Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Queen Elizabeth will honour the late Nelson Mandela with an invitation-only memorial service at Westminster Abbey on 11 February, the day on which Madiba was released from the then Victor Verster prison in 1990. It will be the first service for a non-British citizen, reports The New Age.
* David Williams from The Observer has selected three South African wines as his ‘wines of the week‘: Reyneke Organic Syrah 2011, Ken Forrester Workhorse Chenin Blanc 2012, and De Grendel Sauvignon Blanc 2013.
* A trade and tourism delegation from the Miami-Dade county and Enterprise Florida Inc will visit Cape Town, as well as Johannesburg and Durban, from 1 – 9 March. One of their objectives is to get direct SAA flights between Miami and South Africa re-instated. Miami and Cape Town already have a Sister Cities Agreement, which was signed in September last year.
* Nedbank VinPro Information Day speaker Stephen Rannekliev of Rabobank suggested earlier this week that South African wines should be focused at the USA market, where the penetration is still low, and the price points good. He said that the traditional markets of Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands are facing increasing excise duties and taxes, squeezing margins. He also suggested that South African wines being the largest contributors to Fairtrade, at two-thirds of all their wines, should be communicated. Social Media should be used more to tell our country’s unique wine story.
* Facebook is forecast to ‘die‘ in three years from now, as it is too focused on finding out more about its users. The number of Google searches for ‘Facebook‘ peaked in 2012, and is on a decline.
* Bruce Springsteen has arrived in Cape Town, where he will perform at three concerts today, on Tuesday and on Wednesday, at the Bellville Velodrome.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
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