President Ramaphosa’s address to the nation this evening was a huge relief for the Cape Town metro area, in that it is only affected by the Curfew time having been extended, to commence from 23h00, as of midnight tonight. Other metropolitan areas such as the Garden Route and Sarah Baartman are facing stricter regulations.
StreetSmart SA, a Public Benefit Organisation which collects monies from R5 donations paid by patrons at participating restaurants, has been affected in doing its good work in caring for Street Children by the Corona Virus Lockdown, as no restaurants have been permitted to trade in the past two months.
In order to continue its good work, needed even more so during these difficult times, the organisation has launched an interim ‘Dine In. Do Good!’ campaign, encouraging home diners to donate R150 per month (R5 per day), or even more to StreetSmart SA until restaurants reopen. Continue reading →
City Press reported over the weekend that SAA sommelier and Global Food and Beverage Manager, Bongi Sodladla, was feted with bribes and incentives to offer wine purchase contracts to those wineries which greased her palms. Had Bribery Bongi not been going through a divorce, and had her still-current husband Wonga Sodladla not been so generous with information sent to SAA last month about his wife’s misdemeanours, SAA, the wine industry, and the South African public would never have known what was going on behind the scenes of SAA’s wine buying!
We first heard of Bribery Bongi in October last year, when she appeared in an episode of Season 3 of MasterChef Continue reading →
Slowly a number of changes are being introduced to the publishing and marketing of ‘Platter’s South African Wines’ since JP Rossouw took over as Publisher of the wine guide about six months ago. Not all the changes may be to the liking of the wine estates, users, and advertisers of the Guide.
For the first time Platter’s has advertised! Yesterday I saw an advertisement for Platter’s in the Sunday Times Food Weekly supplement, advertising the Guide, with its newish parent Diners Club benefiting from it too. The advertisement
bears the headline ‘Platter’s Wine Guide discovers the perfect pairing’, being a self-aggrandizing accolade to the marriage between Platter’s and Diners Club! The copy reads: ‘Platter’s Wine Guide, South Africa’s original and most authoritative guide to who’s who and what’s what in the Winelands, has the perfect partner in Diners Club, the world’s original and most prestigious charge card. Platter’s has always been the go-to-guide to discovering, rating, pairing and sharing South African wines. Now there’s a quick and easy way to also enjoy Platter’s on your mobile device or desktop. Filled with the latest wine news, festival alerts, hot picks and competitions, Platter’s has become an even more valuable guide. Whether you are shopping for wine, wanting to learn more, or need help planning a trip to cellars, Platter’s will enhance your journey. No App required. Simply go to www.wineonaplatter.com to subscribe’. The pay-off line is corny and meaningless: ‘When your thirst for knowledge coincides with the means to enjoy it, you BELONG‘! One would hope that Rossouw was not the copywriter of this nonsensical ad, given his past copywriting career! More likely is that the advertisement comes from the Marketing department of Diners Club, the give-away being that it contains the Facebook page address and Twitter handle of Diners Club, but not of Platter’s, a bizarre omission! Continue reading →
Indian businessman Analjit Singh has made a substantial investment in Franschhoek, buying three wine farms and a guest house. Last year Mr Singh bought a share in Mullineux Wines, now called Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines.
In Franschhoek Mr Singh has bought the wine estates Von Ortloff, Dieu Donné, and the neighbouring Dassenberg, which will be consolidated into Leeu Dassenberg Estates. Fynbos is to be planted and alien vegetation to be removed. This will become the foundation for a new luxury boutique hotel, a spa, a winery, and a wine tasting facility, which will be run under the guidance of General Manager Matthew Smith.
Mr Singh has also bought the Rusthof guest house on the top of main road in
Franschhoek, which will change its name to Leeu Rusthof Country Inn when it re-opens in summer, after refurbishments commence in July.
Mr Singh’s hospitality and property interests and new developments will be looked after for him by Hector de Galard. Mr Singh founded The Max India Group, which has interests in life insurance, health insurance, and health care. His local business investments have been made in his personal capacity, and he is using the ‘Leeu’ name, given that his surname means ‘lion’ in Sanskrit. He first came to our country during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and investigated investments at that time already. This led to his Continue reading →
The Public Relations networking association PRNet recently hosted an inaugural ‘PRNET Trade meet your media’ event at Mandela Rhodes Place Hotel & Spa, focusing on the Wine Trade. Cape Wine Master Clive Torr encouraged wine estates and writers to get to know each other better, so that the former can provide writers with information about what is unique about their wine estate and its wines.
Torr was introduced as a garagiste winemaker, and has spent time in the Napa valley. He said currently ‘Chenin is flying‘, being so popular. He noted that consumers are shying away from ‘austere wines’, looking for ‘lesser acidity‘ and ‘quicker drinkability‘. He said that grapes are often picked too quickly, and warned that one should wait for ‘physiological ripeness‘, judged by the colour of the pip, and other factors. He suggested that many of our local winemakers are German-orientated in their winemaking, having studied 
at Geisenheim, making them precise, clinical, adding what one is allowed, and controlling fermentation. One could sense that he supports the French style of winemaking, which is to add nothing at all, and to keep the wine making process as natural as possible. ‘It is time for transparency‘, he said, and intimated that this will increasingly be the future trend. He was critical of Merlot production, saying that our winemakers are ‘floundering‘ in making it. Riesling is not his favourite either, saying that it has ‘high acidity and little taste‘. He talked about adding antibiotics, which is done locally, but is not allowed in the European Union. He said that many wine drinkers are allergic to sulphur, feeling its effect the following day.
Should the threatened ban on advertising materialise, editorial coverage will be one of few means whereby coverage can be achieved. He emphasised how important it is to stay in contact with the media, as it is free advertising if they write about one’s Continue reading →