Last night I attended a tasting of six wines by Cederberg Wines with Altitude at OpenWine on Wale Street. The Wine estate has the highest location above sea level, at 1036m, of all vineyards in the Cape. Continue reading →
Tag Archives: altitude
Richard Kershaw Wines is a star with clonal blending of Chardonnay and Syrah!
I heard Richard Kershaw’s name for the first time when he was one of 80 Platter 5 star winners for his inaugural Kershaw Elgin Chardonnay 2012 earlier this month. Yesterday we attended a tasting of his 2012 Chardonnay and Syrah at Rodwell House in St James, at which Richard unpacked the importance of clones in making his two wines.
Richard is a larger-than-life personality, and wine judge and writer Angela Lloyd complimented him for his wines having personality too. He grew up in Sheffield, and did a cooking course in Slough, at an excellent chef’s school. He moved to winemaking, assisting in an American cellar, where he met a South African, who encouraged him to come to South Africa instead of to Chile and Argentina, where he intended to travel to next. He followed the advice of his friend, and fate determined that he met his now wife Mariette in the guest house in which he was staying in Stellenbosch, having arrived on the night on which Luciano Pavarotti gave his only South African concert, which they could hear from the guest house, he explained. He was shown around different cellars, but was most impressed with Mulderbosch, 
Laibach, and Vergelegen. He followed his dream to go to Chile to help make wine there, but his heart drew him back to Stellenbosch and to Mariette. He announced himself at Mulderbosch, boldly asking for a job, and his wish was granted. He does not have a formal winemaking qualification, but became a Master of Wine (MW) two years ago, after a six year study period, the first South African winemaker to have Continue reading →
World Cup teams give Cape Town a red card
The tourism industry in Cape Town will be disappointed that none of the 32 World Cup teams have chosen a base camp in or near Cape Town. The base camp location has an important attraction for fans, who want to stay in the same towns and cities as their home team.
Despite a deadline of the end of last month, FIFA has given the teams one more week to finalise their choice. Six teams have not yet announced their final base camp choice.
The Western Cape has 2 teams (France and Denmark) staying in Knysna at Pezula and Simola, respectively, and Japan will be based in George at the Fancourt Hotel.
Gauteng has the most teams to date, who chose the province for the altitude for their practice sessions, the top quality sport facilities and top quality accommodation : The Netherlands, South Africa, Portugal, Serbia, New Zealand, Slovenia, Brazil, Australia, Honduras, Switzerland, North Korea, and Mexico.
Pretoria has attracted USA, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, and Argentina. KwaZulu-Natal has secured Algeria, Ivory Coast, Greece, and Paraguay. Uruguay is staying in Kimberley. Ghana is staying in White River. England and South Korea are staying in Rustenberg. Chile is staying in Mapumalanga. Spain has not chosen between Rustenburg and Potchefstroom yet.
Many municipalities spent big money trying to encourage teams to set up base camps in their towns. Mossel Bay was sure that it had bagged Paraguay, and both Val du Vie and Pearl Valley outside Franschhoek were rumoured to have signed up a team. The Sunday Times reports that the Mossel Bay municipality spent R 200 million on its bid, and had launched an extensive Spanish language campaign for tourism players in the town. Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth and East London also did not attract any base camps.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com