Tag Archives: Lanzerac

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: 5 August

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Robert Redford has expressed his delight in drinking Chenin Blanc, he shared at a special private lunch hosted in his honour by his friend Analjit Singh in Franschhoek last weekend.  He said about the variety: ‘I’ve experienced white wine in the Napa Valley in California, but never something like this.  Chenin blanc (sic) came into my life via my experience in South Africa. When I came here, I was willing to explore all kinds of new things. When I heard about Chenin blanc (sic) I thought I’d never had that and when I had it, I knew I’d found something fresh and exciting – so much so that I’ve now become a fan of Chenin blanc (sic)‘.  Last year Mr Singh acquired shares in Mullineux Family Wines, one of our country’s top Chenin Blanc producers.

*   The 2014 Diageo Reserve World Class Global Finals Bartender of the Year competition, which was held at Gleneagles in Scotland and in London recently,  has been won by Charles Joly from The Aviary in Chicago, in the face of 47 contenders for the title.  South Africa was represented by Jeff Lopes from The Michelangelo Hotel.  Joly’s winning cocktail was called ‘Above the Clouds‘.  He will become a global ambassador for Diageo Reserve World Class.   Cape Town will host the Global Finals next year! (received via media release from Communication Services Africa)

  *   Lanzerac is celebrating Heritage Day with a food feast on 24 September, commencing with a glass of its Alma Mater Rosé.  A Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 31 July

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   After a meeting yesterday about the controversial new Immigration Regulations, between Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom and Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba, they have announced that some of the onerous requirements will be made less stringent for tourism purposes, in preventing them from becoming an ‘administrative nightmare, causing foreigners to go elsewhere’!   The Department of Home Affairs has agreed to allow any equivalent document to an unabridged birth certificate for children from the country of origin.  More centres to issue biometric visas to South Africa will be opened in India and China, where there are only two per country.   One wonders why the Ministers took more than a month to meet, and allowed so much damage to be caused to our country’s Tourism industry!

*   Stellenbosch 360, the town’s tourism promotion agency, is determined to make every day a ‘Mandela Day‘, and assisted ‘boutique impact investment company‘ Heart Capital in its Foodpods Project in the Kayamandi township.  The project encourages locals to grow vegetables.  Stellenbosch 360 would like Stellenbosch residents to ‘live a life of 67 minutes as opposed to making it a yearly activity’. (received via media release from Random Hat Communications) Continue reading →

‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ episode 2: behind the Stellenbosch ‘Boerewors Curtain’, very disappointing!

Hayden Quinn 2 Fritz and Hayden MosbolletjiesPoor Hayden Quinn!  Trying to be clever, the promo for last night’s episode 2, which was flighted on SABC3 on Sunday evening, had Hayden proudly sharing that he was going behind the ‘Boerewors Curtain‘ in Stellenbosch, to meet artisanal baker Fritz Schoon of Schoon de Companje.  The Tweet left Hayden with dough on his face, in making what he called a ‘joke‘, in poor cultural taste!

In reaction to a Tweet about his incorrect information (the ‘Boerewors Curtain‘ is a less than complimentary name for the residents of the suburbs of Parow/Bellville/Durbanville, to describe their love for braai-ing, in preference to most other activities, which means that they rarely leave their area, and that the area smells of braais from Friday evenings to Sunday lunch times on weekends),  Hayden replied: ‘I guess the little joke was lost haha just referencing stellies (sic) as a (sic) Africaans (sic) town‘.  His producer Riaan Badenhorst quickly jumped to his defence, explaining that Boerewors is ‘proudly heritage food‘, which was not the point of the Twitter exchange!

‘Hayden Quinn : South Africa‘ was first flighted on SABC3 last Monday,  doing a great job in making Capetonians proud of their beautiful city and its fresh produce bounty.  Hayden was a MasterChef Australia finalist in 2011, but did not win the series, and has managed to sign up the series about our country’s sustainable food production.  The programme is sponsored by Continue reading →