I was slumming it in the Alentejo when the Franschhoek Book Festival went down and so missed the launch of Grape by Jeanne Viall, Wilmot James & Jakes Gerwel. But thank heavens I was uitstedig and so also missed the annual Franschhoek Sighted Wine Hacks Reward, which hit a fresh low this year. Prolific blogger Chris von Ulmenstein was at the peeling of Grape and reports that the slim volume “is certain to cause discomfort to the wine and table grape industry.”

Just one of her observations makes her point in spades. “Good ‘table wine’ has only been produced in the past 15 years, WOSA CEO Su Birch is quoted as saying, with only Meerlust, Delheim and Kanonkop known to make good wines before this time.” Now let’s see – 15 years ago brings us back to 1996, no great shakes as a vintage for sure, but if accurately reported, the rest of the quote is probably the most uninformed comment I’ve read about the industry today.

What about those mould-breaking Thelemas, the miraculous 86 Sauvignon Blanc from Klein Constantia and the fine 1982 and 1984 dry reds from Rustenberg? I must buy a copy to check that Su has not been quoted out of context. Shocked and appalled, I really cannot believe it.

Sunday morning PS. I now have my copy of Grape and it’s unfortunately all there on page 95, although the Meerlust, Delheim and Kanonkop comment seems to apply to wines made before the 1960s.

There is more reinventing history on page 94 with Su noting “come democracy, everyone wanted to support our wines, but all they could do was buy bucket-loads full of cheap wine.” What utter rot – Rustenberg, Kanonkop, Hamilton Russell and other top-end producers were widely available in London before the first democratic election.