Ten days ago the Stellenbosch Wine Routes celebrated its 50th anniversary, the largest and oldest Wine Route in our country, with about 200 wine and grape producers in the second oldest town in South Africa. Continue reading →
Tag Archives: Mike Ratcliffe
Bocca restaurant to open shortly, first to offer pizza on Bree Street!
Last night my friend Whitney Wentzel and I enjoyed a very generous dinner at Burrata, losing track of the number of courses we enjoyed. I had been invited to hear from co-owner Neil Grant what exciting developments are planned at Bocca, which will open on the corner of Bree and Wale Streets in mid-September, as well as longer term at Constantia Uitsig, when they take over the former River Café, with a name change.
Bocca (means ‘mouth’ in Italian) will seat 70 diners on two levels inside, as well as a further 23 on a deck extending out of the restaurant on Bree Street, which has an extra-large pavement. Neil and Chef Annemarie Steenkamp will open Bocca, with the assistance of Matteo, a sommelier who has worked on the cruise ship The Residence at Sea. He in turn will have a sommelier supporting him. The Bocca kitchen is smaller, Chef Annemarie said, but she is excited in having designed most of it herself. A sister pizza
oven to the one at Burrata, also sourced from Naples, has been installed, in orange. Space has been allowed for a bar counter. Seating is at counters, as well as at custom-designed tables and chairs. There will be more colour in the interior, and less industrial design, than at Burrata. The interior design was done by INHOUSE designers, who also designed the interiors of Burrata, The Test Kitchen, The Butcher Shop & Grill, and Carné. A number of locations were considered for the new restaurant, including the former Rhapsody’s space on Main Road in Green Point.
Neil and his business partner Barry Engelbrecht are delighted that they found the Bree Street Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 19/20 July
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Cape Town will host the 14th World Summit of the Noble Peace Prize Laureates from 13 – 15 October, the first time that it will be held in Africa, report the Cape Times and Weekend Argus. A total of 1500 delegates is expected to meet at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, with the topic ‘Peace: living it’. Previous Noble Peace Prize recipients such as Mikhail Gorbachev and Lech Walesa will join FW de Klerk and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
* The largest number of international visitors to Cape Town in the third quarter of last year, ranked by figures just released by Wesgro, were from Germany, the USA, the UK, and Italy. Gauteng was the largest source of local visitors, followed by those from other parts of the Western Cape.
* Rio de Janeiro received close to 900000 visitors during the Soccer World Cup, spending $4,4 million, with more than half of the visitors planning to return in two years to attend the 2016 Olympic Games. The city hosted the closing Final, which was viewed by 3 billion TV viewers, and its iconic statue of Christ the Redeemer against a sunset was shown during the broadcast, as Continue reading →
Exclusive AfrAsia Bank charity Cape Wine Auction 2014 to educate Winelands communities!
The AfrAsia Bank Cape Wine Auction 2014 is an inaugural exclusive, almost elitist, charity event which aims to raise monies which are to be used for educational purposes in the Winelands. It takes place at Delaire Graff Estate over lunch today, with 250 guests, half of whom are likely to travel from overseas to the Cape especially for the auction.
With an aura of a by-invitation-only attendance, Auction organiser Mike Ratcliffe of Warwick Wines invited 30 Auction Ambassadors to assist him in spreading the word about the event, to assist in raising lots for the auction, and to invite guests as bidders to the event. Ambassadors include May de Lencquesaing of Glenelly, Wendy Appelbaum of De Morgenzon, Hein Koegelenberg of La Motte, Rose and Michael Jordaan of Bartinney, Delaire Graff, Charles Banks of Mulderbosch, Paul Cluver, Jeremy Ord and Kevin Arnold of Waterford, Chris and Andrea Mullieneux and their partner ‘Anlajit’ (sic) Singh, Zelma Long and Dr Phil Freese of Vilafonte, the Buys family of Vrede en Lust, Francois Pienaar, Eben Sadie, Ryk Neethling, Jean Engelbrecht, Ken Forrester, Anthonij Rupert Wines, Lanzerac Estate, Anthony and Olive Hamilton Russell, and Giorgio and George Dalla Cia. One wonders why so many of the country’s top winemakers have not been involved in the Auction, the list of Auction Ambassadors clearly concentrated in Stellenbosch. Missing from the list, one would think, is Babylonstoren, Backsberg, Boekenhoutskloof, and a winery or two from the Constantia, Paarl, Wellington, Robertson, Tulbagh, and Durbanville Wine Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 19 February
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Johannesburg teenager Filipa da Silva has won a competition launched by American Idols presenter Ryan Seacrest, for the best rendition of One Direction’s ‘Story of my Life’, beating former Eurovision Irish twin contestants Jedward.
* The Tourism Indaba, held in May for the past 24 years, could be threatened by three trade and travel shows held in Cape Town under the Africa Travel Week umbrella the week prior to what is the country’s largest tourism and travel show, organised by SA Tourism and held in Durban.
* Johannesburg was the most popular tourism destination in Africa in 2012, according to the MasterCard Third Annual Global Destination Cities Index, and should be the continent’s most visited city too, with an estimated 2,5 million visitors spending R35 billion.
* The inaugural AfrAsia Bank Cape Wine Auction 2014 will be held over lunch at Delaire Graff on 15 March. It will be preceded by a Barrel Tasting and Auction Preview at Waterford Estate the evening before, and the funds will go to funding education in the Winelands, benefitting Pebbles Project, the MAD Charity, and the Click Foundation. The Cape Wine Auction Trust has been created, and its founding Trustees are Michael Jordaan, Ken Kinsey-Quick, Wendy Appelbaum, and Mike Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 6 December
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* 1Time is likely to start operating again as a low cost airline, having been placed into liquidation last year.
* The City of Cape Town approved The Control of Undertakings that Sell Liquor to the Public By-law, and should be promulgated in the Provincial Government Gazette next month, and enforcable by February. The by-law is less strict than its draft, allowing retailers to apply to extended their trading hours and to trade on Sundays.
* Camps Bay has been named by Yowzit as the Best Beach in South Africa, followed by Ramsgate and Llandudno.
* The Last Word Franschhoek has closed its doors until April for renovations, after having been badly flooded during the severe downpour last month.
* Cape Town has been praised by the Islington Review for Camps Bay Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 22 November
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Selling direct to wine lovers is the way to go delegates at a Wine Vision conference were told earlier this week by an international panel of speakers. Mike Ratcliffe of Warwick Wine Estate in Stellenbosch shared that 22 % of their wine sales is to members of their Wine Club.
* Prince Harry’s UK, the USA and the Commonwealth teams have flown to Antarctica, for their trek for charity to the South Pole, having been held up in Cape Town for the last four days due to bad weather.
* Big Concerts has added a third Carlos Santana concert at the GrandArena at GrandWest on 27 February, in addition to 25 and 26 February in Cape Town, and 1 March in Johannesburg.
* Bouchard Finlayson won the ‘Coup de Coeur‘ at the first Vinidivio show Continue reading →
Diners Club Platter’s Guide 2014 sets new records, Mullineux new Winery of the Year!
It was a boisterous Diners Club Platter’s South African Wines 2014 ‘prize-giving’ last night, with a record 80 wines receiving the much-desired 5 star accolade, selected blind-tasted from double the number of 5-star finalists. It was an evening that honoured publisher Andrew McDowall, and saw new publisher JP Rossouw in action for the first time.
A number of records were set last night, with the largest number of wines evaluated ever, at 7434, there being 49 new entries, and close to 900 producers of wine in the Guide. After an absence, brandy and sherry-style wines were awarded again.
On arrival, sipping Klein Constantia MCC, a number of well-known winemakers and estate owners were visible, giving one a taste of some of the 5 star winners, including last year’s Winery of the Year winner Gottfried Mocke of Cape Chamonix, Mike Ratcliffe of Warwick, Razvan Macici of Nederburg, Anthony Hamilton Russell, Johann Laubser of Delaire Graff, and Ginny Povall of Botanica. We commented that it was wonderful to see so many women winemakers amongst the top 5 star recipients! Once we were allowed to enter the venue at the Vineyard Hotel, the wines were displayed in groups, for one to taste and to see the 5 star winners by their presence.
David Hughes sang the praises of Andrew, and his direct involvement with 29 of the 34 Platter’s Wine Guides. He described Andrew as a man ‘massive in character’, who has a nickname ‘Grunter‘, who got himself smuggled into a Nederburg Wine Auction via the boot of a car when he did not receive an invitation, who fell onto a cannon at the bottom of the steps of the Mount Nelson when he slid down the bannister at his 40th birthday party, a man one can trust when he gives you his word, ‘and a hell of a good guy‘, warning JP that he has big boots to fill in taking over from Andrew. There was roaring applause for Andrew.
Andrew looked well, and his dry humour was on full form, saying that
the romance with Diners Club last year had led to marriage during the year. He was full of praise for his ‘young, strong and virile’ successor JP. He was proud that the edition was printed locally and not in Singapore. He revealed the ‘Walker Bay blue’ cover, saying that they had considered calling it ‘Pendock sea sick’, which brought the house down! He praised editor Philip van Zyl as the ‘most ethical man’, which led to applause from the floor. The 80 5 star winners include 7 brandies, up from 62 last year. I asked Andrew what he would be doing with his time, and he said he wasn’t sure, but getting better at bridge is one of his goals. Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 6/7 July
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* M-Net’s channel location will change on 5 August, as Cape TV will be broadcasting from it. Multichoice is paying for installers to visit each affected Cape Town subscriber for the decoder to be adjusted, at its expense.
* If membership of FEDHASA Cape is an indicator, then the hospitality business is going through tough times, their membership numbers declining due to businesses closing down or changing ownership, reports Travel News Weekly?
* South Africa loves its Scotch, having imported R1,7 billion of whisky, reports the Financial Mail.
* Are Celebrity wines worth their endorsement? James Molesworth rates the wines of Ernie Els, Brangelina, Sting, and other celebs on THV. Continue reading →
SA wine industry moves from bulk to fine wine, receiving international recognition!
South Africa’s wine industry has made great strides in the past ten years, from being a bulk exporter of ‘cheap and cheerful’ wines to being on the ‘brink of breaking into the international fine wine spotlight’, wrote Mike Ratcliffe, owner of Warrick Wine Estate, in the Sunday Times recently.
Ratcliffe writes that the bulk export of low cost South African wines damaged our country’s image as a wine-producing country, but that this is being turned around, with excellent quality wines being exported. He ascribes the success of the wine industry to the folloiwng:
* tackling the reputation and improving the quality, for example, of a cultivar such as Pinotage, which was ‘mocked in global circles’. Ratcliffe praises the industry’s ability to accept criticism (however UK wine writer Rebecca Gibbs experienced the opposite in a Pinotage workshop at CapeWine 2012).
* The young up and coming winemakers are innovating, and ‘breaking down barriers and pushing the envelope of experimentation’, and challenging region and variety. The older guard and wine co-operatives are changing ‘their business models and driving quality innovations’.
* South African wines are as good and some even better than their international counterparts, and are being recognised by international wine buyers and wine drinkers. This was confirmed at CapeWine 2012, where heaps of praise was showered upon the South African wine industry. This is making winemakers more confident about their wines.
* The industry is producing more quality wines, and the prices of these wines are increasing, as more of them are exported.
* More co-operative marketing is taking place, CapeWine 2012 having been the most excellent showcase of our country’s top wines. Despite their differences, ‘the wine industry is presenting a strong and united front’.
Alongside Ratcliffe’s article was one entitled ‘Wine farms look wobbly’, sad to see after the euphoria created for our wine industry at CapeWines 2012. Quoting a report by VinPro and Winetech, it shared that high costs are slashing profits, the cost per hectare having increased by 61% to over R30000 in the past 7 years, mainly due to electricity, fuel and water cost increases. Income has dropped from R1 per 750 ml bottle in 2004 to 38 cents now. Some optimism about the forthcoming harvest has been expressed, a larger harvest leading to better profit. Wine production is expected to grow by 7% this year, to 1,1 billion gross litres. Bulk wine exports grew by 26% and bottled wine exports dropped by 9%. Exports increased by 7%, and domestic sales by 4% in the past year. Wine farmers are surviving the downward profitability trend by diversifying into other forms of farming, and by adding wine tourism attractions to their farms.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage