Sawubona drops the pilot

A new publisher for Sawubona, inflight magazine of turbulence tossed airline SAA, has catapulted editor designatus Ingrid Wood into the role of new best friend for the circle of soccer mom spitterati and man wagon winos who comprise the ever diminishing wine writing pool in SA.

Glamour puss Khanyi Dhlomo (one time badminton partner of SA’s first spaceman Mark Shuttleworth) has grabbed the publisher’s baton from former teacher and trade unionist Desmond Samson and the question on every wine hack’s lips is who will follow Mr. Min as wino with wings? Counting the mistakes in Mr. Min’s pearls of precious prose filled many seconds on flights to the Mother City.

For Sawubona is an unbeatable showcase for SA wine producers, given its captive audience and 90,000 circulation. But with double page spreads priced at R93,400 a pop, only Obikwa and Nederburg are in the market these days. Obiwan already supplies wine to Cathay Pacific while Nederburg are in the studio again with MasterChefSA, although they did wallpaper OR Tambo International with the smiling face of cellarmaster Razvan Macici, welcoming visitors to the city of gold with his customary casual elan and flair.