Harvesting Sour Grapes

Received the first copies of Sour Grapes this morning over breakfast of two slices of rye bread with marmite and shredded Cheddar cheese (in honour of Sir Fred “the Shred” Goodwin fired as Royal Bank of Scotland CEO this morning) matched with a pétillant lime and soda in a retro non-Riedel glass. The official launch will be at the Book Lounge, an independent book shop specializing in local publications, 71 Roeland Street, Cape Town after work on Guy Fawkes’ Day. Although I see that www.kalahari.net are already discounting it down to R127.50. Wines for the launch are being supplied by David Nieuwoudt from Cederberg Wines.

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The Tafelberg Press Release in full:

Sour Grapes cuts through the South African wine industry to uncork its vinous myths, revealing the veritas in SA vino.

Neil Pendock presents an idiosyncratic view of South African wine and illuminates some of the fascinating characters who contribute to the frothy spittoon in the kingdom of Bacchus at the continent’s southernmost tip.

Irreverent, opinionated, always amusing – Pendock probes incisively beneath the tannic skin of the wine world. This book gives a refreshingly sceptical view of the entourage of wine commentators – the VIPs, the writers, the connoisseurs and the amateurs, the charlatans and the experts, the professionals and the detractors – the people who really make our local wines tick.

In what is not so much a book about wine itself, as it is about the people who talk about, write about and make wine – the Bacchic chattering classes – ultimately, the author chooses humour as the best way to approach the subject.