Here’s a chance for South Africans living in the UK to win a case of FirstCape Merlot.

As a journalist, I’ll throw a bottle of Kanonkop Kadette in the pool, with the following challenge: The first one to spot the spelling mistake in the article (linked to above) and e-mail me the correct answer to e-mail address: editor (at) thebigpond (dot) eu with his/her postal address in the EU, will receive a bottle of Kanonkop from me.

Afterthought: I notice now that there are, in fact, a number of spelling mistakes and potential spelling mistakes in the article. So, let’s change the challenge to…spot the first spelling mistake in the article.

In the article below this one, I called for a sponsor to finance a visit to the Cape winelands by UK wine critic Jamie Goode, to compile his personal “50 Best” and so chip in his bit to build awareness of Cape wines in the run-up to the FIFA Football World Cup. 

But, there is another reason why one should help build the hype around Cape wines: This article. 

Any company willing to plough money into a good cause, such as FirstCape has done, simply deserves the support of others. And there will be no better way, than to build awareness of Cape wines worldwide with a “Goode’s 50 Best Cape Wines” project (see below).

FirstCape is the official wine of the Lions’ rugby tour of South Africa next year. UK-based FirstCape Wines has been very busy building awareness with the sponsorship. The latest step on the road towards squeezing the last drop out of the sponsorship, is a new set of labels for the wines. Read all about it here.

By the way, FirstCape wines are marketed only in the UK (as far as I know). They are not available in SA. I find it interesting that a UK wine marketer hopes to get UK wine drinkers to drink more SA wine, during the Lions tour of South Africa. To my mind, that’s swimming against the tide of natural consumer behaviour.

As far as I’m concerned, the average UK wine and rugby lover will support his OWN at this time (to show solidarity with his team) and deliberately NOT drink South African wines before and during the tour. Maybe, afterwards…if the Lions won the series, which is highely unlikely! 

FirstCape Wines maintains sales are rising steadily in the run-up to the tour, so I must have my psychology wrong. Maybe the biggest consumers of FirstCape wines in the UK are South Africans living and/or working there…

First published on my old blog on 2/7/2008. 

The UK drinks magazine Harpers ** had good news for SA’s wine industry today. [Read on]