The vocabulary of wine appreciation is a crazy thing. Suggest to the uninitiated that Sauvignon Blanc smells of “cat’s pee” and you’re pretty sure to be met with gales of laughter. You also have to love the euphemism that equates the aromatics on Pinot Noir to “farmyard”.

It’s curious what turns people on. Eben Sadie of Columella and Palladius fame is outspoken in his dislike for Sauvignon Blanc. “Put me on ‘Fear Factor’ and I could cope with the cockroaches and the snakes. Just don’t make me drink Sauvignon.” Wine critic Michael Fridjhon recently came up with the arresting observation that “oxidation [on Chenin Blanc] – with all due respect to the lunatic fringe – is a step away from necrophilia.”

During the festive season, I was sharing a glass of Orange River Colombard 2010 with my mother-in-law, Jenny Ferreira, custodian along with father-in-law Naas, of the truly spectacular garden at Klein Optenhorst in Wellington. Not a wine of great pedigree, but it did achieve a value rating of 20/20 in the 2011 Wine magazine Best Value Wine Guide sponsored by Ultra Liquors having been rated 2½ Stars while selling for slightly over R20 a bottle.