Wednesday, 2 September, 2015
Decanter, Andrew Jefford
Who is Danie de Wet? Talk to any number of wine creators and commentators on the South African wine scene, and you'll get a different answer from everyone.
To some, he's an inspiration, and has acted as a courageous, outspoken and energetic leader for the nation's wine producers during rapidly changing times (the 2015 Platter Guide describes him as 'a titan of the industry', as well as being the man who, more than any other, established Chardonnay as leading variety for his home region of Robertson and in his country more generally.
To others he was a law-breaking smuggler-turned-politico who was, as one source told me, 'never a reformer at heart' and whose career has been 'a tightrope walk between his commercial and his political ambitions'.
It's hard for outsiders to understand the political intricacies of wine-business landscapes around the world. In the case of pre- and post-apartheid South Africa - where the political stakes have been higher than anywhere else, but where much of what took place at key moments is curiously opaque, as well as inordinately complex - it's impossible. De Wet has incontestably been a major figure, though, and I relished the chance to ask him key questions and learn a little more.
Click here to read more online.