Cape Town - KWV, the wine and brandy producer, yesterday admitted that two of its wine makers, acting independently of each other and "without the company's blessing", had added flavourants to its 2004 sauvignon blanc.
The wines, the 2004 Laborie sauvignon blanc and a second lot destined for the 2004 KWV Reserve sauvignon blanc, were isolated and would be destroyed under the supervision of the Wine and Spirits Board (WSB), Willem Barnard, the chief executive, said yesterday.
The chances that wine lovers would see a 2004 KWV Reserve sauvignon blanc were "very slim", because none of the contaminated wine had reached consumers. An independent laboratory had cleared the remaining stock for consumption.
The contaminated wine represented 67 000 litres of wine and the loss to KWV was estimated at R1 million, Barnard said.
Following an internal disciplinary hearing, wine makers Ian Nieuwoudt and Gideon Theron were dismissed.
The WSB would now consider and may refer the matter to the director of public prosecutors for a decision on whether to prosecute them.
Barnard said he was alerted to the possibility that something went wrong with the company's wines in mid-October by the WSB.
An investigation was launched and two batches of wine were isolated when found to contain flavourants. It then took a month to complete the internal investigation, Barnard said.
"Eventually, after an intense process of even going so far as having people do lie detector tests, I got an admission from two of my wine makers on December 1 that they in fact did dabble with those wines. It took me until December 3 to complete disciplinary hearings internally and fire them."
Barnard said the wine makers worked independently of each other: one used a synthetic flavourant used for fruit drinks, while the other made his own extract of green peppers.
The WSB would now hand the matter over to an administrative controller of the state who would decide whether to hand the matter over to the director of public prosecutions.
"It's a very sad thing, but one thing I'm very proud of is that my management handled this in a way I can associate myself with. The company was not guilty, those individuals were," Barnard said.
Michael Fridjhon, a wine writer, who first raised the issue about a year ago, said yesterday that he felt vindicated. "It's sad that a producer of such historic iconic status is involved in something like this. It's a bad thing for them and a bad thing for the industry."
Andre Morgenthal, the marketing manager of Wines of SA, which markets South African wines overseas, said yesterday the actions of the WSB were valid. "We are happy to see it's only one producer and that suitable action had been taken to ensure transparency in the industry."
Johan van Rooyen, the chief executive of the SA Wine and Brandy Company, said he was pleased that the internal monitoring system was working and he trusted that the WSB would deal with the matter so as to confirm the integrity of the South African wine industry.