King John of England signed the Magna Carta in June 1215 at Runnymede. So its a marketing gift for Steenberg that their flagship white blend called Magna Carta made by another John, Loubser, reaches the acme of white blend accomplishment with vintage 2015. For while the maiden vintage 2007 wowed all at Catharina’s on Friday, the best vintage by the proverbial country mile is the 2015 which is a shape shifting miracle.

This wine has X-factor to burn. While you just have to take a look at some wine critics to know they are spoofers and self promoters, when a wine with this gravitas and elegance trips across your palate, you know you’re in the presence of greatness and you don’t need a pious nerd or member of SBIG to tell you, in their private capacity, it tastes of orange peel.

I took my free bottle on down to Kyoto Garden Sushi on Friday night, one of the few eateries in Cape Town with sufficient feng shui to suit the wine. The forces of nature put on quite a show with a South Easter smashing Scott Wood’s pot plants on Kloof Nek like skittles in a bowling alley. A real Big Lebowski evening with two academcis from Brazil and Canada, in town for the International Geological Congress. Only one was mugged which was below the odds in Cape Town which is now the murder capital of SA.

SA could do with a Magna Carta or even a bit of law and order.