Uncorked came in for a bit of stick after our coverage of the Cape Winemakers Guild Auction in October. One of the senior members e-mailed “I am sure you are completely lost because you are focusing on only one event regarding the CWG” namely the Auction. Well seeing as though hacks don’t get invited to Guild tastings – a pity as the recent varietal tasting of Malbec would have made a good story for consumers – and they mostly get CWG press releases on Auction matters, it’s really no surprise that the Auction dominates media coverage. The recent election of new members to the Guild is a case in point.

Gottfried Mocke

Sources tell me there were a whole host of winemakers up for election. Cathy Marshall and Rianie Strydom must surely be shoo-ins given the pressure to transform the Guild from its current lily white, all boys club status. Among the manne, rumour proposed Chris Williams of Meerlust fame and Gottfried Mocke from Chamonix, the last uncontroversial Diners Club Winemaker of the Year. I do hope that Frans K Smit cracks the nod as some of his Spier wines are true stunners and surely Razvan Macici from Nederburg cannot be overlooked much longer if Bruce Jack, winemaker for Constellation, largest wine company on the planet, is onboard. Pity fabulous François Haasbroek is not eligible as Kevin Arnold is already the Waterford member.

One factor that must affect smaller producers is the rumoured R19K signing up fee on top of the annual R12K subs. Fine for Europeans with deep pockets like Dirk van der Niepoort, but a real challenge for winemakers on the wrong side of the mountain. Perhaps WOSA (Wines of SA, the exporters’ association) can deploy some of their resources to support needy CWG members rather than cherry-pick individuals to advance the cause of SA wine overseas. Just a thought…