWBT is led by an academic management team. Additional staff consists of part-time extra-ordinary academics, post-doctoral researchers, as well as technical, administrative and other support staff.

The IWBT is situated in the JH Neethling Building and has several modern and fully equipped molecular and chemical research laboratories. A greenhouse for transgenic grapevine plants and an experimental cellar are also available. The building also houses the Central Analytical GC-MS Facility of Stellenbosch University. In addition to lecture theatres and conference rooms, students and researchers benefit from demarcated study areas and laptop computers are available to students on request.