Hermanus Food & Wine Fair | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

The Hermanus Wine & Food Fair is more low key than similar ones in Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, and Riebeeck Kasteel. This year the Fair is expanding its reach by putting close to 50 wine producers’ more than 250 wines, from Elgin to Elim and including Hermanus and Stanford, on show over the Women’s Day long weekend, from tomorrow until Sunday, in the Hemel-en-Aarde Village at the entrance to Hermanus. The proceeds of the Fair will go to the nearby Camphill School for children with special needs.

This is the 15th year that the Fair will be staged. The wines on show represent a wine region which has more 4 and 5 star Platter-rated wines than any other in South Africa, says the Fair write-up in Bay.

For the first time an interactive website www.thevine.co.za will allow winelovers attending the show to rate and review the wines they have tasted, and so build up a history of their wine tasting experiences, and share these with other wine lovers. The producers who will present their wines, many of them on the Hermanus Wine Route, are the following: Arumdale, Almenkerk, Ataraxia, Barton, Beaumont Wines, Belfield Wines, Black Oystercatcher, Boschrivier, Bouchard Finlayson, Brunia, Creation, Domaine des Dieux, Feiteiras Wines, Ghost Corner, Henry, Hamilton Russell, Hermanuspietersfontein, Hornbill, Iona, Jakob’s Vineyards, Jean Daneel, La Vierge, Lomond, Newton Johnson, Raka, 7Springs, Southern Right Wines, Spioenkop Wines, Spookfontein, Strandveld & First Sighting, Stanford Hills – Jackson’s, Southhill, Sumaridge, The Berrio, Vaalvlei, Whalehaven, Walker Bay Vineyards, William Everson, Winters Drift, and Zandfontein. Paul du Toit, owner of Wine Village, is the co-ordinator of the Hermanus Wine & Food Fair.

The food at the Hermanus Wine & Food Fair will be provided by the restaurants in the Hemel-en-Aarde Village centre, including The Class Room, B’s Steakhouse, and Season. EAT will run a Peroni Beer and wine bar. In addition, cheeses, olive products, charcuterie, buchu teas, bee products, herb liqueurs, nuts, sundried tomatoes, pomegranate products, pesto pastes, artisanal chocolates, and breads will be available for tasting and to purchase.

Hermanus Wine & Food Fair, Hemel-en-Aarde Village, Hermanus. 9 – 11 August, 11h00 – 19h00. R 95 per day, or R200 for 3-day pass. Free parking. www.hermanuswineandfood.co.za. Book via Computicket.

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

The Women’s Day long weekend has been good for business, with Whale Cottage Franschhoek, Whale Cottage Hermanus and Whale Cottage Camps Bay fully booked on most of the weekend nights.

The good bookings could be a signal that the worst of the economic crunch is over, and it is encouraging that the guest mix consisted of Italians (August traditionally is their holiday month, and they seem to favour South Africa as before), British visitors, and of South Africans.

In Cape Town the Springboks played against the Wallabies at Newlands over the weekend, while in Hermanus the Kalfiefees and the Hermanus Food & Wine Fair took place.

Franschhoek was largely taken over for the long weekend by one of the largest law firms in South Africa, Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs, and Whale Cottage Franschhoek accommodated the band Watershed, which performed at the company’s function. More than 300 staff and their families spent the weekend in Franschhoek, as the company’s way of thanking its staff for their contribution to its success.

The Whale Cottage guests celebrated the 13 th anniversary of the Whale Cottage Portfolio on Women’s day with the staff.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com