Sour Grapes cuts through the South African wine industry to uncork its vinous myths, revealing the veritas in the Cape vino.

Neil Pendock presents an idiosyncratic view of South African wine and illuminates some of the fascinating characters who contribute to the frothy spittoon in the kingdom of Bacchus at the continent’s southernmost tip.

Irreverent, opinionated, always amusing – Pendock probes incisively beneath the tannic skin of the wine world. This book gives a refreshingly sceptical view of the entourage of wine commentators – the VIPs, the writers, the connoisseurs and the amateurs, the charlatans and the experts, the professionals and the detractors – the people who really make our local wines tick.

In what is not so much a book about wine itself, as it is about the people who talk about, write about and make wine – the Bacchic chattering classes – ultimately, the author chooses humour as the best way to approach the subject.