Ebrahim Matthews, teetotal CEO of Diners Club, will not have been best pleased at the reaction of two Platter judges (on his payroll) to Saturday’s Diners Club Winemaker of the Year Award after he spent nearly R2 million on the awards dinner at La Residence. Standard Bank shareholders (who own Diners), please take note of this outrageous corporate extravagance when considering your bank charges.

Christian Eedes ‏@ChristianEedes 30 Nov
No doubt #DinersWinemaker had a role originally but no longer in modern era.

Angela Lloyd ‏@AngelaLloyd1 30 Nov
Aren’t these winemaker awards ever more ridiculous, especially when not given to those actually responsible for turning grapes into wine?

Christian Eedes ‏@ChristianEedes 30 Nov
#DinersWinemaker as much relevance to SA wine as Baabaas to world rugby?

Ebrahim does not deal with criticism very well. I was dropped as a Diners judge yesterday to make way for fresh blood. Funny that, last year I was asked by Diners to take over chairing the awards but declined on the grounds that the incumbent was a friend of mine and I don’t stab my friends in the back. What a romantic fool I was!