A French wine scrums for rugby 9 July 2007

Who will captain the Cape team?

The history and passion for the tight scrum, drop-kick and all the other delights that make up the game called rugby run deep in the Cape’s winelands and its classy estates. Think Jannie, Boland, Hempies, to mention but a few. In that other southerly wine-producing nation, it too is a sport with much public punch.

Curious then that wine, in any of its better-known labels, has been so absent from the game, jerseys and, yes, sponsorship of rugby. 

At the recent Vinexpo, however, the Bordeaux family company Vignobles Georges Carreau & Fils introduced a nifty little range from their winery, taking advantage of the very popular rugby Six Nations Championship that France won with an injury-time try at the great Stade de France in Paris, earlier in March.

The cheeky pack of six wines from the Côtes de Blaye area of Bordeaux carried the bold, eye-catching label of Passion Rugby. Each bottle of the wine – a typical regional blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon – features one of the six participating country’s flags and brand name in matching colours. Obviously it made for an appealing memento for wine-drinking rugby fans.