Not Everything Lost in Belgium

Did WOSA put all its golden eggs in the Cape Wine balasmandjie? It certainly looks that way as the only SA winemaker seen at Megavino Brussels, the leading Belgian wine show, was big Danie Malan (below, with Christoph Merchiers) from Allesverloren (we lost it all). Today is the last day of the show.

As Danie says “I’m very proud to be the only South African winemaker at Megavino which is as important as Pro Wein or Vin Expo in Bordeaux to me, I’m also disappointed not to see any colleagues winemakers supporting this fair nor the prescence of WOSA at this show although ALL wine producing countries are fighting to get a place in the Belgian gastronomic market.”

When Danie’s forebears named the farm Allesverloren, they must have had crystal balls for if not even WOSA can pitch up for some moules-frites and Kriek (plus a healthy dollar denominated tax-free per diem which makes overseas trips very popular for WOSA grootkoppe) things must be dire indeed for SA wine.

But it is not even necessary to fly all the way to the Land of Tintin to see how plat winery travel budgets have become. RMB WineX, which hits Sandton this week, has one of the smallest exhibitor lists ever. A leading Elgin producer is down as “Oak Valley (not wines)” while KWV, now smaller than Spier in the local market (according to Tim Hutchinson who once tried to buy them), appears three times in a replay of the Miracle of Fatima as KWV Classic Collection, KWV Reserve and KWV The Mentors. Hoe werk dit? as they say in the Classics.