SAWi tells media to shape up

So some heavyweight SA wine producers (below) met at the 12 Apostles last week and issued a press release yesterday calling on “media and wine judges” to “do away with negative reporting about wine but, to rather align themselves in a new manner behind South African icon wines. Support, rather than undermining these wines is now required. Media was also asked to more often write about the extraordinary elements of South African wine.”

Well the only negative recent report about a wannabe icon wine I’m aware of is Tim James’s disgraceful ad hominem attack on 4G wines in the Male&Groanian. Alas the author of that hit job, along with most of the Cape Winepress (Ma Nolte, Mr. Min, Xtian Eedes, Cathy Marston and comedienne Angela Lloyd), were stuffing their fair faces at Aubergine and guzzling gorgeous Platter five star Pinot Noir made from grapes grown in a vineyard planted by Platter publisher Andrew McDowall, rather than reporting for re-education. As was this plump personage, who has been called a loose cannon in his time by well-paid and better-fed apparatchiks.

Well some messengers are now heartily tired of being shot at. What would SAWi do when a foreign judge makes allegations of serious impropriety in the judging process at the Michelangelo International Wine Awards, a discredited competition used to define the icon wines in question? When a Chinese wine identity phones long distance to complain about unhelpful media comment made by the CEO of WOSA, the industry’s foot-in-mouthpiece? Is there to be a resurrection of Eschel Rhoodie and the Department of Information? We tried that in the 1970s and it didn’t work then and won’t work now.