Tag Archives: Hermanus FynArts Festival

A whale of a Hermanus FynArts Festival: 5 – 16 June! A feast of food, wine, music, art, books, and more!

Hermanus FynArtsI did a quick visit to Hermanus yesterday, and at a stop at Rivendell Restaurant, between Bot River and Hermanus, I was told that Chef Thomas Sinn was coming back from his overseas holiday especially to participate in a super-sounding feast, for which he is one of eight chefs cooking on Monday evening. The staff brought a copy of the programme, and I could not believe what the organisers have planned for the 11-day Festival, ‘A Celebration of South African Arts’ its 80-page Festival brochure proudly proclaims!

The programme consists of different themes: Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 22 May

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The Reserve Bank has left the Repo rate unchanged, but has warned that the inflationary pressure from petrol price increases and a weak Rand could influence the rate in future.

*   The City of Cape Town is setting up a company to manage the Cape Town Stadium, an asset which is costing the City and its ratepayers large sums of money due to losses made, at about R36 million a year! The establishment of the company is to be approved at the Mayoral Committee meeting today, which will then create a business hub around Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 9 May

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*  L’Huguenot, a joint venture between Leopard’s Leap and Yangzhou Perfect, sold 1,5 million bottles of wine in China last year.   A cheaper varietal is planned for 2015, which could double the sales of the brand, according to Leopard’s Leap MD Hein Koegelenberg.

*   Brands Krone Borealis and Krone Rosé, and brand owner Vinimark, have been left red-faced after Die Burger disclosed that its 2010 MCCs in fact were not Cap Classiques, and have been removed from retail shelves due to the two brands misleading consumers.  Winemaker Rudiger Gretschel explained that the 2010 vintage bottles started exploding during fermentation.  With the help of Robertson Winery, the content of the remaining bottles was decanted and re-bottled into stronger bottles.  The 2010 vintage is now being sold with the Twee Jonge Gesellen label, at almost half the original price.  The Méthode Cap Classique Association of South Africa is reported to be outraged by the incident.

 *   Bouchard Finlayson is sponsoring the Tollman Bouchard Finlayson Art Award 2014  Tondo Competition for the Hermanus FynArts Festival, taking place from 6 – 16 June.  Each of the 40 art Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 1 April

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and wine news headlines

*   Standard Bank is to support the newly created Standard Bank/Top 10 Chenin Blanc Challenge for a three year period. Entries open on 1 July, and each of the 100 members of the Chenin Blanc Association may enter their wines. The Top 10 wine producers will receive R20000 each, and are expected to reinvest the prize money to benefit their workers and workplace. (received via media release from Waterford Communications)

*   Chanticleer Holdings, the South African company owning four Hooters franchises, is reported to pay close to R9 million in the USA to settle a ‘putative class action alleging it lied about its South African restaurants’ financial statements being audited before an ill-fated $10,1 million initial public offering’! 

*   Entries are invited for the 2014 Lilizela Tourism Awards, Western Cape Tourism Minister Alan Winde has announced.  Provincial winners are selected, who go forward to the national finals. The Minister said: ‘This competition is a good measure because tourists are the ones voting. Great service is one of the key factors in repeat visits and the Western Cape’s establishments have set a high standard for service excellence. After a great Continue reading →