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The wisdom of the Nederburg Auction inviting Washington wine blogger David White to open the auction last year, reveals itself in the most unexpected places. Such as the columns of The Advertiser News, a US community newspaper which is the only branch of the dead-tree media’s decaying empire that is showing growth. Community newspapers are probably the only hardcopy that will survive the digital revolution. Last week, I asked Distell CEO Jan Scannell “who is doing the honours this year?” and he replied “I don’t know.” Let’s hope it’s someone from the East, where a new dawn is breaking for SA wine. Sir David Tang would be perfect for the part.
While our own much loved Sunday Times becomes less and less interested in wine (was it last week or the week before that there was nothing at all about vino?) the British weekly The Spectator is moving in the opposite direction. Bruce Anderson pops up with a full page column while Simon Hoggart runs the 2/3-page Spectator Mini-Bar. Which last week reported that Cape Point Vineyards winemaker Duncan Savage was “widely regarded as the leading white wine maker in South Africa” before lifting off in flights of hairy hyperbole about Duncan’s CPV Sauvignon Blanc 2010.
Duncan the Great
When did Christian Eedes cease being an enfant terrible of SA wine writing and join the establishment? Perhaps when Harry Haddon and his car were evicted at dawn from Kloovenburg for squatting during the Swartland Revolution. Or when David Cope released the Klein Constantia Sumo wrestler video that resulted in the farm being sold to a bouncing Czech cyclist. An industry like SA wine can support only so many enfants terrible at one time.
The final September edition of WINE magazine presents six future legends: august Adi Badenhorst, handsome Howard Booysen, ravishing Rosa Kruger, magnificent Miles Mossop, elegant Eben Sadie and dashing Duncan Savage except only Howie is a true future legend. The others arrived ages ago, as is clear from the stellar prices they demand for their drops and glamorous “farmer” Rosa supplies the viticultrual prowess that polishes the pinnacle of SA pricey wine.
David Sadie and Donovan Rall
Came across an interesting story in the May edition of Prestige magazine in the BidVest lounge at George Airport yesterday which claimed that Hugo Boss is the most popular fragrance in the SA cellar. Then I realized I was the author. Duh!
The big surprise when Elizabeth Taylor left for the silver screen in the sky in March was the size of her estate – estimated at $1 billion, thanks to the range of 11 celebrity perfumes made by Elizabeth Arden. Perfumes are nothing to sniff at.
Looks like the decision of Robin “snatch” von Holdt, CEO of the controversial Top 100 Saint James Wine competition to offer membership of his “wine industry executive” to the WOSA CEO is paying off, with support for the competition from Su Birch on Twitter (678 followers, 908 tweets) “good reaction here, winning over the skeptics” although her re-tweet of a report in German by Mario Scheuermann won’t win over this skeptic. Here’s how Google translates Mario:
Variety is in our Nature: Top 100 St. James Wines
SA winemakers can be broadly classified into two groups: those who surf and those who fish. The distinction is clear in their wines. Those beautifully balanced Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blends from Cape Point Vineyards confirm that Duncan Savage is a surfing savant while the more laidback savoury flavours in Badenhorst Family Wines whites speak more to a yellowtail sizzling on the braii.
Adi preaching the parable of the crayfish
With SA wine facing its toughest vintage since many winemakers were forcibly relocated to St. Helena at the end of the Boer War, another wine competition rolls onto the scene: Top 100 SA Wines. Which as advertised, aims to choose the top 100 SA wines. The brain child of St. James-based entrepreneur Robin von Holdt, this is far more than a competition.
With lavish unattributed quoting (aka plagarism) popular with some SA wine hacks, I thought I’d climb on the bandwagon and go for a ride. This then a piece on wine fetishism, plagarised from a Guardian food blog. The words in CAPITALS are my contribution. The picture is a youthful tribute to the golden lads of SA wine taken from my upcoming Christmas Stocking Filler and shows Marc Kent waiting for his egg to hatch.
Marc Kent and egg
SA lost one of her most capable culinary communicators this morning when Lannice Snyman slipped away at Constantiaberg after a long battle with cancer. Losing Lannice brought down the curtain on one of my most disappointing weeks in SA food which started off with a mild case of Montezuma’s revenge after a bowl of Emma Chen’s “crispy beef spicy R79.50” at the Red Chamber in Hyde Park. Still Emperor Can Wait remains my favourite SA cookbook (even if my stomach couldn’t) and judging by the tables in the corridor of the monstrous Hyde Park shopping centre, her food works for the boykie and bobba brigade.
Claire at lunch yesterday
The last PR release before Christmas was a “newsflash” from Paul Cluver. “Jonathan Ray of Telegraph.co.uk reflects on innovations in the wine industry in the past 10 years in his column dated 9 December 2009. Commenting on the improvement of new world countries Argentina, Chile and South Africa, he describes Paul Cluver Wines amongst others as ‘toothsome’ in contrast to the ‘ubiquitous’ Arniston Bay and Kumala.
Responding from Europe, Paul Cluver says ‘We are proud to be among the list of wineries mentioned. It is a clear indication that in England Paul Cluver Wines is regarded as one of the leading growers from South Africa.’” The weather in Europe is so bad, I almost didn’t recognize Paul in the photo below.
Paul Cluver in Europe
