Tag Archives: Jacobsdal

Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant Awards 2014: Best event ever, some highs, some shocks!

Eat Out magazine cover Whale Cottage PortfolioAfter two disastrous years, New Media Publishing was brave enough to take stock earlier this year, and asked the industry what it wanted in the Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant Awards.  Last night that hard work paid off, with a new venue for the event, a slick and short presentation, new Awards introduced, and three new restaurants making the Top 10 Restaurant list.  The surprise was the emotion which the chefs expressed when receiving their plaques, challenging MasterChef SA Season 2 on tears!

We were one of the interviewees, meeting with Eat Out editor Abigail Donnelly, its GM Aileen Lamb, MD Bridget McCarney, and Director Irna van Zyl.  We were forthright in our feedback and suggestions, including that a team of judges would be needed again (we suggested Garth Stroebel, and have yet to meet him!). We fed back that the preferential relationship with Luke Dale-Roberts in TASTE magazine (also published by New Media Publishing, and of which Abigail is the Food Editor) was unfair towards all other chefs, by featuring him every month – we were told that Woolworths had a contract with him, and therefore he received the coverage in the magazine.  This contract was terminated earlier this year, which is excellent news.  Other recommendations can be read here.  Flowing from the interviews and discussions with previous Top 20 chefs and restaurant managers, owners, and suppliers, as well as media representatives and bloggers, New Media Publishing allowed restaurants to apply to be included in the Eat Out Top 500 Restaurant List, which was selected by a Continue reading →

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

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The vine growing regions in South Africa, Bordeaux, and South Australia could be affected negatively by climate change in future, due to droughts, while the Rhine region of Germany, New Zealand, the USA states of Oregon and Washington, and Mendoza are likely to benefit from climate change, writes Antonio Busalacchi, wine expert and climate scientist.

*   The Eat Out Restaurant Awards will take place at The Lookout in the V&A Waterfront on 10 November, much earlier than usual.  Awards to be presented are

Restaurant of the Year
Chef of the Year
Service Excellence
Top 10 restaurants
Boschendal Style Award Continue reading →

SA wine sales grow in China, my China!

South African bottled wine sales into China have increased by 50 %, albeit off a low base, and this market is estimated to be worth $6 billion by 2014, and about 34 million Chinese could be drinking wine by 2015, reports the Weekend Argus. 

A number of leading South African wine brands will be exported into China via Cape Legends, a Distell-owned company, after the signing of an export contract.  The exported wine brands are Alto, Jacobsdal, Neethlingshof, Plaisir de Merle, and Stellenzicht, using Chinese distributor Guangzhou South Africa Valley.  One wonders how the Chinese market will cope in pronouncing these wine brand names, with the exception of Alto.

Wines of South Africa (WOSA) spokesperson Andre Morgenthal said that China is a huge market due to the size of its population, but the population’s knowledge of South African wines is ‘limited’.   France and Australia have the edge on wine awareness and sales in China.  Hein Koegelenberg, who exports his Leopard’s Leap to China, echoes this, in saying that the Chinese market buys on perceived brand value, and the Pétrus, Lafayette and Mouton Rothschild brands are the best selling wines in China, he says, as the French were the first to recognise the potential size of the Chinese market.  Leopard’s Leap has the dubious honour of having been faked, non-certified wine from Stellenbosch having been seen with a similar Leopard’s Leap label at a recent wine show in China.

The move to marketing wine in China is one way of countering the 20% decline in sales of wine to the UK, says Neil Pendock, reports the Cape Times.  “The future of South African wines is in the East” he says.  Michael Fridjhon added that the weak Rand is causing export sales at a loss, and that British supermarkets “are absolutely calling the shots to South African wine producers.  In short, the guys are stuffed”.  A further threat to local wine producers is that supermarkets are increasingly stocking inexpensive imported wines, helped by the weak Rand.

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