Tag Archives: Hamilton-Russell Vineyards

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 28/29 August

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Mosaic Team South Africa participating in the World Blind Challenge on 18 October in Champagne against 22 other teams will consist of the winners of the South African Wine Tasting Championship 2014: wine writer Samarie Smith, Chris Groenewald, Lizé Oosthuizen, Ralph Reynolds, and Gavin Whittaker. (received via e-mail from Jean Vincent Ridon)

*   Nominations for the 34th Diners Club Winemaker of the Year (dry white blends) and 14th Young Winemaker of the Year (30 years or younger, producers of red blend) are now open, the winners receiving a flight to the USA for two as well as prize monies of R50000 and R25000, respectively. The winners will be announced in November. (received via media release from African Sky Media)

*   Guinness is targeting its (black) beer at Africa, via a multimedia campaign using artists and performers from Africa, which positions the brand as #madeofblack.

*   The 17 gold medal winners of the SA Olive Awards have been announced in three categories:  in the Delicate Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 26 August

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The Pinot Noir producers in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley are hosting their second Hemel-en-Aarde Pinot Noir Celebration at Bona Dea Estate on 30 and 31 January, with only 150 tickets available for the event.  The key-note dinner speaker will be Norman Hardie, regarded as Canada’s best Pinot Noir producer. (received via e-mail from Hamilton Russell Vineyards)

*   South Africa has the lowest transport costs compared to 50 other countries, according to GoEuro’s Transportation Price Index.  For air travel our country ranked third cheapest, while our costs of train travel ranked cheapest of all countries.

*   Cape Town has been appointed for the second time as Official Host City for World Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 18 July

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The Reserve Bank has increased the repo rate by 25 basis points, giving a new interest rate of 5,75%. Governor Gill Marcus blamed inflation for the rate increase.

*   Brazil welcomed more than 1 million visitors during the Soccer World Cup, almost double the estimated 600000 travelers.  Most tourists had never been to Brazil before, visiting from more than 200 countries.  The infrastructure and tourism services generally, and the hospitality and cuisine specifically, were praised by the visitors.  The soccer matches were seen by 3,4 million soccer fans in the stadia over the month-long event.  Visitors stayed in Brazil for 13 days on average.   Brazilians were good soccer fans too, more than 3 million travelling around their own country during the soccer tournament.

*   Melanie Verwoerd has compiled a book ‘Our Madiba: Stories and Reflections from those who met Nelson Mandela‘, containing short stories of numerous persons that met the late Nelson Mandela, including Pieter-Dirk Uys/Evita Bezuidenhout, Adam Small, Francois Pienaar, Amanda Strydom, Sir Richard Attenborough, and many by Mrs Verwoerd herself.

*   The Drinks Business and Intangible Business in the UK evaluated the world’s ‘most powerful Champagne and Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 10 July

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   New York has the best wine lists in the world, ahead of those of London. San Francisco, and Chicago, according to the UK World of Fine Wine.   Rust en Vrede won best winelist in Africa.  The wine list at Palais Coburg Residenz was judged to be the best in the world.

*   Germany’s record 7-1 win over Brazil in the Soccer World Cup semi-final on Tuesday set new records on Twitter, with 35,6 million Tweets being the highest ever for a sports match.  When Sami Khedira scored the fifth goal for Germany in the first half, Twitter reached a new record of 580166 Tweets per minute!    

*   The Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) has introduced 30 minutes of free wifi at its nine airports.  After the half an hour usage, one can use the service on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis.

*   The Pot Luck Club is offering ‘Edible Entertainment’ this winter. New Bloody Mary recipes have been concocted, containing Continue reading →