South Africa's signature wine is Pinotage.
Recently, it was discovered that to register a certain varietal the process has to be done within a certain time period. For South Africa to have exclusive rights over Pinotage, the cross should have been registered before 1955. This was not done and now countries like Australia are planting the varietal extensively.
Perhaps this will not be a disadvantage to South Africa but it will do a lot to advance and popularise Pinotage which is growing in popularity in the UK.
Perhaps the vinyards in France and elsewhere in Europe are not so lucky!
According to John Dunne, lovers of fine wines are currently choking in their Chablis after bureaucrats ushered in the age of the Europlonk. It is no longer against the rules to mix grapes from different regions and countries. Winemakers from Eastern Europe can now do a deal with a Spanish producer to produce a hybrid wine that will flood the market in the UK at a much cheaper price.
This new ruling could be the death knell for certain wines such as a Rhone or Bordeaux blend as winemakers dilute their former high quality products. Christian Paly, President of the French quality wineproducers confederation has gone on record as saying that "The proposals will lead to the banalisation of such wines as Rioja, Claret and Port". This is bad news for wine purists and perhaps we are to be confronted with a new breed of Europlonkers.
How will all of this affect South African wines?
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