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The bombshell that this is the last weekend of the Weekender evoked the usual progression of emotions running the gamut from D to D: dismay, disgust, despair. From the B-(Bacchanalian) perspective, it’s yet another nail in the coffin of wine hackery with the loss of yet another wine column although agile Michael Fridjhon has a fallback slot on Business Day. But the loss of Penny Haw’s wine features (worth the cover price alone) is a tragedy, as no other organ covers her angles.
It was hardly a surprise, as freelance rates had been cut twice recently and the newspaper even took a stand at WineX, although I never did get to taste whatever they were pouring. The Weekender demise opens up the field for the imported Weekend FT, after which it was modeled. Given the amount the Pundit of the Pink Paper, Jancis Robinson, has been writing about SA wine of late, producers cannot complain. This weekend is a case in point with SA getting the Manolo Blahnik for crazy geographic labeling legislation. Although someone should tell JR that “the very hottest, most northerly vineyards” of SA are in the Northern, not Western, Cape and yes, they do export wine (and in large volumes) – to China, for example.
Stop press: A letter to the editor of the FT has been dispatched from the Groot Gariep.
Letter to the FT editor from the Groot Gariep
Apart from facts, the main problem with the W-FT is price, although former gallerist Waren Siebrits tells me of a petrol station in Illovo that sells it at half-price. Although this could be because the attendants think it’s the gay version of the Weekender, which if the case, means that Warren’s price will be up next week.
For those more visual than verbal, lunch at Silver in Kloof Street is to be recommended, as Fashion TV on the walls makes up for the dearth of reading material. Asian (Chinese/Sushi) restaurant cum clothing store cum showcase of fashion designer Xia Xuan Xu from the People’s Republic by way of Killarney, Friday nights are cocktail nights for the young and beautiful (“which counts you out” as the conceited but cute waitron told me yesterday). General Manager with the looks of a Calvin Klein underwear model, Michael Morris, tells me he’s keen on promoting food and wine evenings. “We had a Rietvallei evening and it was a great success” which must have been an initiative of marketing manager Colyn “the leg” Truter. If fact if you buy the Sushi Platter, you get a free bottle of Rietvallei Rosé.
Michael, Xia Xuan and Marius Malan from Slaley
Given the menu, Michael reckons that Paul Cluver’s Riesling and Gewürztraminer would be a hit and he also reckons (given the neon green credentials of his regulars) the Biologic wines from Avondale would work – and Avondale marketing maven Krige Visser is a flashy enough dresser to carry off a Xia Xuan Xu jacket. It’s an interesting marketing proposition: what wines would appeal to Oscar Wilde dandies and Ojo-men, the new herbivorous males who are taking over in the East? The Japanese call them soshokukei danshi – or maybe that was a dish from the half-price Sushi menu. Anyway, Philip Delves Broughton had a lot to say about them in the Telegraph yesterday – a story that Penny could have reprised (with a local slant) in the Weekender.
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You read it wrong then Marc. Her next sentence says: ‘In effect, Western Cape on a wine label means “somewhere in South Africa” ‘- what about the +20m litres produced in the Northern Cape? These wines do not have Western Cape on the label.
Silly Carlos. The sentence in question shows that JR DOES know that the “very hottest, most northerly vinyards” are not in the Northern Cape, which NP implied she did not.
You then bring up the next sentence which is almost irrelevent except that it re-inforces JR’s point that the Western Cape is a very large, unpecific and generic region.
Silly Carlos.
Come again Marc? She knows that the most northerly vineyards are NOT in the Northern Cape? Well, they are. Silly Marc!
Apologies Carlos, and all other readers. The most northerly vinyards are not in the WESTERN CAPE. Jancis Robinson appears to know this but somehow I appear not to.
Silly Marc
My only excuse is that i was trying to drink the right amount of champagne for one man as per a Winston Churchill quote on another uncorked blog post. It was said to be a magnum (there were two of us but the other fellow wasn’t drinking”. Only later did I find that this was also factually incorrect and it should have been an imperial; pint of champagne. Hence my bad proof reading.
Marc, you are a bad albeit funny, loser. Please explain this bit of Jancis geography: ‘In effect, Western Cape on a wine label means “somewhere in South Africa” ‘
NO IT DOES NOT for a drinker of Spar Country Cellars wines made from grapes grown in the NORTHERN CAPE.
Gosh Charles, sorry I seemed a bad loser, not my intention.
JR was speaking to her target audience, ie not Spar shoppers. As such she said that the Western Cape was a very large and unspecific appellation, and as the only other area (hot, northerly etc) did not export much, it was de facto “a wine wine in made in South Africa”. Perhaps she should have known that the Northern Cape exports in bulk to China and that KwaZuluNatal is now also a geographical unit, but her article still makes sense. Unlike some of my ramblings.
Neil
A few things. Thanks for the kind comments about Penny Haw’s ‘wine’ articles (although she never wrote about wine per se), because the ‘angles’ for her stories were decided on and commissioned by myself.
Also, The Weekender did not ‘take a stand at WineX’ but has been media partner with WineX for three years.
Regards
It is great to know that Week-ender’s television columnist also planned the wine stories. Multi-tasking is such a useful tool in the world of journalism, but if I had to take a chance on the success of Week-ender’s (RIP) review section, it would be on Penny Haw’s execution of colour pieces, including those on wine.
http://www.wine.co.za/news/New.....ource=News for more thoughts on the demise of The Weekender.
Dear Last Chance Saloon (aka Neil?)
NO KATY, YOU CAN STOP BEING SO PARANOID, THE LAST CHANCE SALOON IS NOT CALLED NEIL – ED.
I created and edited the travel and food section three and a half years ago and latterly edited the whole Review section for The Weekender.
There is no Review (RIP) section online, but if there were to be, I would continue to commission and edit the freelance services of the formidable Penny Haw regularly and with alacrity.
Regards
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Marc Afton-Cooper
November 8, 2009 at 4:39 pmAs I read it, JR did get the far northern geography correct;
” Western Cape, which encompasses all of the Cape winelands except the very hottest, most northerly vineyards”
It is possible the word except which confused you Neil ?