THE FUSE

There are always turbulent undercurrents in the world of wine: seething just below the surface, and occasionally breaking into plain sight, are a handful of perennial controversies. They include, in no particular order, the importance of origin, the role of technology, the winemaker as celebrity, whether objective judgment about wine quality is even possible (and if so, can there be any process other than blind tasting), whether the rules of entry into the “club” of wine aficionados are too arcane for the good of the industry and how much bending of the rules of wine production should be allowed before it’s called “cheating.” This is by no means a definitive list, but it’s broad enough for everyone to recognise that in the past year or so many of these subjects have been ventilated in the wine media in South Africa.