A record 111 South African wines received a coveted 2018 Platter’s Guide five-star rating at the Awards ceremony held at the Table Bay Hotel tonight. Raats Family Wines was named as the 2018 Winery of the Year. Continue reading →
Tag Archives: Raats Family Wines
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 3 September
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Good news from ratings agency Moody’s is that our country is unlikely to go into recession this year, and is not likely to be downgraded until the end of 2016! It did warn however that our economy is slowed down by a number of factors, and that our country would average 2% growth in the same period.
*. The six Finalists in the WORLD CLASS Bartender of the Year Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 25 November
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Cape Wine 2015 will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 15 – 17 September next year, and is organised by Wines of South Africa (WOSA). DHL Express will be the first-time sponsor. WOSA CEO Siobhan Thompson said: ‘Delegates will have the opportunity to experience the range and depth of South Africa’s vinous dexterity, strengthened by new approaches to wine-growing and winemaking that have resulted in bold, unique and unmistakably local wines. As Tim Atkin MW remarked in his South Africa 2014 Special Report: ‘There’s never been a better time to write about, taste or buy South African wine.’ Thompson said that the DHL sponsorship will take the wine showcase to a new level. (received via media release from De Kock Communications)
* Peter Cheales of Hello Peter has sold his business of 14 years to an unnamed consortium of businessmen, he wrote in a letter to past users of his service, a South African type of Sweet and Sour Service Awards. In his letter he wrote: ‘It’s time for fresh blood, more energy, and new life. I will continue to watch from the sidelines. The site will always be a part of me’. Cheales will write books and speak at conferences.
* Raats Family Wines’ winemaker Bruwer Raats received the accolade of ‘most exciting and forward-thinking winemaker in
Stellenbosch‘ by Neal Martin, in his 2014 vintage review in Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate. Martin added the following 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 →