South African wine peeps don’t realise how good they’ve got it. I should probably qualify that as Western Cape peeps – those within spitting distance of the most beautiful wine country in the world and some of the most affordable and world class wine tourism offerings to be found anywhere. But yet tasting room staff and cellar door managers will all have stories of people who get stroppy and rude when told that they have to pay to taste wines, or who want to know what the rates are for locals.

I don’t get it?!

Sure there are a few cellars who are having a laugh, with seemingly pointless prices (is Vergelegen still charging an entrance fee?) and there are some with slack service and crappy wines that don’t command the tasting fee. But lets be honest, most farms who charge for tasting are asking punters to cough up R10 to R25 to taste around 6 wines. And the wine farms that are worth visiting are usually producing decent wines which is why the visitors are there in the first place. You would be hard pressed to find any cellar door that expects to come close to covering their costs with their tasting fees. R15 is a beer+tip  in a decent Cape Town bar. So why don’t locals ask for a discount at a bar? Would you pop round to Aubergine and ask to taste a few of the things on the menu so that you can decide if you want to order anything?