To launch the new red blend from Vergelegen called DNA in Blighty last week, Vergelegen MD Don Tooth recalled the reaction of winemaker André van Rensburg to the great grape of Burgundy: “I will sleep with men before I make Pinot Noir.”  This addition to the André annals is supplied by the Drinks Business and is a curious way to market wine.  But probably OK in the UK, as long as you keep Miss Whiplash out of the joke.  Now we know why Pinot Noir is called the heartbreak grape.

But the burning question is whether Pinot is as bad as Pinotage, which André is quoted as saying is produced by “murders (sic), rapists and child molesters.”  The Anglo American (owners of Vergelegen) PR machine may not be best pleased with all this bar room banter.