Could Thursday’s consumer blind tasting of Two Oceans wines be the first ripples of a tsunami that flushes out the U-bend of the SA wine spittoon, clogged up by an entrenched tasting mafia with more conflicts of interest than a Fifa official, as one wine marketer e-mailed yesterday? Perhaps those frustrated entrepreneurs who baulked at paying Fifa R50 000 for a hawkers’ license to peddle R30 plastic rain ponchos to punters outside the rainy Green Point Stadium earlier this week could rethink their business model and facilitate a network of consumer tasting panels. Imagine the Breedekloof wine route offering blind tastings of their beauties against the competition from the fashionable side of the mountain and reporting the results on social networking sites. Consumers have nothing to lose but their prejudices.

My tasting notes from Thursday’s benchmark tasting with my favourite of the flight denoted by a (*).

Flight 1 Sauvignon Blanc

Lindemans 2009 $7.75 soft palate of green peaches
Arabella 2009 R39 canned rather than green peaches plus pineapple, rich but spritzy
Spier 2009 R43 broad spectrum of tropical flavours plus asparagus
*Two Oceans 2009 R23 jumps out of the glass, racy, lively grapefruit, fresh

Flight 2 Pinot Grigio

Flat Roof Manor 2009 R35 fruit cake mix, flavours fall off an abrupt cliff
Van Loveren 2008 R39 fat like a Semillon, rich honey flavours, lacks freshness
*Two Oceans 2010 R28 lifted floral flavours, racy and dry
Barefoot NV $7.50 perfumed watermelon, sweet palate, lacks balance

Flight 3 Rosé

Fuzion 2009 (Argentina) more of a light red wine than a rosé
Arabella 2010 gorgeous partridge eye pink, sweet simple fruit
Boland 2009 onion skin, sweet and syrupy
*Two Oceans 2010 Lady Gaga shocking pink, zippy cherries and strawberries

Flight 4 Pinot Noir

Nature in Concert 2007 R190 pale red, finely fruited strawberries
*Lindemans 2009 $7.50 sea shells and intense red berries
Two Oceans 2009 R30 more mineral style with some medicinal notes
Creation 2009 R170 barnyard and tar

Flight 5 Shiraz

Simonsvlei 2008 R33 a bit reductive, hints of burnt rubber
Spier 2008 R50 fresh and lively red plums and spice
Yellowtail 2009 $7.50 herbal and minty with a sweet and confected palate
*Two Oceans 2009 R30 fruit driven with some spice, fresh and elegant

Flight 6 Cabernet and Cabernet/Merlot

Vansha 2008 R39 bacon and blackcurrants
Casillero del Diablo 2008 exotic (Chilean) perfumed berries with some mint, a style from either Wellington or Chile
*Two Oceans 2009 R30 herbal nose, minerals and stones with consummate balance
Flamingo Bay 2009 meaty with a rubber edge and a slight spritz