ARSEHOLES

I love wine and the wine industry. I have been fortunate to meet many nice industry people over the years, many whom I count as friends. Like any industry though or any society there are bound to be some arseholes. These sphincters seem to have become more numerous with the more recent developments in the industry - the massive growth of production, drive to market wines through supermarkets, the Americans going international....

In another blog Valley Girl reminisced about South African wines and how her parents used to enjoy them. At one time South African wines competed pretty well with wines from other countries and, in New Zealand before the rebirth of our industry, they were actually better. The (then) big robust reds and refreshing sparkling wines were more than a match for our skinny reds and cloying bubblies. After sanctions against South African imports were lifted there was a flood of South African wines, many of them under the old familiar labelling that were picked up quickly by consumers. It did not take long though for consumers to realise that while New Zealand and the rest of the world had moved on in terms of technology and quality improvement the South African wines had not. Initially there was clearance of older vintage wines that had been sitting in tanks and barrels awaiting an export chance and then there were the newer wines that clearly showed viticultural and winemaking faults. Average prices gradually slipped down to the point where now South African offerings in supermarkets are generally in the sub $8 segment. Is this fair? Yes, as the wines are bland, over-produced and generally ordinary. There are some very well made wines in from South Africa but like our best are expensive and rarely seen.

So what about the arseholes?

When sanctions were lifted and the familiar brands came back into New Zealand I was lucky enough to be marketing the leading brand. I say lucky because there was great enthusiasm around the exercise from the brand owners who generously invested; from the trade who were very supportive and got behind some very big promotions; and from consumers who bought up in style. The wines were ordinary apart from some very rare and special ones that we imported but the people that I dealt with were great. I saw the good side of South African people and almost to a man or woman these were the English South Africans. A few years later the South African company was taken over by a larger South African company and things rapidly changed. The people that we used to deal with were all 'disappeared' and new management showed itself. This was the Boer or Afrikaans type of South African with the worst being members of the Broederbond. The Broederbond was a religious cult type movement that had the objective of creating a common Christian nationalistic identity for all white Afrikaans speaking South Africans. Sound familiar? Yes, they were (and are) like the proponents of the 'Volk movement' or National Socialism in Germany in the 30's and 40's.

The Broederbonds introduced the idea of Volkskaptalisme or 'People's Capitalism' (so long as the 'people' weren't Black, British or Jewish. While the movement did not grow as large as they had hoped they still managed to create some of South Africa's biggest corporate giants and have a strong role today in government and commerce.

The first time I learned about the Broederbond was when I met the new management group of the merged South African wine company. This was in New Zealand. We tended to be reasonably informal in our meetings which had up until this one been relaxed and pleasant occasions. This Broederbond bunch were dressed like The Men in Black - all severe black suits, starched white collars, slick black briefcases and demeanour to match. They were stiff, rude and unfriendly.

The meetings did not go well and while we marketed their brands for a few more years the fun had gone out of it. We were relieved when they finally took them away from us. By this time the volumes had dwindled and the quality had definitely slipped so it was no big deal. I did miss the camaraderie we had with the previous management though.