5 - Bureaucracy without the State

Summary

The chapter begins with an analysis of the KWV, which mimicked the operations of the state bureaucracy but was formally distinct from it. An anatomy of the KWV regulatory system is provided In order to achieve a better sense of how the interlocking parts worked together. There is a detailed discussion of the documentation that producers were required to supply each year to comply with the quota system. This is followed by an account of minimum pricing and surplus disposal which involved the surrender of distilling wine to the KWV which it used to make brandy. There is also a discussion of the Wine of Origin (WO) system which introduced a system of appellations, and the efforts of the wine merchants to tempt aspiring independent producerrs with the offer of access to marketing channels. This leads to a discussion of the contention over the designation of ’estate wines’ and the rather more successful effort to launch the Stellenbosch Wine Route. Finally, an account is offered of KWV efforts to control access to planting material.