This chapter assesses the record of the KWV under C.W.H. Kohler in the performance of its initial mandate. It addresses minimum pricing, experimentation with innovative ways of disposing of the surplus, efforts to build exports and measures taken to improve quality. A partial return to preferential duties during the Great Depression ironically created more favourable conditions for maximising exports to Britain and the empire. While self-styled quality producers exported wine, the KWV developed a line in fortified wines. The role of A.I. Perold and Frank W. Myburgh in promoting a quality agenda at the KWV is explored. The chapter briefly relates the tale of a tour of France by Myburgh, Andre Simon and Manie Malan in 1932 that captures the optimism of the time. The chapter concludes with a salutary tale of a return to overproduction and low prices at the end of the decade. Although the KWV, which was internally divided, was blamed for a return to crisis conditions, the Wine Commission of 1937 backed away from advocating the return to the status quo ante. Hence, the government of Jan Smuts agreed to the extension of KWV regulatory powers to cover drinking wine in 1940.

This chapter addresses challenges to the KWV system as the overall surplus spiralled in the 1980s and cooperatives began offloading cheap wine onto the market in minimalist packaging. Independent producers and the SFW became increasingly critical of the KWV’s performance of its regulatory functions. The chapter provides an account of Tim Hamilton-Russell’s dogged campaign for the right to produce wine in the Hemel-en-Aarde and to market it as he saw fit. It also addresses the vine-smuggling scandal that broke in 1986, which culminated in the loosening of quarantine controls. The chapter then details how the end of white rule led to government scrutiny of the KWV. After a bitter struggle over the demands of the KWV to hold onto its assets as it converted to a private company, a political deal was struck that enabled part of them be reycled in support of a black empowerment agenda in the industry. The residual control functions were taken over by a set of new bodies. The chapter closes with a brief account of the arrival of international drinks companies and the full merger between Distillers and SFW to create Distell, in an effort to ward off potentially hostile competition.