Gqeberha’s oldest active wine club’s still going strong — 40 years on

Passing a wine course, a nomination process and attending at least three wine tastings so that other members can check you out — these were some of the conditions if you wanted to join the Port Elizabeth Wine Appreciation Club when it was founded in 1984.

And if you missed three tasting meetings without tendering an apology you were booted out without refund.

Times have changed but PEWAC is still going strong, its membership expanded and diversified, the rules relaxed (well, some of them), and ready to celebrate its 40th anniversary this year as probably Gqeberha’s oldest active wine club.

Amid an ever-growing local wine appreciation culture of regular public tasting events, food-and-wine pairing events, wine bars popping up everywhere, PEWAC has stayed with its original constitutional objective “to encourage the appreciation and knowledge of wine”.

In its early days, wines were selected and presented by a member for monthly tastings in a member’s home, and winemakers visiting the Bay to show their wines were a rarity.

These days, the club has a permanent home at the German Club in Lorraine and a date with its appreciative members is a must on the itinerary of any visiting wine producer.

Many well-known local legal eagles, medical professionals and academics formed the early backbone of the club, including life president the late Dr Gert Burger (a medical doctor with a Master of Wine, MW, to his name) and Evelyn Grieve, renowned for her culinary and wine expertise and elegant hosting of gourmet dinners and garden parties.

Both, incidentally, wrote wine articles for The Herald and sister newspapers.

The longest-standing member today is potter and ceramic artist Mark Dodd, who joined the club in the early 1990s with an interest in learning more about wine.

Today he is a passionate and highly knowledgeable wine lover.

Dodd recalls how club chair Mike Payne, long associated with the famed Melville’s bottle store in Walmer (the only place really to buy decent wine and get expert advice back then), was a little reluctant to admit this “nat agter die ore” (wet behind the ears) youngster into the hallowed company.

“He told me directly this club was probably not for me, and it was obvious that he was doubtful about how serious I was.

“But a week later he called and invited me to my first tasting — just 10 people and very formal.

“And of course I did the Cape Wine Academy introductory course, and passed, in order to qualify as a member.”

PEWAC is still considered “the” wine club for connoisseurs and young wine lovers eager to expand their knowledge, though the wine exam requirement is no longer enforced.

The club’s journals make fascinating reading.

The attention to detail and recording and minuting every occasion and meeting reveals not only how the prices of wine and food have increased over the years, but also how the range of South African wines has expanded, as well as how times, manners, and even the city, have changed.

The club would purchase wine for its monthly tastings, usually presented by an expert member.

The AGM agenda of 1987 noted that R157.40 had been spent on wine for tastings in the preceding 12 months.

The club Christmas dinner that year, at Bon Appetit restaurant in North End, presented a menu of onion soup, chicken in cream sauce, saddle of lamb, crêpes Suzette and coffee, at a princely R17 (sales tax included) per person.

Members took turns to bring a plate of snacks to the monthly tastings, and it was specifically minuted that this applied to both male and female members.

PEWAC tastings are still relatively formal compared to what you might experience in a tasting at a wine bar, but the benefit is being exposed to the vast knowledge not only of the presenters but the members themselves, who are always willing to share and guide newbie wine lovers.

Traditions remain — the annual year-end dinner a highlight, presenting often older wines from the club’s own cellar.

And they dip into the cellar too for special events outside the wine producer tastings, last year including a “The Reds are Coming” tasting of single varietal wine examples of the components of a Bordeaux blend, and a Chenin Day celebration featuring chenin blanc in bubbly, still wines, dessert wines and brandy.

Cheers to a very happy birthday for PEWAC, and many more.

Do you know of an older wine club in Gqeberha, East London or the Garden Route? Email samventer70@gmail.com with your challenge to the crown.