farmer |
Not everyone
who participates in the world of Cape wine is a recreational consumer of
the fruits of our vineyards: there are other consumers, living in
communities where hope for a better life has long ago faded into the
gloom of despair, and where alcohol - cheap wine, and cheaper so-called
ales - as well as tik and nyaope are used to block out the vista of
desperation extending endlessly into the future.
If the industry wishes
to transform this labour from a burden borne with resentment to a career
of choice, it must come with skills development and the prospect of
skilled labour rates and job satisfaction.
In June 2005 the
proprietors of the estates which were rated and ranked in the famous
1855 classification of Bordeaux gathered to celebrate the 150th
anniversary of its publication. I was fortunate enough to be invited to
the party, which was hosted at Chateau d'Yquem.
This was not a modest
gathering: the Bordeaux Cru Classe estates were in the midst of a
seemingly endless boom, with a string of decent vintages going back a
decade, and nature delivering wines of legend just when they were
required for the millennium. Primeur prices for...
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