Has Barack Obama seen through Trump wine? As he asked a Democratic fundraiser yesterday “has anybody bought that wine? I want to know what that wine tastes like. I mean, come on. You know that’s like some $5 wine. They slap a label on it. They charge you $50 and say it’s the greatest wine ever.”

Implying that The Donald has taken a leaf out of the Swartland marketing manual where some producers buy wine from co-ops and re-brand it as Swartland sizzler at a stratospheric price.

Of course this obsession with labels over taste has been perfected by the Platter wine label guide owned by Diners Club and managed by the owner of Boekenhoutskloof. In the latest edition of Winelands, there is the most egregious undeclared advertorial for the guide. Winelands, its editor who wrote the rubbish and publisher should be ashamed of themselves for hitting a fresh low point in SA wine writing. Admittedly, starting from a low base.

The wife of the editor notes “at one stage Platter’s was only second to the Gideon’s Bible in terms of number of copies printed. How’s that for wine going mainstream?” which is both sacrilegious, quite possibly an evil lie and ignores Tim Noakes and his Real Meal Revolution in SA at least. The guide is hailed as an “industry asset” when it is really a tawdry moneymaking racket for big business and manipulating the perception of SA wine in the public arena. All very Donald, in fact.