Bookshop inspection turns up a disappointing selection for lovers of the vine

Killarney is probably the suburb with the highest average IQ in Africa, given its number of high-rise flats, proximity to Wits University and population of retired business moguls. From the poet Stephen Gray to Helena Dolny, the widow of Joe Slovo, Killarney is the Georgetown of Johannesburg. Exclusive Books, in the Killarney Mall, is the de facto library of the suburb, where it's standing room only on weekends, as eggheads peruse the Weekend Financial Times (too expensive to buy) and Wallpaper magazine (ditto).

With gastronomy the new religion du jour, it comes as no surprise to record four racks of shelves devoted to the naked chef and other culinary nudists. With 24 shelves of food, only one contains books on wine: five titles to be exact. Is this what SA wine writing has come down to? A 5% market share for a country that is the 7th-largest wine producer and 8th-largest exporter in the world?

The five titles consist of six copies of Platter 2010, the sighted wine guide, plus two copies of JP Rossouw's Tasting the Cape, Platterwithout the stars and a better bet for wine tourism, from one of the Cape's leading food bloggers. There is one well-thumbed volume on organic wines and two copies of Katinka van Niekerk's magisterial Food and Wine Pairing Guide.

The fifth book is A Passion for Wine & Surf by Danish photographer Linda Suhr, born in 1964, according to the flyleaf. It consists of beefcake shots of some of the Cape's hunkiest winemakers: Adi Badenhorst from Kalmoesfontein; Duncan Savage from Cape Point Vineyards; Rudi Schultz from Thelema; Sebastian Beaumont from Beaumont; Sebastiaan Klaasen from Vuurberg; Miles Mossop from Tokara; plus Luca Castilione, owner of Lemoncello restaurant in Gardens. But at R499, it will likely remain on the shelf for a while.

Gems of wine wisdom twinkle through the chest hairs and the author comments: "This book is my love affair with South Africa and the spirit and soul of this country. It's about great wines, irresistible food, soul-living and love. It's about hauling a battered cooler-box down to the beach, sharing a bottle of wine with friends while the sun slowly sets. These are some of the special moments that make life worth living. It's a celebration of spirit and an expression of my gratitude. I hope one day you get to visit this extraordinary country, taste its wines, savour its food and experience its magic for yourself."

Strange, then, that Suhr didn't include the most famous surfing winemaker, Johan Reyneke, who told me in February: "I've seen more sharks in the past six months than in the previous 20 years.

"At Silversands in December, I was nearly knocked off my surfboard by a Great White, whose buddy brushed my leg. While at Strand in January, a helicopter circled me for five minutes until a rubber duck from the NSRI roared up to say two Great Whites were circling me and perhaps I should return to shore. Then I panicked. The sea was like a washing machine: a maelstrom of breaking waves and sharks."