Sadly, the two games I’ve been fortunate enough to watch at the Cape Town stadium (and not the Greenpoint stadium as SkyNews insists on calling it!) have not produced the results fans would have wanted but I have not left unhappy.

It’s a spectacular stadium – and walking around the world-class arena, side-stepping thousands of English and Algerian football fans on Friday, I was really proud of what South Africa has achieved. It wasn’t just the facility, it was the hundreds of smiling policemen and women who welcomed ticketholders, it was the green-jacketed volunteers showing the way and it was the hostesses and staff in the hospitality suites who impressed.

Good humour and a genuinely warm reception were the order of the day. Making the chilly Cape Town night and disappointing result a little more bearable were a variety of liquid libations available. Amarula, South Africa’s unique cream liqueur (apparently second only to the ever-popular Bailey’s Irish Cream in the worldwide sales stakes), adopted FIFA sanction and branding. In the space of three hours in a hospitality suite I saw countless bottles opened and enjoyed. Similarly, the South African wines on offer also flew off the bar counter. Perhaps the real surprise for me – considering the sea of red shirts and St George crosses – was noting that the predominantly English supporters really enjoyed the local brandy. The surprise was that they were not – as many South Africans would have – adulterating the Van Ryn 12-year-old brandy with cola, but drinking it on the rocks and appreciating it for its own sake.

It’s impossible to escape the fervour, fever and vuvuzelas that the 2010 FIFA World Cup has infected South Africa with. Noisy blasts can be heard, day and night – and it’s amazing how many of them come from non-South Africans! Italian, Paraguayan, Algerian, French, Portuguese, Korean and English fans have boosted sales of the plastic horns no end. English retailers notched up sales of 60 000 vuvuzelas in old Blighty during the first week alone…

What’s the point? Everyone’s having a blast! And it is not just in the major metropolitan centres where the effect of the World Cup is being felt. Stellenbosch was adopted by the Algerians ahead of their match against England – and the North African fans fell in love with the Eikestad, supporting pubs and restaurants and making friends with the locals.

And with Americans occupying second spot in the ticket sales stakes, they’ve been prominent too – particularly visiting top flight wine farms. They are not alone in being bowled over by the touristic offering. In the past week I’ve been exposed to Korean, English, Mexican and Venezuelan fans who are all uniform in their praise for the warmth of the people, the excellence of the cuisine, the quality of the wine and the sheer jaw-dropping beauty of the country.

While detractors may point out the number of guest houses and hotels not experiencing the bumper pay-days anticipated, all indications are that in the long term South Africa will score massively from the exposure granted during the tournament. Everyone needs to think tantrically rather than going for immediate gratification…

London: I wish I had ten pounds for the number of times I heard “Oh I do hope we don’t get South African Pinotage!” said aloud in a plummy accent. I’d have made pretty good money in the week spent at the International Wine Challenge held at the Barbican Centre in the City of London. Pommie tasters feel the need to put the boot in before anyone else – but then that seems to be the national sport… Newspapers are full of random acts of violence which are all the more horrific because they are so commonplace. A man stabbed to death by a stranger because his attacker ‘thought’ he was a paedophile. Two young women – no older than 22 – in court for kicking a man to death in Leicester Square. They’d rounded on the 50-year-old gay man walking with his partner calling him a “faggot” before giving him “a right kicking”.

So it was really fantastic to see condescension turn to praise when South African Sauvignon Blanc was tasted. Granted, mostly from the 2009 vintage which we know was special because of the late onset of harvest and cool ripening conditions. Having tasted a flight from Constantia and Elgin – and later the same day a flight of Savvies from Marlborough in New Zealand there’s no doubt about which wines I’d prefer to drink – and that’s not being a pie-eyed patriot. It’s about the relative quality of production.

But before I get too carried away – a flight of Chilean Syrah had me nervous. South Africa has to compete against wines that offer complexity and enjoyment. Pure, rich ripe black berry fruit had me running out of adjectives. Seriously good wines. Contrast so much extracted, heavily oaked, overripe, “thrown everything but the kitchen sink at it” SA Shiraz – and again there’s no argument about which wine I’d prefer.

SA, be afraid… be very afraid!

One other snippet of info from the International Wine Challenge was that the entries topped 10 000 this year. On day one our panel thought we’d died and gone to heaven: we had a flight of Burgundy – Grand and Premier Cru. Bonnes-Mare, Echezeaux, Vosne-Romanee… That’s something that just NEVER happens at international wine competitions since the best of the best feel they don’t need to enter. It was such a pleasure to judge and was the highlight of a week of in excess of 500 wines in five days.

However, the reality of the economic situation is such that a UK agent entered 300 burgundies into the IWC. Organiser Charles Metcalfe admitted that they’d given him “a good deal” on the entry fee as a result…

Those little stickers – be they local or international – are undoubtedly good for business!

After a marathon judging stint overseas it’s good to be home – even if it’s hard getting used to wet and cold winter weather in the Cape. One of the things I did over the weekend was catch up on blogs and happenings in the local wine fraternity. It was fascinating reading the transcript of the Trophy Wine Show (TWS) on WINE magazine’s website (www.winemag.co.za) and noting the synchronicity between that competition’s findings and those of the Decanter World Wine Awards.

In broad strokes, both the TWS and Decanter panels were underwhelmed and disappointed by South African Merlot. Still way too green and leafy. Site selection, clones, crop levels and stress are all given as reasons for its poor performance. Also, Sauvignon Blanc from the lauded 2009 harvest has yet to make its mark – even in higher price brackets. White blends – especially those containing Semillon – showed particularly well. Especially the Cape Point Isliedh with a Trophy at the TWS and a Trophy at Decanter, 2006 and 2008 respectively.

I was a touch more ambivalent about the Shirazes than my fellow panellists. At the TWS they showed well with Eagle’s Nest and newcomer Dunstone from Wellington singled out for greater glory. Ditto for Shiraz at Decanter where the top performer was the 2006 Constitution Road from Robertson Winery. At the Decanter trophy round, the biggest single flight was of Rhône varietals over the 10 pound mark – eight wines in all. And I must admit that separating them required quite a bit of mathematical juggling!

Red blends were a pleasure to taste – straight Cabs less so. Quite a few were overworked – extracted, green, too tannic and overoaked. SA takes a lot of stick for Pinotage but the wines showed far more interest than expected. Good, ripe fruit and succulence. Well made overall but no golds at Decanter while there were three at Trophy – Lanzerac Pionier 2007, Stellenzicht Golden Triangle 2007 and Manley 2005 with Tokara’s 2007 taking the trophy. Interesting to note that all have a few years on them, bottle age possibly bringing the Pinot Noir heritage or pedigree to the fore.

The country’s reputation for sweet wines precedes it so it was a bit disappointing that the noble late harvests and dessert wines on display didn’t yield as rich a crop of rewards as I would have expected. Are local winemakers perhaps guilty of resting on their laurels? All I know is that the sweeties were not as concentrated or as focussed as previous vintages have been. That all important balance of sweetness and sugar with acidity was missing. The Paul Cluver Weisser Riesling still shone at Decanter, winning a regional trophy while a museum class Muscadel – 1988 from Nuy – was the only sweetie to be rewarded with silverware at the TWS.

Screwcaps are definitely more popular at various price points than cork or alternative closures – but the attendant problems of reduction and sulphidation are a consequence. The overall incidence of TCA spoilage was very low.

There was one Malbec which had two Masters of Wine in absolute raptures! And the TWS also found a fantastic Malbec… and it was Doolhof’s 2008 for the former and Vrede en Lust’s Mocholate 2009.