El Bandito Captured Alive!

El Bandito is in custody.  Say a prayer and clap your hands.  By Kate

Coming back to grey, not very dry, sludgy London after the diamond brilliance of South African sand and sky has really not been that bad.  It is home after all and it is where my new life is, so I was looking forward to getting back  and getting started by the end.

 I think the fact that I  knew I would soon be able to taste a bottle of El Bandito with the team here also spurred me on.   To have a sip of something rich and full of spiced sun; something that tastes of home and fruit and vitality; to note how it coped with London; these were all enticing thoughts. But South African wine maker Extraordinaire Craig emailed on Wednesday to say that he was having trouble with the local tasting panel and urgently needed a recommendation from a potential customer. 

He has failed the last five panels and now has to go before the ‘special tasting committee’.  That does not have a happy ring to it. 

 Tasting panels are widespread in the world of wine and the reason we now sell a fair amount of Vin de Table from France is that these wines (some of the most delicious in the world)  have sent the good people of various local panels into paroxysms of shock and disbelief.   God forbid that anything should taste vibrantly individual!

 If it does it is roundly and completely denied a more elevated appellation status and has to trudge over the channel as a humble failure.  

 That is clearly how the tasting panels see the situation, but in reality they travel with complete nonchalance and land on our shelves bearing their status with dignity. Here they are promptly sold without any bother.  True, we do go to huge lengths to educate and to get people to taste but once they do, we very rarely find that those who truly love the taste of great wine (as opposed to merely the idea of a lifestyle they think they are buying into), find much to love in these unheralded libations. 

Lack of official recognition is much more serious in South Africa where a failure can and often does result in a revoking of the right to export. Wine of origin status or not, these bottles are effectively placed behind bars, under winery arrest and denied a visa.  

 I would have liked to believe that South Africa, having such a forward-thinking political constitution, would be more forward thinking in regard to their view of what constitutes good wine, but apparently not.  It seems chemical uniformity above all  is the answer. 

Please bear in mind that these tasting panels routinely pass wines like Arniston Bay and Kumala.  Bottles full of industrially produced rubbish; disgusting in the mouth with effects that linger in the body for much longer than they should.    But that is ok.   At least they all taste the same. 

 This, then, is the letter I wrote on behalf of Craig:-

 To Whom It May Concern:

 I am the owner of a leading retailer of organic/biodynamic/natural wine in the UK and was recently delighted to be introduced to El Bandito, a skin contact Chenin Blanc from the Swartland. 

We have been selling skin contact whites from Italy and France for over 5 years now and they are often among the favourites of our team.   Moreover, they have built up a loyal and devoted following among our customers.  

The fact that these whites are fermented with the skins gives a texture and depth of flavour that is unusual and delicious.  As important is the fact that all of these are wines of the highest integrity; produced naturally and without the intervention of any of the noxious chemicals and additives so widespread in commercial wine making

El Bandito more than holds its own among these.    

 Speaking for myself, my team and my customers, we can taste the difference and no longer have any  desire to indulge in wine made industrially. What's more, we will pay a premium and go out of our way to find good examples of these extraordinary hand made bottles.  

This is a movement which is gaining ground all the time. The fact that Paris now has well over a dozen wine bars which specialise in Natural Wines and which all sell a good range of skin contact whites is testament to this fact.   London currently has five or six such establishments and we have been selling these sorts of wines for over five years. 
 
  It may be a niche market but it is a very important niche and it would be a terrible shame to have nothing of this sort from the most historic wine producing country in the New World;  particularly since I believe the El Bandito to be of such  superior quality.  

Craig Hawkins seems especially good at the management of tannins in his whites.  While the fruit shows a spiced richness you would expect from a warm climate, the balance is perfect and these show none of the slightly raspy edge which some Italian examples can display.  This is not a criticism (we are great fans of the Italian variety) but it is an interesting point of difference which would suggest that Craig truly is working with the terroir.   The South African industry as a whole should be proud that it has such an able representative in this small but growing sector.   

As a South African myself, I am very much looking forward to selling such a carefully crafted, beautiful wine.  I hope very much that the bigger picture will be carefully considered when decisions are made with regard to the export of this wine.  In my professional opinion it more than stands up to much of the best being produced around the world and it should be given the chance to shine on the international stage.  

Yours etc.

 I think it is in the story of Peter Pan that all children all over the world have to clap so that Tinkerbell doesn’t expire.  I am pretty hazy on the details actually. Is it perhaps the Absinthe fairy that must be kept alive at all costs?  Probably not if it is a children's story.

 Whichever it is, perhaps we should do a natural and grown up version of the hand-clapping thing on Wednesday Feb 9^th, when El Bandito goes before the Jury.  I can’t think of how to apply a natural and grown up version of spontaneously clapping to prevent a truly alive  wine from living behind bars - so make up your own thing.  I might dance spotaneously -  it really depends on how the day is going.

    Craig is hopefully coming to do a wine dinner at Green & Blue in May and if El Bandito (s makes it over, we’ll have a truly great party to celebrate.