Fewer bus boys, more sommeliers

Wine service in local restaurants at last seems set to improve.

In a not-so-distant era, most wine that was consumed domestically was sold by half a dozen major wholesalers who thought that you could fool all of the people all of the time. An age of isolation made this much easier - how was the average South African wine consumer to know how far we had lagged behind our various New World counterparts? The uncritical acceptance of pretty much whatever was foisted on them made the country's wine drinkers the logical victims of the country's wine marketers.

 

The whole question of the onconsumption sale of wine is bound up in this historical baggage. If you think like a corporate, you don't do nitty-gritty, so wine steward training has never really percolated into your consciousness. You do think about talking to wine waiters, but only in the same way that you make contact with shop assistants. You issue them with some of the world's worst corkscrews (all suitably branded) and offer them an incentive for selling more of your product. However, you don't invest in their professional competence (just in case they see through the quality shortcomings of your products). In fact, it's easier (and more directly effective) to control the winelists and eliminate the prospect of consumer choice entirely.

This is no way to deal with South Africa's 21st century tourism revival, so it's no surprise to see the first signs of life in the field of real wine service training. The Cape Wine Academy, free of the shackles of Distell's corporate ownership (though effectively now controlled by wine distributor Meridian Wines) is upping its offering in this field. Using what I believe is at least a misnomer (if not something more sinister), it has launched its Cape Sommelier qualification. It's intended to yield revenue (hence the puffed-up qualification - who would pay the requisite money to earn the title of "wine steward?"). At least there's a real curriculum for those who sign up - assuming enough people do. Since a frightening percentage of South Africa's restaurant winelists are on offer to the highest bidder, it seems unlikely that those who are mercenary enough to sell their retail space to their suppliers would care to pay to train the staff who pour the wine. Then a group of real sommeliers - led by Jörg Pfützner, previously of top Cape Town restaurant Aubergine - has also begun to offer wine service training. Being Cape Town based, they have a prospect of success. Judging from the vastly better levels of wine service in the Cape - the inevitable result of more demanding tourists expecting international standards and being willing to pay accordingly - at least they are where the market is.

Finally, Wines of South Africa - in conjunction with several producers who have supplied wine to this project - has launched a wine steward training initiative called "Fundi". Wines under the Fundi label are available for sale in select on- and off-consumption outlets in South Africa (as well as in the international market). Surplus revenue will be used to fund wine waiter training to ensure at least a modicum of basic skills for when the soccer louts arrive in 2010. It's a great idea, and (if it doesn't flounder along with the Sector Education and Training Authorities), it can't do any harm. I assume that the World Cup 2010 tourists would prefer their beer without too much of a "head".

Michael Fridjhon is a leading wine writer and consultant with extensive international judging experience.