Tomorrow evening sees the emergence of WOW – Wines of Origin Wellington – the birth of a new appellation which will pop up like a dragon from an egg in the Drakenstein Mountains at Kleine Valleij. This is the hottest ticket in the Winelands after which next week’s Cape Wine 2012 jamboree will be nothing more than an anti-climax. It’s not often that a wine appellation gets born as only the most dedicated producers can meet the stringent demands of Dumipie Bayly and his demarcation committee who travel round the Winelands in a combi equipped with a braai, loudly demanding nourishment, like baby dragons in the nest.

Catering is by dim.sum.vin.com and will feature a delicious selection of Bonzai Boerekos in Asian getup. As MC, I plan to appear as the medieval Chinese admiral Zheng He if the alterations to Danie de Wet’s expansive Kimono can be made in time. Meanwhile the vexed question of what music should be played has been confused somewhat by the news that Aussie wine judges are now serenaded by live music “in an effort to get judges ‘to think, feel and taste in a South Australian mindset'” according to Decanter.

This was clearly not done at the recent SBIG Sauvignon Blanc Top Ten competition where Tevye singing “if I were a rich man” and other hits from Fiddler on the Roof would have been appropriate. I suggested Welly Wellington, a jazz/gospel singer from Kasane in Botswana for WOW, but he likely has commitments entertaining US tourists in game lodges on a Friday night.

But the perfect soundtrack for tomorrow night’s festivities is surely The Taking of Tiger Mountain (by Strategy) by Brian Eno. The lyrics of China, my China (below) are most appropriate:

In the haze of the morning, China sits on Eternity
And the opium farmers sell dreams to obscure fraternities
On the horizon the curtains are closing

Down in the orchard the aunties and uncles play their games
(like it seems they always have done)
In the blue distance the vertical offices bear their names
(like it seems they always have done)
Clocks ticking slowly, dividing the day up

These poor girls are such fun they know what God gave them fingers for
(to make percussion over solos)

China my China, I’ve wandered around and you’re still here
(which I guess you should be proud of)
Your walls have enclosed you, have kept you at home for thousands of years
(but there’s something I should tell you)
All the young boys are dressing like sailors

I remember a man who jumped out from a window over the bay
(there was hardly a raised eyebrow)
The coroner told me ‘This kind of thing happens every day’
You see, from a pagoda, the world is so tidy.