Last night’s bi-monthly WellsFaber Sommelier Selection tasting of Southern Cape wines became more of a meet the winemaker as garagistes Pierre Rabie and Susan van Aswegen presented their creations to a receptive audience in the board room of the Cape Town Club.

The wines which stood out were wooded Sauvignon Blancs and Pinot Noirs and both winemakers spoke passionately about their wooden barrels with Susan claiming that 90% of the taste came from the barrel.

Which shows how crucial the choice between French, Romanian and American oak can be and at R27,000 a barrel, how financially important, too.

Both Pierre and Susan would be ideal regional heroes for our next project: Gastronomy GPS or Inside Track – the name is still being worked on – an exploration of destination through taste. Key questions such as “who grows the hottest chilis?” or who makes the runniest brie need to be urgently answered to stop the runaway bandwagon of celebrity chefs and winemakers hijacking the national palate with foams, jus and ridiculous cultivars they read about in glossy foreign magazines.

Of course there’s nothing wrong with such indulgences but we’d prefer authenticity over styling, periwinkles over Pellegrinos and regionality over fashion.