If last year was an annus horribilis for WOSA, 2012 is starting off even worse for Stellenbosch spin doctors with an elegant evisceration of the embattled organization by Richemont chairman Dr. Johann Rupert at the annual Vinpro Information Day on Thursday

As JPR said “Ek glo WOSA doen fenomenale werk, maar mense koop nie wyn as gevolg van biodiversiteit nie.” After praising the phenomenal job that WOSA is doing, Johann trashes the flagship project they have spent millions on. That WOSA senior management was not present to explain their strategies to concerned producers confirms the increasing irrelevance of the organization. With the WOSA R25 million annual budget essentially frittered away (the latest disaster is bringing sommeliers to SA who will not buy a single bottle when they go home as the restaurant owner places the orders), the challenge for the industry is to protect sales made within SA.

An example of just how many opportunities SA wine is missing is given by Laibach, an estate on the R44 between Stellenbosch and Paarl. Last year a Chinese lady arrived by taxi for a tasting. Liking the Ladybird brand, she bought a small amount – R900,000 worth – enough to fill a container. Safely returned to China, she ordered another three, buying a quarter of the estate’s production, by chance. As winemaker François van Zyl noted, the German owners have scrapped the marketing budget this year and now don’t even bother to send bottles to local wine writers for assessment. Sales are essentially a random event.

An observation echoed at Vergelegen the year before when a Chinese jeweller arrived unannounced and also bought R900,000 worth of flagship Bordeaux-style blend V. Last year, the order was R2.2m (R1.8m after discounts) – also 25% of production – for the jeweller and five friends, untasted. Which makes the decision by WOSA to spend 4% of their annual budget in China look crazy. How many tasting room poppies in rokkies or kêrels in khaki can speak Chinese? The WOSA budget would be far better spent on Chinese lessons for SA tasting room staff.

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