The SA Sommelier Association took in its first students yesterday, for its first locally-developed Foundational Sommellerie course. The course has been developed for aspirant and young sommeliers, Continue reading →
Tag Archives: Joerg Pfuetzner
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 6 August
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* The Design Indaba has announced that it will eliminate the Design Indaba Expo, largely due to the large drop in attendance this year, reaching the 2009 attendance level. The venue of the Design Indaba conference will change to Artscape, and the date will move from the last weekend in February. Owner Ravi Naidoo would like to take the event to Johannesburg and Durban too, as well as internationally.
* South Africans traveling in Europe can now access data via an Orange Holiday Continue reading →
The Sommeliers Selection new collection of wines receiving SA sommelier stamp of approval!
DnA Event Management has announced that it is calling for entries for the inaugural The Sommelier Selection, which will become a list of wines which will receive the stamp of approval of sommelier judges who serve on the committee of the South African Sommelier Association, the first local wine competition judged by a panel of sommeliers, and aimed at assisting the ‘everyday wine drinker’ in selecting good and affordable wines.
Not only wines in categories of House Wine under R110 a bottle (White, Red, Rosé, ‘Bubbles‘, ‘Sweets‘); Whites (Fresh/Crunchy, Elegant/Classy, Full/Rich, Luscious/Aromatic); Reds (Fresh/Juicy, Elegant/Classy, Voluptuous/Rich); Pinks (Rosés, Blanc de Noirs); ‘Fizzys/Bubbles‘ (MCC Non Vintage, MCC Vintage, MCC Rosé, MCC Continue reading →
Tracy van Maaren Wines presents its portfolio of fine boutique wines!
Last night I attended the first Tracy van Maaren Wines Trade Tasting, representing a handful of select fine boutique wine estates, held at Auslese. Each of the wine estate’s wines offered for tasting was personally paired with a canapé designed by Chef Harald Bresselschmidt of Aubergine.
Tracy started her wine career by working as PA to Dana Buys at Vrede en Lust. She then moved into the clothing industry, but regretted this move. She returned to the wine industry, working at Jordan. Almost nine years ago she started her company, her first wine clients being Vriesenhof, Raats, and Catherine Marshall. She represents her clients’ wines in the ‘mid to top restaurants’ and independent retailers (e.g. Caroline’s, Wine Concepts, and Vino Pronto) in Cape Town and Stellenbosch, with Paarl and Franschhoek.
Auslese is a renovated house, available to rent for functions, about two blocks from Aubergine. It has a smallish kitchen, and the space was cleverly used to set up tasting tables for nine brands, with Pol Roger (Churchill’s favourite champagne) represented in the entrance hall by Great Domaines’ Derek Kilpin and
their brand new French import Morgan Delacloche.
Arriving at about 18h30, there was no crush, and one could get to easily taste the wines and food pairings, chat to the wine representatives, and to the invited guests, which included John Maytham of Cape Talk, Mark Bland of Expresso, Mandi Jarman of Aquila, Chef Vanessa Marx and her colleague Rumby of Dear Me, Catharina’s Manager Ronel Smidt, sommelier and consultant Jörg Pfützner, John and Lynne Ford, and Mike Duggan of Wine Concepts. Continue reading →