The boredom of current wine shows-It astonishes me time after time, that wine producers would pour our thousands in tasting stock, yet take no interest in who actually tastes their wine. The recent WineX wine show in Johannesburg was another example of how money is to be poured down the throats of unappreciative tasters with no reward.

As I am no longer a member of the retail industry, no one feels the need to impress me, and as such, I am incognito, which suits me just fine. However, it also made me realise why South Africans consume so little wine. Wine producers have very little, if any enthusiasm, for their own product it seems. With the exception of Bertus Fourie (he put Diemersfontein on the map) now at Val de Vie, and Lindhorst, who actually had a very good, and ingenious way of attracting attention, the wine producers bored me to death. Sorry guys, some of you are my friends, or used to be, but your marketing skills suck.

WineX organisers per se, are also not doing much to promote the very producers that pay them thousands merely to have the opportunity to waste their money and their precious stock. The only person showing real profit being the very organisers of the different wine shows. If we could only have the marketing skills of the Aussies, our wine would long since have been on everyone's lips-worldwide, but we don't, we are sitting with a seriously shite local consumption of wine, with no one seeming very interested in promoting wine. I win an award then "YOU MUST LOVE WINE" as per Mr Andre van Rensburg of Vergelegen...who once ridiculed me for daring to say his wine was merely nice...I belief his words were..."your grandmother is nice". It is this very arrogance in wine circles that prevent growth and new marketing ideas.

I recently suggested to a young wine maker that we should attend the marketing Guru, Graham Knox's wine marketing event, which he flatly declined, telling me he has his own ideas. It's this "I know best" attitude that has been the death of many products, not only wine.

We need to know our market, a belief in our own product is not good enough, we need to convince the consumer of that view and cannot do it without knowledge of our consumers, hence the lack of uptake under young South Africans and the non-white population, they remain an unknown entity as very little marketing analysis has been done to determine their needs...in wine or wine products.

Wake up...you are boring and your product won't sell

Hamilton Russell Vineyards (HRV) - I attended a wine evening last night at Casalinga Restaurant in Muldersdrift, hosted by Anthony Hamilton Russell. We started with a Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc, which was delicious, well balanced cool climate flavours. The Chardonnay followed, 2007 vintage, I must say that I was surprised by the mandarin character of such a young Chardonnay, not wholly unpleasant though, but as always a heavy serious wine that improves with food. The food being a seafood risotto, which was superb, I haven't tasted such nice fresh prawns in a while that was so well prepared (I was told afterwards that they were steamed).

HRV produces only Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the Sauvignon Blanc and the Pinotage belonging to the Southern Right stable. I was surprised by the Pinotage, it was far more gentle and elegant than I expected, and a serious improvement on previous vintages. Anthony said in his opening address that it was one of the most undervalued wines of RSA, and I tend to agree with him. Certainly on par with Kanonkop.

The Pinot Noir was as always very good, albeit too young. I have always found HRV Pinot to be a bit too hard for my personal preference, but the wine certainly opened up during the course of the evening and I would recommend that you decant it for a good while before consuming, I would dare to say that it might even be one of those wines that taste better on the second day.

The Gorgonzola Cheese warrants a special mention. Lovely creamy texture, and not too overpowering, made from goats milk and from a small little shop on the West Rand close to all the rose farms, wonderful.

And as always I had splendid company...

Cape Exclusive wine event- This time of the year is traditionally the "season" for wine shows, one after the other till around October, the poor wine makers pouring out litres of wine in the hope that a couple of drunk people will remember the wine and then go out and buy it, it is especially hard for the premium brands as purchases for these wines are reserved for the select few who can afford to splurge, they are most unlikely to hang out at wine shows though. It is also most annoying for the wine makers when long cues of people try to taste only the most expensive wines, with no interest in the content, the wine making techniques or anything of consequence, and it's merely a matter of being able to say that they have had such and such a wine to impress their mates.

I have often lamented on the futility of such wine shows and thus did not expect myself last night to find any wines that would be highly recommendable, in the fog of tasting and talking, however, as a somewhat experienced wine taster, I was delighted to taste two new wines from the Overgaauw estate that mightily impressed me, the one was their new Chenin Blanc and the other was their Semillon (the likes of which I have never tasted), it would certainly fool most experienced wine tasters in a blind tasting, the most wondrous fruit, good balance and length, the price of both these wines are in the R40 range and highly recommended.

I was once again impressed by the Oak Valley wines, the Sauvignon Blanc was most delicious, with a flavour profile very unlike anything that I have tasted from Elgin recently, none of that really in your face acidity that leads to an instant sinus attack.

If you are having a fun day around the pool and want to start of with something even more fun, the Brampton Rose was a delight, a seriously tootie fruity wine with a colour perfectly matched to that of maraschino cherries. I would recommend a block of ice if you don't lean towards the sweeter of rose styles. A good picnic wine that will go well with most strong cheeses, made with Rhone varieties, unlike so many Pinotage Rose wines. Fabulous with sun dried tomatoes, goats cheese and Parma ham

As a non-drinker of Pinotage I made a point of tasting some of the top Pinotage, I found the Southern Right too fruity and too bitter, simultaneously. However the Kanonkop Pinotage was very good as usual, showing such elegance and finesse that one might mistake it for a French wine from a top region.

Join in the tasting fun in the next few months and remember to respect the wines and the winemakers and to at least make an attempt to record your favourites so as not to waste all the time and effort that the wine makers have expended to attend the wine shows so diligently.

And remember, bottles of tasting stock cost the wine farms a lot of money, so don't be greedy :-)

Maud

Financial Mail Wine Business Awards- I was privileged enough to share the stage with some illustrious wine personalities to judge the first ever FM Wine Business Awards recently. Great party, by the way. What does it mean though, wine business? Do South African wine makers even have a clue? With a few exceptions, I don't think so. Traditional methods no longer work, I personally never watch TV except sport, in real time, recording programs and watching them later saves time and also allows me to skip through the adverts. Motorists on busy highways are inundated with large banners advertising products and barely notice them anymore, unless they are catchy and stand out, or controversial. And who gets time to read magazines anymore, most professionals, which you have to admit has the know how and money to buy wine, read academic periodicals and maybe a favourite lifestyle mag, I have magazines from February that I haven't read yet, so by now old news.

The low cost marketing award was one of the categories that I had to judge, and boy oh boy, it was shocking to see what some wine farms perceived a marketing campaign to be. Reps on the road and attending wine shows, I think it has now been proven that these don't work. Wine shows are for people to get pissed and forget your name the moment Elvis has left the building.
So what do we do? Well, first you need to know what you are selling and to whom you want to sell, restaurant sales are not a means to an end and few people remember the wine they had the next day...I speak from experience, "May we please have that wine with the duck on?"-which turns out to be a porcupine and a Shiraz not a Pinotage.

I am asking you the consumer, how you would like to have wines promoted to you, that would make an impact on your buying patterns? And not just a spur of the moment purchase, but a lifetime of commitment to a particular wine farm (if they keep the quality up, most people keep buying the same wine even though it has become undrinkable).

In the world of U-Tube, Facebook and My Space, wine makers should be making catchy videos of harvest, people enjoying there wines and even posting videos of boring wine shows. Get it out there man, the youth of today are moving onto coolers faster than you can say Breezer! We need to get them back and fast, by 30 no self respecting person should be drinking coolers, they should be sipping delicious and well made wines, talking with authority about the wine and the variety.

Start spreading the word...wine must conquer the SA drinking population...we are behind boys and girls.

Well done to Stormhoek by the way, the winner in the low cost marketing category, I look forward to some more innovative wine marketing from the dynamic Mr Graham Knox...

Happy wine shopping...time for some Rose, I think... :-)

Wine 101

At a recent wine tasting I realised again how many wine lovers are eager to learn more about wine but often feel intimidated by the subject, and the sheer volume of knowledge that it seems to require to master the art of tasting wine. It certainly is daunting, but not impossible to achieve. A few basic steps and some dedication will soon bring its rewards.

To start of with, you need to start smelling. Everything from the grass in your backyard to the mushrooms in your soup. Absorb and concentrate on smells as you walk through fruit and veg shops, sniff the avo, touch the fresh herbs and smell your fingers, think of the aromas around you and store them away in your memory bank, flowers, lavender, spices. When you eat, at home or in restaurants, try and identify the different herbs and spices used. Read the menu and see if you can pick up the flavours of the food as described in the description. Have a basic wine book on hand and start reading the descriptions, it will seem like Greek at first but will slowly become part of your vocabulary and will make wine tastings a lot less foreign.

Start with a wine book like the John Platter and read the description of the bottle of wine you drink regularly, then go and find the fruit and spices the description refers to and smell them. Next open your bottle of wine and see if you can recognize the flavours. If you can't at first, don't despair, practise makes perfect!

And above all attend as many tutored wine tastings as possible.

Happy tasting

Wine on holiday-now unlike Europe, we steam in the coastal sun here in RSA during Christmas holidays. So unless you plan on putting your prize red wines in the fridge to chill it beyond the required 18 degrees, I would suggest you go for dry rose or some low alcohol, low calorie spritzers.

We have some really good Rose in RSA at the moment, Jordan is getting good press for their current release, although I haven't tasted it as yet, hint hint :-). My favourite is the Mulderbosch Cabernet Sauvignon. I was recently given a bottle of the Juanita Cabernet Sauvignon. Excellent quality of wine, yet a little too fruity for my personal taste. If you are a fruity white wine drinker, this will be a good wine to get you onto dry rose and eventually light bodied red wines.

I, on the other hand have been consuming white wine spritzers in serious quantities, sparkling water, with any of the cheapest bottles of wine on the menu. I therefor (drum roll) have to vote for the Bellingham Johannisberger-or this is what the restaurant manager told me it was. I am however not sure if this was indeed the wine I had, as it seemed off dry and Johannisberger changed its name to Legacy a few years back. Any way, it made a fine spritzer, better than the Graca which, yes I actually ordered in a restaurant.

Spritzers are a great way to avoid the inevitable sinus attack from cheap whites, is low in calories and prevents you wanting to go to sleep after lunch when you should be watching your kids in the swimming pool. My spritzer of choice however has to be Drostyhof light, as it comes in 5 litre boxes and is already fairly low in alcohol.

Whatever you are having, always keep the champers on hand, and a good well chilled white with a bit of residual sugar for all the curries and seafood you should be having if you find yourself in Cape Town or the South Coast.

Hope you had some happy holidays.