The wine industry in the Western Cape has been stunned by the illegal-flavourant scandal at KWV, the province’s agriculture minister, Cobus Dowry, said on Tuesday.
“A scandal such as this has the potential to fundamentally damage this industry and if not addressed properly, take years to mend.”
Dowry was reacting to reports this week that the wine and brandy producer had admitted that two of its winemakers had added flavourants to its 2004 sauvignon blanc. About 67Â 000 litres of the wine would be destroyed and Ian Nieuwoudt and Gideon Theron had been dismissed, the reports said.
Dowry said the illegal flavouring of wine was a practice that should never have happened.
“Now our industry, whose reputation must be guarded at all costs, has been shrouded in controversy, shock and scandal.”
The incident had hopefully been the last.
“Our wine industry cannot afford to be tainted internationally having only now started to grow and to make indents into the international wine market,” Dowry said.
South Africa was the world’s sixth largest wine producer, accounting for about 2,8% of global production.
Dowry said the gross output value of wine industry related firms was R14,6-billion. About 746-million litres of wine were produced annually from 314-million vines.
There had been an explosion in the number of wineries and wines produced — over 100 new wineries were established between 1999 and 2001, with quite a few more since then.
“A scandal such as this has the potential to fundamentally damage this industry and if not addressed properly, take years to mend.
“It is therefore to the credit of KWV that they have dealt severely with the two winemakers involved.”
It was now in the hands of all the relevant roleplayers including KWV, other established wine brands and the South African Wine and Spirits Board to make sure that this practice had indeed been an isolated incident. – Sapa
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