In SA wine, the tail wags the dog. Suppliers of logistic services decide who should judge competitions and don’t rock the boat is the criterion. Venues are chosen to suit pourers rather than tasters and many tons of carbon credits are expended as Cape Town palates head off to Nederburg to assess wines. Huh? Competitions should be judged in Johannesburg which is where the stuff gets sold.

PR hullabaloo is far more important than intrinsic quality in a bottle. The reasons for this reversal are complex and yet simple. SA winemakers may be easily confused with masochists and that a sighted wine label guide is allowed to dictate “quality” speaks volumes. The message is mene, mene, tekel, uparsin.

Thelema confirms the victory of PR spin over intrinsic quality. Two decades ago and the annual launch of new vintages saw anoraks queuing in their Ford Cortinas to secure supplies of Sauvignon Blanc. A tasting of the 2015 Reserve Sauvignon Blanc at Auslese today confirmed that Thelema still sets the benchmark for Shrek’s favourite cultivar.

Yet how many column centimetres of commentary will be devoted to describing this remarkable wine? Thelema is old news: been there, done that, got the T-shirt and gave it to the gardener. Which is a pity as this is a chameleon and I’m not talking the chameleons some Stellenboschkloof producers add to their tanks to increase body.

This is old school Sauvignon that takes the taster back two decades. Before the First National Blank Top Ten. Before the green pepper scandal. Before the Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group. Before WOSA. Back when quality sold wine, not spin. At last a multidimensional Sauvignon Blanc to offer an alternative to boring one dimensional numbers.

And what a rainbow guest list for a trade show with funky young black sommeliers a welcome vista onto the future. Hats off to Thelema for remaining pioneers: from vinous to social transformation without missing a beat.