Swartland Winery | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* A giant sun fish has beached in Camps Bay. Attempts by the City of Cape Town Fire & Rescue Services, the NSRI, and the City’s Solid Waste Department to move the fish back into the sea have proven unsuccessful so far, in part due to the sea conditions, and beachgoers pushing it out to sea. Originally the fish was thought to be a baby whale. It is injured from attempts made to get it back into the rough sea, and has beached itself again.

* A #BoycottWoolworths campaign is costing the retailer R8 million a month, and is currently targeted for the festive season, at stores around the country, including the Cavendish branch in Cape Town. The campaign is using ’till-jams‘, whereby trollies are filled and then left at the till. BDS South Africa says it is not involved in the latest campaign, having previously organised boycotts against the retailer for stocking produce from Israel.

* Chinese investor William Wu has bought a 51% share in Swartland Winery, which produces Lion’s Hill Merlot, Continue reading →

Yesterday 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 →