Editorial: Tough times? Pour a glass of wine and keep perspective

Winemag.co.za has a new monthly column written by an oncologist – yes, you read that right, a cancer specialist. It’s sometimes difficult for wine lovers to remember but enjoyment and moderation go hand in hand. Health matters: your body and mind deserve care. Dr Justus Apffelstaedt, avid wino himself, provides insight into the relationship between wine and well-being from a position of expertise.

Given the current state of geopolitics, it’s tempting to reach for the bottle, and health consequences be damned. Donald Trump once again looms large on the global stage, and nobody really knows out how tariffs are going to play out.

It may seem like the end of times, but so did the onset of Covid-19 five years ago. And the global financial crisis in 2008. And the upheaval prior to free and fair elections in 1994. And I’ve lived through all those crises…

The point is that it’s not all doom and gloom. There is a new generation of winemakers – many of them not yet burdened by reputational risk – who dare to dream. I recently tasted two wines in particular that should remind us all that’s important to take the long view.  Daniel Colombo has, under his own label, made a quite extraordinary 2024 Muscat D’Alexandrie from Skurfberg vineyards planted sometime in the early 20th century while conversely Jos van Wyk and father are gunning for greatness with a field blend off vines established as recently as 2020 in the Buffeljags River valley outside Swellendam – maiden vintage Antares 2023 is startlingly good.

There can be no resting on laurels at times like these. European producers are casting their nets wider – not because they want to, but because they have to. Which is how you end up with not one, but three Bordeaux grandees, in town at the same time – local merchant Wine Cellar recently hosted Domaine de Chevalier, Château Phélan Ségur and Château Laroque for in-depth tastings and dinners.

That these top Bordeaux estates have added South Africa to their itinerary speaks volumes, I believe. Exports to traditional developed country markets are no longer that easy and there is a growing realisation that engaging directly with new customers is necessary. The implication is clear: selling wine, even very good wine, is no longer a noncontact sport and South Africa is worthy of much more consideration.

My eyebrows were raised when directeur commercial of Chevalier Adrien Bernard mentioned in passing that they had recently switched from natural cork to technical cork. My surprise was because surely a property of Chevalier’s stature can demand the very best natural cork but no, the change had been made and without a hint of embarrassment. The reasons, Bernard explained, was not just TCA avoidance, but consistency of quality over time. Natural cork has been used as a wine stopper since the late 17^th century and it might have seemed that it was always going to be with us, but perhaps romance is finally being ground down by practicality.

“Good wine brings pleasure, but great wine brings emotions,” remarked Bernard, the consummate salesman. My wine of the evening, by the way, wasn’t one of his reds – or those of his compatriots – but rather the Chevalier Blanc 2017. Yours for a cool R2,500 a bottle. Even if you look beyond the current economic situation, it’s hard to imagine the rand gaining much ground against the euro. Best to make peace with the fact: the good stuff don’t come cheap.

Another major shift unfolding right now – causing alarm in some circles and excitement in others is, of course, AI. Jamie Goode, contributor to this website, sounds a stark warning in an article entitled “AI will be terrible for media, and it may already be too late to stop” –  Goode fears, like many of my media colleagues, that the rapid rise of AI in content creation is displacing writers and artists, flooding the web with low-quality, derivative work. Human-made content may soon become prohibitively expensive.

The implications of artificial intelligence for desktop publishing cannot go without contemplation. At Winemag, however, we’re cautiously optimistic. For now, the machines aren’t writing the tasting notes, but the efficiencies are real. Design, layout, SEO, syndication – none of it is immune to automation and wishing it away is a step backward. The internet once devastated magazines and yet here we all are… Once again, it’s important to view the big picture, and we quite like the idea that AI will democratize access to content – basic info for everyone, premium insight for those who want more.

It’s a crazy, mixed-up world but rather than becoming survival-focused and inward-looking, get some friends around and open a good bottle of wine. The oncologist writes, the young winemaker dreams, the Bordeaux house pivots, the vines grow older still. We drink, we talk, we take our chances. As ever.