Neil Martins introductie op zijn rapport:
South Africa: Old Head On Young Shoulders
October 31, 2013
Pick today's top performers in South Africa and the startling fact is that just a small number existed a decade ago, notwithstanding that some of its most propitious patches of “dirt” had never even been acquainted with vitis vinifera back then. There is a steady incoming tide of young and ambitious winemakers who have been inspired by tenets of the Old World and are now applying them to their homeland: winemakers armed with fortitude, dynamism, open-mindedness and a surf board tucked under their arm, determined to force the country into the 21st century. I use that word “force” because a combination of entrenched and outmoded practices, large corporations intent on quantity not quality, and blinkered and sloppy winemakers all remain. But against this backdrop, as I remarked in my previous report, South Africa is the most exciting country in the southern hemisphere.
Many consumers are yet to cotton to that fact. This means that the time to start discovering South African wine is not tomorrow, but today.
Helemaal mee eens!