The dominant talk at the Chenin Blanc Association summer tasting at the Cape Grace hotel this afternoon (other than how fabulous the 21 Chenins we tasted were) was that Pieter de Waal, Secretary of the Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group (SBIG*), which recently announced its FNB Top 10 Sauvignon Blanc list to much criticism by Nasty Neil, is allegedly suing puerile Pendock via FNB. It is speculated that the attack resulted from sour grapes, after Pendock was not invited to serve on the judging panel this year, and his services were cancelled at short notice for last year’s judging!
Prickly Pendock was visible by his absence at the Chenin Blanc Association tasting today, and appears to have gone into hiding, not having blogged for most of the day. He has been a furious blogger in the past week, and has lashed out wildly at a number of victims, including ourselves. Odd then that he blogged about David Cope’s (the first WhaleSpotter) new wine bar Publik on a personal website neilpendock.com this afternoon for the first time today, and that no blogpost by him has appeared on the Sunday Times Live blogsite today. Could it be that Pendock’s column has been suspended, as the rumour mill is alleging? Cope and Pendock must have had interesting discussions about whale watching, both having a fascination with whales!
Many subjects of Pendock’s persistent persecution, provocation, and pestering will be delighted to see the demise of Pendock’s column! One wonders what this will do for his relationship with The Taj, as his petite Pendock Wine Gallery is meant to drive traffic to Mint, but it is not yet making a mint as a result of their new tenant! The hotel also does not want to be associated with a scandal, and it may have to request notorious Neil to remove their logo from his new blog. One thing is for sure, nasty Neil cannot take criticism without retaliation, yet can dish it out to anyone who crosses his path!
POSTSCRIPT 11/10: Pendock has fired away his second blogpost this afternoon, having another go at Pieter de Waal, probably packing in as much of a Pendock punch before Pieter vs Pendock meet in court!
POSTSCRIPT 12/10: Pendock pal Emile Joubert (one of few friends, seeing that Spill PR can no longer afford to claim Pendock as a friend given the controversy, and not able to offer their clients The Odyssey, KWV, and Paul Cluver any media muscle anymore!) tried to encourage sympathy for Nasty Neil, and asked on Twitter how FNB can support ‘attempts to sensor (sic) press‘! Cheeky Pendock replied: ‘@emile joubert Keen to expose the behaviour of SBIG* secretary (i.e. Pieter de Waal) and looking forward to my day in court‘! Continuing his attack on De Waal and his association, he finds a new meaning for SBIG: ‘Sensor Blogs, Idees en Goed’, and adds to his Tweet ‘Shame on you all’. In this blogpost he tries to defend himself in the matter and criticises De Waal and FNB even further! He also calls the SBIG a ‘censor board‘.
POSTSCRIPT 13/10: In his latest blogpost, Pendock explains why he is angry at the Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group, now drawing Christian Eedes into the saga too. Yesterday he threatened to lodge a complaint with FNB about the matter, being a longstanding client of the bank, he Tweeted!
POSTSCRIPT 14/10: Interesting is to see that the readership of Pendock’s pendulous Times Live blog has halved to just over 2000 readers today, after reaching more than 6000 on Friday, when news broke about his blog’s suspension on the Sunday Times blogging platform. He averaged 5000 readers in the past. He has sent some traffic to the Times Live site today, with a link from his latest blogpost to boost the numbers, which his own personal NeilPendock.com blog will not deliver.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
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I was wondering when this bitter wound about being excluded from the concours this was was going to become infected. But why blame De Waal, surely its the organisors he should be lashing out at?
Dear Dm
Pendock is like a broken record! He has just dedicated the latest blogpost this morning to the saga. I am sure that his readership must get very bored with his ranting and raving!
I reckon that he is funding David Cope’s Publik wine bar to come!