Is the worm about to turn? Fiona McDonald, SA’s leading international taster with berths at the IWC, IWSC and Concours Mondial, reports that some of the UK’s fiercest Pinotage sceptics are having to eat humble pie washed down with Pinotage. As proof of this, a story on Aaldering Pinotage: straight, white and unwooded called Lady M in today’s De Telegraaf, the leading Dutch dead-tree newspaper (below), edited by the brilliantly named mnr. J.J.M Paradijs:

And what a personal honour to be described as “beminnelijke maar snoeiharde” by Stan Huygens, a huge Scrabble score indeed! So while Beyers Truter and his gang of seven visit Bell Wine Estates in Napa, co-owned and run by ex-South African Anthony Bell who makes a mean Syrah, the whole world is being wrapped in a Pinotage embrace.