This volume contains the full unabridged text of seventeen previously long out of print articles written or co-written in English and Afrikaans by A I Perold between 1903 and 1923. Abraham Izak Perold (1880 -1941) has a good claim to being the father of not only the modern South African wine industry but also those of brandy and table grapes Dr Perold wrote more than eighty pamphlets and articles published in English and Afrikaans between 1906 and 1940. These cover topics as varied as a history of grape growing and wine in South Africa, making brandy and grape syrup, laying out vineyards, manuring them, pruning vines, training farmers, the suitability of various rootstocks, yeasts and volatile acidity.

1925. In South Africa Professor Perold is crossing grape varieties, striving for the perfect wine. Did he succeed? The quest to unravel the truth of Pinotage's parentage spans decades and continents, with myths and legends appearing at every turn. Wine explorer Peter F May is a modern day Indiana Jones, tracking down long-lost journals, turning dusty pages of long-forgotten books and analysing high technology DNA results to unravel this mystery. Travel with Peter from the dusty wine cellars of South Africa to the noise of London's Tube, from ancient French vineyards to modern wineries in Texas to unearth the ancestors of this award-winning wine. Along the way you'll see whale pods kiss the coastline, savour the swirl of wine on an African savannah, infiltrate the musty depths of a restricted library, and take part in solving one of the most fascinating mysteries to ever tantalise the wine world.