UbunTu 2005 Shiraz
|
Posted by Sean Sinclair-Day Jan 31, 2007 |
I would never claim to be a wine connoisseur but I do feel safe calling myself a practicing oenophile. There are few grapes I would not befriend and the Shiraz is no exception. I recently came home with a bottle of KWV International's UbunTu 2005 Shiraz, a South African vintage. This was the first time I remember purchasing a wine named for an ethos rather than a region, legend or animal, and I was curious to learn more about the interesting ubuntu ideology.
For anyone whose spirit subscribes to the tenets of keeping their goblet replete whilst imbibing with company, the UbunTu's appeal will be in its philosophical namesake rather than its flavours, which do carry hints of berries (my tongue may have even detected its piquant tones). For the palate, this Shiraz delivers everything the label promises but, bouquets and tannins aside, the ubuntu creed is what makes this wine unique.
Modus vivendi
Ubuntu is a humanist ideology that originated in sub-Saharan Africa expressing the concept that "a person is a person through people." In a larger sense, it states that we are all connected and responsible for each other, an idea that has also been adopted by the fair trade market in our globalized world. Ubuntu stresses the bonds between people and essentially declares that we only exist because of our relationship to others (Perhaps ubuntu is a good enough reason why one should never drink alone).
The Archbishop Desmond Tutu, describing the worldview says, "a person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good..."
It sounds as though ubuntu is similar to being intoxicated. This passage easily inspires recollections of tipsy times when our trust in people is at its highest, our judgment of others nonexistent. (Of course, we have all witnessed bad drunks, too, who are confrontational and suspicious of everyone instead of affable and accepting).
When Bill Clinton addressed the Labour party in Britain in September 2006, he told his audience to get into ubuntu. It is a wise recommendation for all to follow. A bottle of KWV International's UbunTu 2005 Shiraz won't induce any kind of Dionysian epiphany but if its eponymous wisdom proves to be infectious, then this is a highly recommendable wine. I think, at the very least, this is the quintessential accompaniment to any soirée.