Ken Forrester, the King of Chenin, missed his calling. He could have been a contender.  He could have been Joel Gray, the debauched Berlin night club MC in Cabaret or Jim Broadbent playing the impresario Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge. At a two hour tasting of nine wines in his 1694 Scholtzenhof Cape Dutch Manor House yesterday, Ken kept the prickly cohort of Cape wine hacks enthralled for two hours with a “yesterday, today and tomorrow” performance. The showbiz shirt (below) was blue crushed velour/velveteen and the schtick the slickest this side of the Reciprocal Wine Trading Companywhen it was located in Commissioner Street, Johannesburg, in the days when SA drank Romanée-Conti from a good vintage for R4.5 a bottle.

And feasted on prawn cocktails like the one below, with special pienksauce.  Romanée-Conti may very well be available on the 400 item 96 Winery Road wine list but I’d settle for the Ken Forrester 2007 Sauvignon Blanc showing almost Riesling-like turpenes and pyrazines.

Oh do come back Glenda Kemp and bring your python with. Save us from rip-off importers and generic marketers, full of passionate intensity. Yesterday’s lunch menu in full (below). Read it and weap.