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Robert Frost reckons that good fences make good neighbours but on the Paardeberg the reverse holds. When Adi Badenhorst moved in next door and became my Siebritskloof (Paardeberg) neighbour, the first thing he did was try to schmooze some old window frames from Deon (my Gauteng builder) and rolled up the fence between his Kalmoesfontein (or Slangwortelfontein as it should be more properly called) and my Lemoenfontein. After I blogged about our mutual near-neighbour Eben Sadie over in Aprilskloof yesterday, thought that in the interests of neighbourliness, an Adi article was in order. This then from this week’s Financial Mail.
The almost total failure of transformation in the SA wine industry was reinforced by the recent Cape Wine 2008 biennial trade show at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Conspicuous by their absence were BAWSI (the Black Association of the Wine and Spirit Industry), SAWIT (the SA Wine Industry Trust) and the Wine Industry Council while empowerment ventures had such low profiles as to be all but subterranean. Has the plan to train 2010 sommeliers in time for the Soccer World Cup replaced the brave new rainbow vision from Cape Wines 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006?
It’s long been an open secret that the best writing about SA wine emanates from London. Which could explain why Wines of SA [WoSA], the exporter’s mouthpiece, are flying so many UK pundits to Cape Wine 2008 later this month. A biennial bibulous bash, it should more sensitively be called SA Wine 2008 as the Western Cape is not the only province making the stuff or paying the pundits’ bills. My own invitation noted rather sternly “unfortunately, we are not able to cover costs incurred for transport and accommodation but we are happy to offer a vehicle for the evening of Cape Cuisine, for Cape Town-based transfers.” So my own attendance should not dig the rumored R800 000 hole in the CW2008 accounts any deeper.
