Cape Wine Auction | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* The second Cape Wine Auction will be held at Boschendal on 14 February 2015. Last year the inaugural Auction raised R 7 million.

* Uber launched UberCHOPPER today, partnering with Cape Town Helicopters, bookable on the Uber App. An UberBLACK vehicle will collect one from one’s destination, and drive one to the V&A Helipad. Three flight options are available: Two Oceans, covering both the Atlantic Seaboard and False Bay; Cape Peninsula, covering the V&A down to the Cape of Good Hope; and customised tours such as to the Winelands, whale-watching, and shark-cage diving. There is a maximum of three passengers per ride. (received via media release from Uber Cape Town)

* The 2014 Sport and Events Tourism Exchange commences in Durban in two weeks. Large events are vital for the tourism Continue reading →

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* Perfect China has bought the cellar and wine farm of Val de Vie for use by Perfect Wines of South Africa, in which it has a 51% stake (with Leopard’s Leap), reports Bloomberg, the first purchase of a local wine estate by a Chinese company. Close to 3 million bottles of the company’s L’Huguenot wine were exported to the Asian country in 2011 and 2012, representing about 25 percent of all South African wine exports to China. The cellar and maturation capacity are to be increased.

* More storms, including hail, have hit the wine regions of France, especially the Génissac region last week, in which 30 – 100% of the crops were destroyed, reports Wine Spectator.

* USA wine blogger Joe Roberts, writing 1WineDude, will be the keynote speaker at the Nederburg Auction, an interesting reflection of the growing influence of wine bloggers!

* Interesting news is that Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk has promulgated draft legislation to have one united set of legislation relating to tourism nationally, Continue reading →