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MICHAEL FRIDJHON: Wine maker’s role similar to that of a Formula One driver
It’s interesting how often a change of wine maker transforms the wines coming from a producer’s cellars. On the surface, this seems like a contradiction of the perennial message about how the "wines are made in the vineyard". You might expect a result like this following a change in the viticulturist or a different farming regime, but if the wine maker is simply the midwife why should the baby emerge any differently? There’s much that this debate shares with any talk about the importance of the role of the Formula One driver who stands to win the driving championship and the marque that wins the constructors’ championship. The car is the car, it’s the same raw material, but a different hand guides the outcome. Nowhere has this been more evident than at Gabrielskloof, where Peter-Allan Finlayson has tweaked the already fine wines produced so that they are palpably different.
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