Boekenhoutskloof The Chocolate Block has become a wine with a massive following, both in it’s native South Africa and over here in the UK. “Why?” – you may ask. Well, it’s a lovely wine in it’s own right, but then there are a host of great red wines coming out of South Africa these days. Presentation? – it is excellent with the elegant broad shouldered bottle and a large white label maximising visual impact. But then there are plenty of other wines with equally good presentation too.

The name perhaps? Yes, I think this is a major factor. But the Chocolate Block’s success isn’t down to just a name, it’s a combination of all the above factors, all rolled into one wine.

Well the good news is the 2010 is about to be released in the UK at the end of September. Unfortunately the Chocolate Block has become so successful that Mark Kent simply can’t produce enough of it, which has pushed prices up as demand massively outstrips supply. Fortunately Mark produces it in a style which can be consumed young, although it will age well for a few years if you can resist drinking it. Expect to pay from around £19 to £25 (although those charging £25 are being greedy!).

If you can’t get hold of any though, South Africa produces plenty of other stunning reds, many equally good, many significantly better. The Ernie Els wines are all fantastic. I’d also recommend a little known tiny production wine in a very similar style to the Chocolate Block – Tamboerskloof Syrah, only 5000 bottles produced annually. Or one of the best value premium red wines to come out of South Africa – Robertson Number 1 Constitution Road Shiraz  – it is a stunner! Again extremely limited supply so get some before everybody finds out about it!

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The rugby world cup kicks off in New Zealand in less than three weeks, and is expected to draw hoardes of tourists. Unlike football the majority of these rugby supporters are likely to be late thirty plus, fairly solvent people. Again unlike football, rugby attracts nearly as many women as men, with the majority of visitors likely to be couples. Coincidentally this demographic is an exact match for quality new world wine drinkers so this competition is a golden opportunity for the wineries to show off their quality and attract new customers from all over the world.

New Zealand has suffered over the last three years from bumper crops. While we may logically think this was a good thing, it has led to an over production of New Zealand wine. This means the wineries have to compete harder for market share, and discount their products. Also the New Zealand dollar has been extremely strong which severely affects exports as it makes their wine very expensive for other countries to buy. As a result many of the small independent wineries are having a particularly tough time.

These wineries also have to contend with additional costs for prospective importers in their target markets, caused by the relative isolation of New Zealand. Shipping from NZ is expensive – shipping in small quantities is simply cost prohibitive. So if you’re a small boutique winery producing 50 pallets a year selling outside of NZ is very difficult. This is then compounded by the big wineries who are selling off excess bulk wines at cost to anybody who will buy it. These wines are normally transported in bladder to the purchasing country where they are bottled, then labelled with some made up name – usually with “Bay” in the title! There are loads of these wines appearing, with plenty being own label for the supermarkets. This has led to “Marlborough” Sauvignon Blanc being available in the UK for under £5 – bear in mind that £2.64 of this is UK tax!

So the rugby world cup is a prime opportunity for the quality boutique wineries to show why their wines are worth paying the extra for. The NZ roads will be swarming with middle aged wine lovers poncing around in campervans – I know because I will be one of them! Stopping at wineries stocking up with a case or two and letting the wife do the driving. This is a rare opportunity for NZ to snatch back some of the market share that has been lost to cheaper regions like South Africa, Chile and Argentina. I am particularly looking forward to sampling some Hawke’s Bay Syrah as word is NZ is beginning to make some excellent examples.

I lived in NZ for 12 months about 15 years ago. The in-joke at the time was that on landing at Auckland the pilots used to say “welcome to New Zealand, please put your watch back 20 years”! That now sounds ideal to me – I may be very tempted to stay!

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The recent riots in the UK have finally made politicians sit up and take notice of the sub culture which has existed in this country for years. At last we, the British public, feel the politicians may be beginning to take notice of some of the things which have been wrong with this country for so long. Speak to any hard working British citizen and there are about a dozen major concerns which most people seem to have in common – immigration policy, benefits, taxes, fuel duty, unemployment, corrupt politicians, dodgy bankers, education system, criminal justice system and a few others, but by far the biggest complaint we all make is the one we simply can’t understand………….EU beaurocracy!

Why is it we have to have our bins emptied fortnightly? And all these different recycling boxes, so we’re all leaving rubbish in our back gardens for 14 days between collections – ask any binman and it appears that most of this rubbish which we have spent time separating simply gets tipped back into landfill anyway as “they don’t have the staff to process it”.

What about this ridiculous set of new bus stops built out into the road which brings traffic to a standstill. Our former system of a separate layby for the bus to pull in to made sense – but isn’t compliant with EU rules so we have to spend millions concreting over them.

What about these ludicrous windfarms – giant turbines all around the coast which are basically ineffective. They can’t operate when it’s too windy, or when it’s not very windy. They can operate in moderate winds but then produce next to no electricity anyway. It’s costing billions and many firms are making a killing. The “carbon footprint” of producing these things completely negates any benefit they produce. Mark my words, by 2100 they will all be pulled down, again at massive expense earning yet another bumper purse for the firms with the right connections in Whitehall.

What about the simple things? I’ve just imported some “organic” wine from outside the EU and had to jump through so many hoops to do so, and pay significant fees to two quangos to be allowed to import them. In california organic production is very tightly regulated and certified. Californian certified organic wines aren’t allowed to have chemicals added (including sulphites), but this isn’t good enough for the EU. They need their own certificates, the Californian ones won’t do! But EU certified organic wines are only certified for grape growing and can have huge dollops of sulphites and plenty of other chemical additives. So the wine I’m importing is pure, the real mccoy, but the stuff we don’t need certificates for (produced in the EU) is not pure, in fact it’s full of chemicals!!!

I’m delighted to see the politicians at least claiming they’re going to start addressing things. Why can’t we simply disband the biggest quango of all time – the EU, and just trade with Europe as independent countries again? There is a coal powered steam train at Llanberis which ferries tourists along the lake,  literally half a mile from an active coal mine yet the coal it runs on is imported from Germany!!! I’m no expert on so called “carbon footprints” but it doesn’t take a quango of 20 people on huge salaries and expenses to work out that it’s just plain bonkers! Let’s get rid of this EU bull***t once and for all.

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