Misinformation and out of date SA material
on the internet 12 January 2006

From Francois Haasbroek (winemaker at Waterford Estate):

Season's greetings and all the best for the coming year.

I read the New York Times online edition, and always find myself at the Food & Wine section – it is here that I stumbled onto an article written by Eric Asimov: he is the chief wine critic for the New York Times and has a running blog on their site called The Pour . 

This one was posted 11th of December and dealt with unknown wines etc etc. What I did notice was a reference to South African chenins, rumour having it that it’s on the move ... upwards! Good news, you would think, but not quite. You can click on ‘South Africa’ and it takes you to a strange and wonderful time, where most archeologists will have a field day.

The site is www.Epicurious.com, a website for food and wine lovers, and here it gives you their dictionary definition of South Africa. Most of what is said is factually true; only problem is it at least fifteen years old if not older.

The ones that really got me is that KWV actually still controls price, supply and demand of grapes, and the other two most powerful players are still in fact Stellenbosch Farmers Winery and Oude Meester. The list of leading producers is quite interesting as well; more to the point who is actually still holding their own even after all these years. Can anyone point out where the Analusia appellation is?

Luckily they do state that Sauvignon blanc and Chardonnay are catching some favour – but still fall spectacularly far behind Cape Riesling and Clairette Blanche (I think they are both about 7 times Riesling’s size and anyone’s guess compared to Clairette). Neither here nor there. Also  Cabernet Sauvignon is on the up, but the 13.5% of total plantings compared to Cinsaut’s 2.8% is not convincing enough that Cinsaut shouldn't be our saving grace. Oh yes – apparently our local contribution, Pinotage is falling out of favour as well.

I do realise the internet is vast and it is impossible to make sure information posted is up to date or factually correct. What worries me most is this is not a post or links in the Shanghai Gazette – it's the chief wine critic of the New York Times, arguably the most influential and highly regarded newspaper in the world!

In Eric Asimov's defence, I did not contact him and ask why Epicurious was used as the link of choice to describe us back in the stone age. It might be his default dictionary for wine terms or areas, but wouldn't The Oxford Companion make more sense – at least it's revised every few years, by someone who has actually tasted SA wines.

Should we not somehow make sure that these guys are kept in the loop? There can't be that many top notch critics and journos out there, that we can't send out proper up to date stats and news.

We asked Eric Asimov for a comment on Francois's point, and he replied that his purpose was ‘simply to steer people to a place where they could be introduced to the idea of South Africa as a wine-producing nation, something that many Americans, at least, don't know’. He asked for suggestions for a better link, and I recommended wosa.co.za, grape.co.za and wine.co.za – winecoza has good introductory material. Incidentally, Asimove confirmed that he has recently done a tasting of Cape chenins and was impressed – and will be doing an article on it within the next few months.
– TJ