Tag Archives: Rosa Kruger

Mullineux & Leeu winery roars with Indian investment!

Mullineux Mull9A renamed rhyming Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines has been created with the selling of the shares in the Mullineux Family Vineyards, owned by British business partner Keith Prothero, to Analjit Singh, owner of Leeu International Investments Limited.   The newly named winery may be on the lips of wine lovers when Platter’s announces its 5 star wines and 2014 Winery of the Year later this month, Mullineux having been a close contender for the 2013 Winery of the Year accolade, with three 5 star wines.

Mr Singh is a highly regarded Indian entrepreneur from Delhi, being Chairman of Max India Limited, with business interests in the healthcare and insurance industries, and who has bought three wine farms in Franschhoek since his son brought him to South Africa for the first time in 2010 to attend the World Cup, having fallen in love with the Cape. I had heard of him from MasterChef SA Continue reading →

Solms-Delta launches Gemeenskap wine club for its gemeenskap!

Solms Delta Gemeenskap Mark Solms Whale Cottage PortfolioI have not previously experienced Solms-Delta owner Professor Mark Solms as such a ‘grapjas’ (could this be a new name for a future wine?), bringing the house down with his honesty and ‘loskop professor’ talk about his wines and its Gemeenskap, losing the thread of what he wanted to say on a few occasions.

Mark is a passionate wine estate owner, whose mind races ahead faster than he can say the words, and is internationally renowned as a neuropsychologist, lecturing in London and at the University of Cape Town. His students must have a ball in his lectures. On Sunday he hosted members of the wine estate’s gemeenskap, to introduce to them the latest vintages of his wines, to introduce the new winemaker Solms Delta Gemeenskap Hagen Viljoen Whale Cottage PortfolioHagen Viljoen, and to introduce the Gemeenskap community club.  He came to the farm in 2001, and explained that the building in which we were tasting the wine was already called Fyndraai, and therefore they kept the name.  They now have consolidated three neighbouring farms, ‘because we are so good at what he do’, he said.  Music is an important passion on the farm, and Mark said that they ‘farm with music’ as much as they ‘farm with wine’!  Next year a Music Centre will be established on the wine estate. Continue reading →

WOSA Sommelier World Cup clever way to market South African wines!

WOSA Sommelier Cup Will Predhomme Whale Cottage PortfolioYesterday I spent a most entertaining afternoon at the Grande Roche hotel in Paarl, to observe the last phase of the Wines of South Africa (WOSA) Sommelier World Cup competition, the announcement and evaluation of the Top 3, and the awarding of the prize to the winning sommelier Will Predhomme.

The invited guests were the twelve finalists for the Sommelier World Cup, media representatives from the USA (I sat next to Rebecca Canan from the Terroirist Blog), Sweden, and Belgium, local writers, the local and international sommelier judges, and WOSA staff from its international offices as well as from its head office in Stellenbosch.   After a welcome glass of wine, we sat down for lunch at Bosman’s, and it was clear to see why this Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines:5/6 October

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*  A production first for New Media Publishing, synonymous with contract publishing, is an amazing video shot on the Franschhoek Pass for its client Mercedes Benz, called Silver Slipstream, in which Man (notorious skateboarder Decio Lourenco, who made headlines when he skated down Kloofnek Road) challenges Machine (Mercedes A 45 AMG) down the Pass, Man winning!

*   It was a wine weekend of note, with the fantastic 47% increase in sales income at R8,4 million at the Cape Winemakers Guild Auction at Spier, and the Veritas Awards ceremony held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.  The top Veritas performers, out of 1792 wines and brandies entered, are:

+  KWV, with 4 double gold and 13 gold medals, and named Continue reading →