Reconciling enemies 30 November 2005

I do love being helpful, and doing my bit to make the world just a little bit more of a happy, peaceful place, don't you? And I think I might be able to help with one of the many distressing ongoing wine industry tiffs: that between supremo writer/consultant/judge/etc/etc Michael Fridjhon and the less rich and famous but no less charming – and much much taller – Emile Joubert, who tinkers around with some PR work and some winewriting (and even a bit of winemaking, he insists). In his usually rather hilarious emailed newsletter called Galjoengat News, Emile nearly always bravely gives Michael a bit of a tongue lashing – the most recent one speaks of ‘his editors that allow him to eschew certain basic journalistic principles’, for example.

Well, other material in Emile’s newsletter makes me think that there are good grounds for a reconciliation between the two of them, on the basis that neither is particularly eager to recognise conflicts of interest – that is, the problems inherent in both writing about wine and making money from wineries. Emile, you see, tells us of his excitement at the double prospects he has for increasing his work in the wine industry next year. On the one hand, he has plans to ‘substantially expand [his] service portfolio’. On the other, an Afrikaans food and wine mag called Fynproe is due to come out soon and editor Cassie du Plessis has asked him to be a contributor (‘my mate’, Emile calls Cassie, presumably to explain how work is got these days).

Clearly doesn’t occur to dear Emile that perhaps he is himself ‘eschewing’ the occasional ‘basic journalistic principle’ by so blithely being both a journalist and a PR consultant….

Tasting – to the bottom of the glass
It’s always nice to see the leading lights of the coming generation taking their work seriously. And especially pleasant to praise my young friend (well, not quite as young as he sometimes seems, in fact) Xtian Eedes, whom I had to gently chide a little while ago for over-zealous admiration of others’ writings. But I’m told that when it comes to wine-tasting, he is zealous there too. Apparently few are as devoted as he – the place he has occupied at a function or tasting is generally clearly indicated by the resolute emptiness of the array of tasting glasses. One does hope he then drives extra carefully on to his next tasting appointment.

Falseness
You might have wondered, like I have, whether Morgenster is getting a little desperate for sales – certainly they are spending record amounts on advertorials in various magazines. The text on their back-labels is usually less gushing. I was rather amused to note that their new ‘Summer House’ blend is probably the first to honour, if that's the right word, arch baddie Willem Adriaan van der Stel. The blurb on the back label refers to the eponymous summer house he dreamt of building on Schaapenberg Hill, and mentions his pleasant habit of posting look-outs on the hill to give him early notice of ships blown into False Bay by storms. The label doesn't actually tell us what he used that information for, but given his reputation, I would imagine it was not to enable him to be first to rush to their aid!

Time for change
Readers of Time magazine (which hasn’t yet carried a Morgenster advertorial, as far as I’m aware) might have seen not long ago some rather ho-hum coverage of the rise of ‘scientific’ (ie New World) wines. There’s a subsidiary article about black ownership of wine farms in SA, very validly criticising the lack of ‘empowerment’ here. In big letters: ‘> 20 the number of wineries in SA owned by blacks’. The effect rather spoilt, I thought, by the caption to the accompanying picture of Jeremy Arries tending some vines. It refers to him as ‘one of the assistant winemakers at Kanonkop’ – in an article that talks about empowerment and allowing black people dignity, wouldn’t it have been a nice touch for Time to have given him his name?

KWV gets Bertus and, perhaps, Gaggia
I’m wondering if in a year or two KWV will replace Diemersfontein at the head of the Trophy Wine Show  medals table….Those of you who, like the TWS judges, are partial to alcoholic fruit-and-wood-juice will be interested to know that winemaker Bertus Fourie is moving to the rather underperforming KWV. In fact I’m assured that Diemersfontein wines are unlikely to change, as they will be in the hands of the former assistant winemaker, who should have mastered the recipe by now.

KWV has been, of course, feeling miffed at having been forced by scandal to lose the services of two winemakers (rumours persist, by the way, that the sacked guys received very substantial payouts in return for their leaving quietly), people who knew clever ways of making sauvignon blanc taste of greenpepper. Anyway, thought the leaders of this venerable Cape institution, here was a good way (probably completely legal, too!) of making their red wines taste of coffee. 'Go out and hire Bertus ‘Starbucks’ Fourie at any price' was the directorial demand!