From Slavery to BEE
The publication on May 1 of a new non-glossy, non-braai book called Grape – stories of the vineyards in SA by DA member of parliament Wilmot James, Chancellor of Rhodes University Jakes Gerwel and journalist Jeanne Viall will be a welcome addition to...
Selling SA becomes counter-productive
Who says pressure groups don’t work? Wineoption.org, a UK-based consumer group, conducted a survey over Christmas and one of their conclusions was that supermarket wines should be sorted by style, rather than country of origin. As they reported “...
Enter the EPA, stage left
As SA generic wine marketing rapidly loses credibility and struggles to get a grip, could a rejuvenated Estate Producers Association [EPA] help? This was one of the many insights offered by Jean Engelbrecht in the Sunday Times yesterday.
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Nobbled by the subs
A terrific story on SA wines by Bill Zacharkiw in the Montreal Gazette yesterday, was spoiled by the mean-spritied headline “The Almost Great-Grapes of South Africa.” Where does the “almost” come from, Bill?
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Monocle Mess Ups
A friend of mine was offered a column on Tyler Brûlé’s organ Monocle but turned it down after hearing the pay. A bad mistake I thought until I browsed the March edition. Colonel Gaddafi is upgraded to General and we’re told that “sales to Chi...
Angela’s List and the faint whiff of hypocrisy
Thanks to Carrie Adams for e-mailing Angela Lloyd’s list of Top SA Wines – alas, I’ve given up reading Gripe, so had missed the original unveiling. Great minds think alike as Carrie had suggested she and I compile such a list for Classic FM ...
Woman Winemaker cancelled or April Fool?
The news that lovely Lorraine Immelman’s woman winemaker of the year competition has been cancelled has knocked the spittoon 1.2mm off its rapidly rotating axis. The reason supplied is that sponsorship from Landbouweekblad magazine “expired at the...
Cultural Carpetbagging in St. James
Terrific bit of navel-gazing and lint gathering from Linsday Johns in the Telegraph yesterday on whether Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) was entitled to sing the Blues and even release a CD of moans and groans. As House humorously put it “I was not born in ...
Bubbly to bounce out of recession
The news that UK household incomes adjusted for tax and inflation fell by 0.8% last year can’t be good news for SA wine growers as the UK is by far their largest export destination. An increase in VAT this year and an above inflation rise in duty on...
Next Level Oesfeeste
I’m something of an oesfees original, having thoroughly enjoyed all four opskoppe at Solms Delta in Franschhoek. It’s the kind of jol you have to be there, to “get”, as reading Die Burger’s report yesterday, I realized there must have been t...
Visual dissonance @ ProWein
A wonderful example of visual cognitive dissonance this morning from an unlikely source: Su Birch, head of WOSA, the exporters’ mouthpiece, at ProWein the major European wine show. Hailing the SA green zone as “a huge success” the vi...
The King’s Shampoo
No Oscar for research in The King’s Speech. Poor old wicked Wallis Simpson, when will the Brits ever forgive her? You knew she was a bad ‘un when she sent King Edward VIII down to the cellar to get her a bottle of 1923 vintage bubbly. “Only th...
