The 2022 edition of the Platters by Diners Club South African Wine Guide has announced the 234 wines that have achieved its prestigious five star rating.
Red Blends (46) and White Blends (27) achieved the largest number of 5 star ratings, followed by Chenin Blanc with 27, Chardonnay with 19, and Cabernet Sauvignon with 15 wines. Last year 212 wines received 5 stars. A total of 13 judges evaluated the wines eligible for the 5 star rating. Continue reading →
I looooove ‘Das Traumschiff’, a German TV series that has been broadcast regularly in the past 20 years or so, so I was doubly excited when our city ‘Kapstadt’ was the focus of the Boxing Day 2020 edition of this series.
The edition could not have come at a better time, when our city’s Tourism industry is sorely missing its German tourists, and the Germans are missing not being able to travel to our city. But a subplot of the Cape Town edition has some political sensitivities, not good for our country’s image and tourism future. Continue reading →
I was invited by Heidi Kuyper, Sales & Marketing Executive of SA Chef Media, to join Episode 2 of the Live-Cook Channel last Thursday evening, learning to prepare Beef Wellington with the guidance of Chef Luke Dale Roberts of The Test Kitchen, and the MC for the show being Consultant Chef Pete.Goffe-Wood.
Live-Cook Channel launched the concept of cooking with celebrity chefs in the comfort of one’s own home, receiving the ingredients required for the meal delivered to one’s home, enough to serve a group of two or four diners, with guidance of a recipe card and by the celebrity chef via the broadcast on a YouTube channel as to how to prepare a signature dish. Continue reading →
Through a stroke of luck I was invited to visit Santiago in Chile for four days, and in this time I was able to drink some Chilean wines. I also visited Casablanca, a wine region outside Santiago, with my friends Guy and Pia, who live near Casablanca. Continue reading →
Before arriving in Buenos Aires on this my second visit to the city, I had not prepared for my visit from a wine perspective, my main goal in spending a month in Argentina being to learn to dance the Tango. I have planned to visit Mendoza, renowned for its Malbec, have attended a wine tasting and food pairing evening at COWI in Buenos Aires, drunk three wines at the dinner at Buenos Aires’ Tegui, 86th Best Restaurant in the World, one wine at Don Julio, the 34th Best Restaurant in the World and Best in Argentina, and two wines at dinner at 1884 Restaurant in Mendoza. I have summarised my initial knowledge about the wine industry of Argentina, the fifth largest in the world, to which I have added some research information too. Continue reading →
On Tuesday I attended the first tasting of wines introduced by a winemaker and paired with a meal, at OpenWine, the tasting room representing a number of our country’s top wine brands in its Wale Street venue, at the invitation of co-owner Marta Gobbo. It is the first time that I have experienced their new format of wine tasting and food pairing. Continue reading →
Yesterday the 2017 Winemag.co.za Prescient Cabernet Sauvignon Report awards were presented at the colorful The Stack, a well attended function, and offering good lighting for photography. Winemag goes to great lengths to find interesting venues to host its awards. It is the sixth Cabernet Sauvignon Report presented by Winemag.
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Twelve out of sixty invited Cabernet Sauvignon wines were judged to be the best in our country, scoring 90 or more out of 100 points in Winemag’s Prescient Cabernet Sauvignon Report 2016, the top wines recognised at a function held at the MOMA Gallery in Bo-Kaap on Thursday.
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* SAA would consider a partner to assist it in running its loss-making operation, the Minister of Public Enterprises Lynne Brown said earlier this week. The airline’s application for more funding was recently rejected.
* Wines of South Africa (WOSA) has opened a Hong Kong office to market our country’s wines to all of Asia, and will be managed by Michaela Stander, who has managed the region from South Africa for the past six years. South African wine sales into China grew by 5% and to Japan by 12% in the past year. The marketing program includes consumer education, a sommelier competition, dinners, and offering wines by the glass. It will be visible at the HKTDC fair in Hong Kong next week, and at ProWein China from 12 – 14 November.
* The 40th annual Volvo Ocean Race of 39000 nautical miles, will welcome the first yachts into Cape Town on Sunday, Continue reading →
I sat next to The Reciprocal Wine Trading Company Cape Town representative Tarryn Thomas at the ‘Chefs who Share‘ Gala Dinner last week, and she invited me to attend the special tasting of wines in the Riedel glassware which they represent in South Africa. The tasting on Tuesday at The Local Grill function venue was made more special in that it was led by 10th generation Georg Riedel, currently heading up the Austrian-based company. Herr Riedel encouraged the restaurant managers and sommeliers present to invest in glassware and a glass washing machine to bring out the best in the wines they serve.
We were welcomed by Michael Fridjhon, owner of Reciprocal, and he introduced Herr Riedel. It was the first time that I met Michael, and sat next to him during 
the tasting. I had brought my glass of water into the venue, and was quickly told to put it away, and we were all told that we should not open the bottle of water on the tasting sheet nor taste anything before we were given the go-ahead by Herr Riedel to do so.
Herr Riedel led us to question what makes a restaurant visit successful, the welcome, the food, and the wine selection combined making the cost seem good value or not. Eating at a restaurant is a ‘multi-layered symphony’, he said, to describe the functional and emotional experience of eating out. He feels that wine Continue reading →