Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* From 25 October FlySafair will offer flights between Cape Town, Durban, and East London, as well as between Johannesburg and the two cities. Costs start at R399 one way, reports Southern African Tourism Update. The routes were selected after a vote by 20000 passengers.
* Saronsberg is the wine estate which has been ranked highest in the South African Wine Index 2015 Wine Awards Report, of all local wine Continue reading →
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* The Bartho Eksteen Sauvignon Blanc Celebration held in Hermanus recently selected ‘the 10 best of the best’ Sauvignon Blancs locally over the past 22 years, and then compared them to 10 top Sauvignon Blancs from other countries. The winning Sauvignon Blanc was judged to be Fryer’s Cove Bamboes Bay, 2013, followed by Diemersdal MM Louw 2013, Palliser Estate 2012 from New Zealand, Dog Point 2008 from New Zealand, and Von Winning 1 2011 from Germany. (received via media release from the Bartho Eksteen Wijnskool)
* Uber supports the Department of Transport’s Festive Season Road Safety campaign, it says in a media statement. The campaign makes road safety everyone’s responsibility, to enhance law enforcement, and to increase road traffic safety awareness. Uber GM Alon Lits said: ‘Uber fully supports government’s road safety Continue reading →
The Chenin Blanc Association hosts a tasting of its top members’ wines twice a year, to match the summer or winter season. Last week a tasting of 25 top Chenin Blancs was followed by a summery Italian-inspired lunch with a view onto Table Mountain at Meloncino in the V & A Waterfront.
The tasting of the 25 Chenin Blancs was divided into five groups of five wines, and was led by Jeff Grier of Villiera, a gentle good off-the-cuff speaker, being so good with his notes that he often knew more about the wines 
than was shared by the winemakers. Jeff stood in for Ken Forrester, Chairman of the Chenin Blanc Association, who spends a lot of his time marketing his wines in the USA. What makes these events great is that writers can meet a number of the winemakers at the table, getting to know them a little better, the Simonsig (Hannes Meyer), Ayama (Liezel Delport), and Rijk’s (Pieter Waal) representatives sitting Continue reading →
The inaugural Standard Bank Chenin Blanc Top 10 Challenge winners were announced yesterday at a cosy function on a wet Winelands day at the ever smart Delaire Graff. The function and competition, combined with the recent three-year sponsorship by Standard Bank of the Chenin Blanc Challenge, are giving Chenin Blanc the recognition it deserves, said Ken Forrester, Chairman of the Chenin Blanc Association. ‘Chenin Blanc is a wine whose time has come’, he said,
adding that ‘Chenin Blanc is THE white wine of South Africa‘!
A total of 126 wines was entered for the Challenge, and assessed blind by a panel of judges which included chairman Christian Eedes, Jamie Goode, Alan Mullins, Carrie Adams, and Higgo Jacobs. Interviews were conducted with the judges, Allan Mullins of Woolworths saying that Chenin Blanc has been underrated for so long. He lauded Standard Bank for the support of the competition, and as Chenin Blanc drinks so well, it should be drunk by all. It is a gem of a wine variety, and ranges in price between R25 – R 300 in retail outlets. British wine writer Jamie Goode said that our country has a variety of Chenin Blanc styles, ‘ranging from the ‘VW Beetle to a ‘Rolls Royce’! Eedes said that he was honoured to chair the judging panel, and while he may be ‘shot down‘ for the results, having the auditors made the results indisputable. Out of the wine Continue reading →
