Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Mark Shuttleworth may be the large Moyo investor who has forced the restaurant group to be placed under business review.

*   The 17th Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa, with 10000 delegates, will be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 7 – 10 December.

*   Warwick Wines has added its Twitter handle @WarwickWine to its corks, in anticipation of the New York Stock Exchange listing of Twitter. (received via media release from Hazell PR and Wine Consultants)

*   Nick Compton, editor of design magazine Wallpaper,  is running a Twitter competition, requesting photographs of the best of South African art and design, to tie in with World Travel Market (WTM) this week.

*   The Kimberley Diamond Cup world skateboarding championships have just been held in Kimberley.

*   Cape Town has been named Africa’s Leading Meetings and Conference Destination, and its The Westin Cape Town the continent’s Leading Conference Hotel.  SAA won Africa’s Leading Airline, and O.R. Thambo leading airport in Africa.

*   Wines of South AFrica (WOSA) is hosting a Braai Tour : Los Angeles today, with AA Badenhorst and MAN some of the wines available to taste. South African/Californian food will be served with the BBQ.

*   Richard Kelly rescues ‘precious vinous orphans’, being South African wines, and repackages them with The Liberator wine label in the UK.

*   Cape Town has lost out on a number of matches when the Indian cricket team visits from the end of November.  A total of 15 matches has been cut down to five, and none will be played at Newlands, due to a dispute between the visiting team and Cricket South Africa, it is reported.  This has serious tourism implications, Wesgro CEO Nils Flaatten said.

*   SA Tourism has put its global marketing communications out to tender, divided into sections:  formulating a global marketing business strategy for 2015-2020; the buying and placement of media; execution; and providing an on-line solution or platform.  The services required are above-the-line advertising, below-the-line advertising, PR, digital, mobile, content, and social media.

*   Sommelier Kayetan Meissner of Bosman’s at the Grande Roche has won the Bollinger Exceptional Wine Service Award 2013.  The two runners up are  Barry Scholfield, Assistant Sommelier at Rust en Vrede, and Xolani Mancotywa, previously Sommelier at the Saxon Boutique Hotel in Johannesburg and now Sommelier at Capital Club Dubai.  Judges were Ginette de Fleuriot of Vinimark The Wine Company, Neil Grant of Burrata and Chairman of the Sommelier Association of South Africa, Consultant and Sommelier Higgo Jacobs, and Consultant Kent Scheermeyer. (received via media release from Hazell PR and Wine Consultants)

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage