All alcoholic beverages serve as social lubricants, making it easier for the less gregarious to shed their inhibitions. Go to a pub or tavern on a busy night and you can measure the effect in decibels. But that moment of Dutch courage is temporary: it’s usually followed by embarrassment, repentance and regret. We’ve all seen the memes about alcohol deluding people into thinking they can sing and dance (and, sadly, drive cars fast).
Wine offers the prospect of a more moderate engagement. Perhaps because it’s most often consumed with food it’s a more social beverage. This may also account for its place in literature, both as a way of setting context and as a literary subject in its own right. Constantia is mentioned by Jane Austen, Chateau Margaux by Ernest Hemingway: to those who were wine literate at the time these books were published the names alone conjured much more than brand placement does today.
Wine is also connected with extraordinary gestures of generosity, in a way that beer, brandy and whisky never begin to approach. The Cape Wine Auction (where the items are donated and the punters knowingly overpay to support a good cause) has been raising money since 2014. The most recent iteration added R8m to the R120m collected since it was launched. It’s not the only such event: there are several all over the world. Some, like the annual Hospices de Beaune sale, have raised billions over the centuries.
It’s hardly surprising that the wine industry is seen as a soft target by fundraisers. Producers tell me they sometimes receive 30 or 40 emails and phone calls a week from charities seeking everything from free wine for a raffle to the donation of an entire barrel. Each producer deals with the flood of requests differently. Mostly they focus their beneficence on initiatives with a track record, and where their wines are central, rather than peripheral, to the occasion.
I know of at least three major Rotary fundraisers which depend entirely on the generosity of the Cape’s wine producers: the Gately Auction in East London, WineX and Investec’s Wine on Water in St Francis. Over the years I’ve seen how effective the first two of these events have been. This year was my first visit to Rotary and Investec’s Wine on Water on the St Francis canals.
More than 20 producers dispatched staff and wine to the Eastern Cape hamlet, while folk from up and down the coast barged along the canals from venue to venue to sample the offerings. For me it provided an excellent opportunity to look at current vintages and to chat to producers.
I was surprised to find Jocelyn Hogan at her Hogan’s Wines stand — given that the harvest was already in full swing. She admitted the timing was stressful, but as someone who hails from the Eastern Cape she felt she needed to be there. She produces an excellent chenin blanc, refined but not flimsy, a finely textured chardonnay and a red called Divergence — inspired by Chateau Musar’s blend of cabernet, cinsault and carignan.
Unsurprisingly there were plenty of sauvignons on offer: for me the standout examples were the Tokara Reserve, Strandveld’s Pofadderbos, and the Eagle’s Nest Reserve. Among the sauvignon blends the Sine Cera from Highlands Road was superb. The 2022 Ataraxia Chardonnay was harmonious and fine, the Black Dog Malbec from Paul Wallace sumptuous and substantial. These are not the easiest wines to find in retail: however, the internet offers the dedicated wine-hound a simple shopping solution.
Other wines that made an impression from the day spent bobbing about on the water were the Highlands Road Sémillon and the Sauvignon Blanc Reserve; Keermont’s Chenin (made from 43-year-old vines) was completely seductive while the Gabrielskloof The Blend proves that it’s possible to produce an accessible and nuanced Bordeaux-style red to sell for less than R150.
If charity begins at home, wine lovers could do a lot worse than support the producers who support good causes.
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