MICHAEL FRIDJHON: No estatism: a new generation of intelligent wines
A celebration at Groot Constantia of the First Fourteen’s jubilee was more about nostalgia than continuity
SA’s wine of origin legislation — which coincidentally brought into being the regulations governing the production of estate wines — celebrates its half-century in 2023. While it became law on January 2 1973, the list of the first 14 properties that chose to become estates (and were therefore bound by the regulations) was published only in August 1973.
Jubilee years have a way of appearing important, as if 50 years of marriage should be any more meaningful a milestone than 51 or 52. At least when it comes to our lifespan you could argue that mere survival is important: turning 100 is more significant than 99. But in matters quite abstract (and, as it turns out in this case, subject to greater frailty than human mortality) this doesn’t really seem all that significant...
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