With impeccable timing, night drinker and reportedly the pick of Biggie Smalls Lascaris to publish Platter, Xtian Eedes, releases his top Sauvignon blend on Tuesday. Presumably this was the tasting competition SBIG secretary Pieter Pippijoller de Waal was referring to when he was trying to manipulate me as a Sauvignon Blanc judge last year.
“It has also been put forward that we have another competition somewhere around March/April 2013, namely a Sauvignon Blanc based (i.e. minimum 50%) blend competition (not unlike the Cape Blend competition the Pinotage Association does) and for that competition we would like you on board (and of course not Christian [Eedes]). My feet are numb, what with treading so carefully on all the eggs!”
Well surprise, surprise! “The Hermit on the Hill The White Knight 2009 made by garagiste Pieter de Waal was the tasting group’s wine of the day and I have to say I was really glad to see it perform so well – I nominated it for 5 Stars in Platter’s 2012 but it was ultimately not endorsed” says Xtian, ecstatically.
Huh? The SBIG secretary’s wine wins? How does that work? The pippijoller who appointed Xtian chairman of the FNB Top Ten Sauvignon Competition and who took him to France to judge the Concours du Sauvignon this year. What a lucky break. Although a cynic may say this wine has distinct notes of rat pie. Is sponsor FNB aware of this? “Sa
How did Platanna come to assign The Hermit on the Hill brand to Xtian to taste sighted for the guide, a man in a paid relationship with the producer through SBIG? Don’t tasters have to disclose potential conflicts of interest, Platter editor Phillip van Zyl? Did Chris ask to judge these knavish wines? Can he be bought so cheaply? Has he read Dr. Faustus written by another Chris, (Marlowe)?
Seems like pippijoller uses SBIG to market his wines and sure sounds like a scam to me and something the new publisher of Platanna, JP Rossouw, may want to look into, as it stinks to high heaven. Nominating a wine for five stars made by the secretary of SBIG when you’re presumably paid to be panel chair of their annual FNB Top Ten Competition. Me, I’m off to see Cas Coovadia, a member of the Ombudsman for Banking Services Board, to lodge a complaint.
It’s a scam to make the sub-prime scandal look like a fairy tale. Has Standard Bank/Diners Club bought another can of worms? As a member of SBIG emailed me last night “inelegant and in cheap & bad taste. There’s no room in my life for people like this.” Will someone call for a boycott of Diners Club cards until they get their affairs in order? It’s almost worth buying a Standard Bank share to ask the chairman what’s going on at the AGM.
SBIG needs to stir its stumps and have a meeting soonest to investigate the whole stinking mess which is tarnishing the reputation of Sauvignon Blanc in SA. “Sauvignon, a sip for scoundrels”. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
