Would you like any pepper?

I love watching these types of events unfold. The poetry and dance that is put on for the public is a beautiful thing. One the one side, you've got the company shoveling the crap off of their 'image' and on the other side, you've got the scape goat digging his own grave.

Here's is the latest in the KWV 'scandal'.

Wine flavour 'an experiment'

"A winemaker, who was fired for doctoring wine with which he had won an award, says he's got to be strong now.

"I had 10 good years with KWV and I do not regret it, but now I have to keep my head up and be strong," said former Laborie winemaker Gideon Theron after his dismissal from KWV."

He's got to be strong all right. Strong enough to pack all his stuff up and move to Sheboygan because the closest he's going to get to making wine after this is taking a leak the morning after a good bender. But it gets better:

"Theron said on Tuesday that he did not use a flavourant, but that he had added a grounded green pepper to the wine. He said: "No, I am not innocent", adding that it was also illegal to add the green pepper. He also admitted guilt during an internal KWV investigation, he said."

I fully understand that there are subtle and not-so-subtle differences between South Africa and the U.S. but what the hell is this guy saying? I didn't use a flavourant, but I added something that has a flavor. This guy must have access to our news channels because this is a classic page in the book of American politics.

"He did not want to comment, but said adding of the green pepper had nothing to do with competitions or "personal egos", but was purely experimental."

Could this become the precedent for all jack asses in the future. Maybe Barry Bonds' lawyer should be keeping an eye on this one.

"A disgrace such as this has the ability to cause real damage to the industry that would take years to rectify if not handled correctly."

Gee, this is kind of funny. If you took just this one sentence, you would have no idea if they were talking about wine or baseball. Yo, Bud Selig, over here.

Godspeed, my good man Gideon. You're gonna need it.