R1-m of ewine on steroidsf destroyed

KWV named in wine flavourant scandal RAY SMUTS SHOCKWAVES OF high Richter-scale proportions are rocking the country following the revelation that prestigious wine and brandy maker KWV - long focused entirely on the export market - is, unwittingly, the first perpetrator in an ongoing added wine flavourant investigation by the South African Wine and Spirits Board. In what has been described by industry players, indeed KWV itself, as shocking, a scandal for the country and a blemish on its international reputation, two winemakers. Gideon Theron (41) and Ian Nieuwoudt (30) have been dismissed. What is more, two tanks of etamperedf wine worth around R1 million - the 2004 Laborie sauvignon blanc, this yearfs South African National Young Wine championship winner, and the KWV Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2004 - were destroyed during the course of last week. The year-long investigation by the Wine and Spirits Board continues and will from next year be extended to include cultivars other than sauvignon blanc. ¡ Though not harmful to humans, wine flavourants are illegal in South Africa, meant to enhance the taste and in the estimation of one wine fundi, out to achieve what steroids do to an athlete - make it seem better.