An amazing piece of reptile logic in the Business Day this morning from the Wine Lizard. “Wines of South Africa does not appear to have budgeted for any investment in the French market — despite France having been one of the top 10 buyers of South African wine for some time (it’s now in number five slot) and with year-on-year exports to France growing by 200%.” The facts are quite different.

Total exports are indeed up over 300% but sales of bottled wine are down 16% to 800K litres. The vast majority of the 33 million litres exported to the Hexagon is shipped there in bulk, so why would WOSA invest in promoting an anonymous commodity?

Lizzie broaches these statistics to big note himself as the go-to person in France for SA producers. The truth about his recent First Class Air France jolly to Burgundy is the opposite of the idyll he paints in Bidet today, an organ he increasingly uses as his personal vuvuzela. Producers will see through the fluff and WOSA should ignore the siren calls of rapidly rotating bowties trying to reach take off velocity.