Baboons, it seems, prefer pinot noir. They also like a nice chardonnay.
Largely undeterred by electric fences, hundreds of wild baboons in South Africa’s prized wine country are finding the vineyards of ripe, succulent grapes to be an “absolute bonanza,” said Justin O’Riain of the University of Cape Town.
Winemakers have resorted to using noisemakers and rubber snakes to try to drive the baboons off during harvest season.  “The poor baboons are driven to distraction,” said O’Riain, who works in the university’s Baboon Research Unit. “As far as baboons are concerned, the combination of starch and sugar is very attractive — and that’s your basic grape,” he said.
Growers say the picky primates are partial to sweet pinot noir grapes, adding to the winemakers’ woe: Pinot noir sells for more than the average merlot or cabernet sauvignon.