Tag Archives: Vindaba

WOSA’s world-wide wine week at CapeWine 2012 and Vindaba benefits Cape Town!

The world’s leading winelovers, wine experts, wine traders, sommeliers, and wine journalists have started arriving in Cape Town for the three day Cape Wine 2012, being held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from tomorrow until Thursday, and Vindaba running alongside it.

More than 5000 wines from 300 wine estates are on show at CapeWine 2012, and more than 30 international wine journalists are expected to attend, having a tourism benefit for Cape Town and the Western Cape.  Delegates are attending from Europe, the UK, the USA, other African countries, South America, China, and Japan.  For the first time SA Tourism, in conjunction with WOSA (Wines of South Africa), have organised Vindaba, an exhibition of wine tourism products in the Western Cape.

CapeWine 2012 is held every two years, but was not held in 2010 due to the soccer World Cup, and is one of the largest marketing events organised by WOSA.  For the first time WOSA has gone green to reflect ‘the South African wine industry’s environmental consciousness’.  This includes booking guests into hotels within walking distance of the convention centre; only recycled paper will be used for printing, if printing is required at all; the stands are made from recycled boards; most stands will not use electricity, but rather LED lighting; all bottles, corks, and screw caps will be recycled; no bottled water will be available;  cork supplier Amorim will create a lounge made from recycled cork; media information will be made available in bamboo memory sticks; VIP bags have been made from recycled advertising banners; lanyards have been made from ‘sunbaked paper’; all fish served at the Green Tie event will be SASSI certified, and all eats will be made from local produce; the ‘green ties’ which allow entry to the event have been made from discarded plastic; solar lighting will be used for the Green Tie event; furniture for the Green Tie party has been made from recycled wooden pallets, and will be donated to a crèche afterwards; the plates at the Green Tie party are those from CapeWine 2008, and the cutlery is made from bamboo.

CapeWine 2012 will reflect the development of our local wine industry in wine growing, wine making, and wine marketing since South African wines were opened to international trade almost 20 years ago.  Tastings, seminars, workshops, and a Producer’s Soapbox will focus on changes in wine styles, reaction to climate change, the management of scarce natural resources, and the protection of old vines.

Su Birch, CEO of WOSA, said that interest in CapeWine 2012 was growing, as ‘South Africa has distinguished itself both in terms of quality and pioneering programmes to promote eco-sustainability. This has earned global recognition for the country on both fronts, from the market and environmentalists, particularly in recent years’. Mrs Birch added that CapeWIne has a solid reputation as a trade exhibition.

The organisation of the first ever Vindaba has been driven by SA Tourism, having sponsored the exhibition, and is project managed by Susannah Holz.  SA Tourism has identified that wine tourism is ‘one of the fastest-growing and most lucrative sectors of the global tourism market‘, says Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of Tourism.  Wine tourism can make an important contribution to the country’s economy, the Minister said.  International as well as local media focusing on wine, travel and lifestyle are expected to attend.  The objective is to increase the income of wine tourism, only $41 per capita in our Winelands, compared to $188 in Napa Valley in the USA.  Seminars at Vindaba will focus on gastro-tourism, and tailor-made wine tours to the 17 wine routes in the Western Cape will expose the international visitors to the diversity and quality of their offerings.  The eco-friendly green focus of the Vindaba exhibition reflects that of CapeWine 2012.  The Vindaba exhibition organisation has not been without controversy, SA Tourism having been blamed for not being proactive enough in spreading international media across the different wine routes, having instead allowed them to choose where they want to visit, meaning that the majority have opted for Stellenbosch and Franschhoek.  Lesser-known wine routes, such as those in Paarl and Wellington,  will therefore remain exactly that!

Tonight WOSA is hosting a ‘Green Tie Event‘ for the opening of CapeWine 2012, and even this function is going green, in that invitees have been asked to park at the Cullinan Hotel, and will be bused in collectively or will be guided by a ‘Green Guide’ in walking to the function venue in the V&A Waterfront.  The evening promises a ‘sampling of our finest wines, paired with the freshest and most delicious local cuisine, and accompanied by a showcase of local music, song and dance‘.  The wine week will be concluded with the prestigious Nederburg Auction, which takes place on the Paarl wine estate on Saturday.

CapeWine 2012: 25 – 27 September, 10h00 – 17h00, Cape Town International Convention Centre. www.capewine2012.co.za

Vindaba: 24 – 27 September, 10h00 – 17h00, Cape Town International Convention Centre. www.vindaba.com

POSTSCRIPT 24/9: This evening about 720 guests, of which about 50% were international wine writers, sommeliers, wine buyers, and wine trade, attended the ‘Green Tie Event’ for the opening of CapeWine 2012. Initially one heard more ‘American’ than local English spoken!   The Who’s Who of the wine industry attended. Met German wine writers Mario Scheuermann (a Facebook friend) and Eckhard Supp, and Mike Veseth, the guest speaker at the Nederburg Auction on Saturday.  Neil Pendock, who received a late invitation from WOSA to attend the event, was the most spruced up we have seen in years, having had a hair cut today in honour of the event, it would seem!  The green theme of CapeWine 2012 was carried through in the event, with lighting made from recycled milk cartons. Excellent wines were served.   Even the food was ‘green’ and locally sourced.  The salmon cream on cucumber canapes were excellent.  The calibre and quantity of international wine visitors in Cape Town and the Winelands is an exceptional wine tourism marketing opportunity for our country.

POSTSCRIPT 26/9:  Yesterday I visited CapeWine 2012, and was impressed with the best looking exhibition in the Cape Town International Convention Centre. More than 300 wine estates have pulled out all the stops to package and present their wines to the top level local and international attendees.  The highlight was tasting a preview of the new Delaire Graff Laurence Graff Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, not yet labelled, an icon wine made in honour of the owner of the wine estate, its GM Johann Laubser said.  It will be the first South African wine to sell at $200 a bottle.

The Botanica Wines’ label design, reflecting the brand name, impressed once again, and the Chenin Blanc is likely to do well at Platter this year, its owner-winemaker Ginny Povall hinted.  The label designs come from botanical drawings by Mary Delany, seen by Ginny at the Yale Centre for British Art.  One of the largest stands was that for Fairview, which focused attention on its Fairview, La Capra, Goats do Roam, and Spice Route labels, as well as on its Fairtrade connection.

POSTSCRIPT 26/9: Vindaba, the first wine tourism showcase, is very disappointing, not having any of the design quality or professional look of CapeWine 2012, with few visitors.  Its location in an open space at which the banqueting is normally done is not ideal.  The Wine Routes are not collectively branded, and it is not clear as to where they start and end.  Some of the Wine Routes had individual products alongside them too. All are manned by very friendly staff, and include Wellington Tourism, the KWV Sensorium (a first in pairing art works with wines), Franschhoek Tourism, Spier, Elegantly Elgin, Mellesat (in Paarl, now famous due to the write up by Neil Pendock in the Sunday Times on Sunday), Neil Grant representing the South African Sommeliers Association and manning a stand of white blends, the Cape Whale Coast sharing with Hermanus Wines, Grande Roche, Durbanville Wine Valley, Cape Town Tourism, Solms-Delta, Laborie, and more. Creation was running the Cape Whale Coast/Hermanus Wines stand, but this is rotated over the three day exhibition.  By yesterday afternoon the Cape Town Tourism brochure bags had already run out, and no attempt had been made to supplement them.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage

Vindaba 2012: a taste of wine tourism

Last week I met with Andre Morgenthal, Communications Manager of Wines of South Africa (WOSA), in the Hemel-en-Aarde Village centre, appropriately at the start of the Hermanus Wine Route, as we were struggling to co-ordinate our diaries. Andre wanted to share information about Vindaba 2012, a showcase for the wine tourism industry, which is planned to run alongside WOSA’s Cape Wine 2012, from 25 – 27 September at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

Cape Wine is a bi-annual trade show which attracts international wine trade professionals and is one of WOSA’s key marketing events, in that the company brings about 160 journalists and sommeliers to Cape Town, and prepares individual itineraries for them, to not only showcase the wines inside the exhibition and workshops inside the convention centre, but also the wine estates in and surrounding Cape Town.  Cape Wine is the largest wine showcase in the country, but was not held last year due the soccer World Cup. It adds value for WOSA producers, in connecting them and their wines to the international media, trade professionals, and sommeliers.  Not only do they meet at the exhibition and seminars, but producers also host dinner parties for hand-picked invited guests to present their wines.

Vindaba forms part of Cape Wine 2012, but will be a stand-alone self-funded event, which will not be funded by WOSA.  It is planned as a wine tourism forum, a neglected part of the tourism industry, Andre told me, with ‘tour operators and leisure media’ targeted. Ten years ago a Wine Tourism Forum was created, and a strategy was written by Cape Town Routes Unlimited, but with their loss of Marketing staff this is no longer pursued.  Andre sits on the Wine Routes Forum, a bi-monthly get-together of the twelve wine routes (including the Brandy Route) in the country, and it is here that they discuss issues relating to wine tourism.   A wine route map for all twelve wine routes is being updated, with a website, and will be available next year.  Vindaba will showcase Wine Tourism products and services, much like the annual Tourism Indaba in Durban.   Not only will it attract the Cape Wine 2012 delegates, but on 27 September, being World Tourism Day, they will open Vindaba to the public, so that the locals can interact with a showcase of the wine tourism industry in its proximity.  Discount vouchers will be made available for wine tourism products and services, for locals to experience them first hand on the weekend following Vindaba.  Social environmental responsibility projects will also be showcased, such as the Pebbles Project.

Stands for Cape Wine 2012 and Vindaba will be made from recycled board, a first for environmentally responsible exhibitions, thereby off-setting the carbon footprint of all the flights to South Africa for the event.

I wondered how WOSA and its small staff (Su Birch is the CEO) copes in marketing the wide diversity of South African wines around the world.  WOSA has offices in Canada, the USA, Germany, Sweden, Russia, the Netherlands, and in the UK, and works with the South African embassies in China and India, to promote South African wines.

Cape Wine 2012: www.capewine2012.co.za WOSA: Tel (021) 883-3860.  Vindaba:  www.vindaba.com.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage

La Motte rolls out the red carpet for 2012 Best of Wine Tourism Awards!

I have never seen the red carpet rolled out at La Motte’s entrance, but yesterday the wine estate proudly welcomed fellow wine estates for the 2012 Best of Wine Awards of the South African leg of the Great Wine Capitals Global Network Best of Wine competition, and received the award as the overall South African winner for 2012.

Cape Winelands District Municipality Executive Mayor Neels de Bruyn said that our country’s membership of the Great Wine Capitals Global Network has raised the profile of our Winelands, and allows wine estates to benchmark themselves against the world’s top wine tourism players.  He added that for our country to achieve its national goal of becoming a top 20 destination by 2020, wine tourism would play an important role.  To this end Vindaba is planned to be held in September next year.

The winners in each category were as follows:

Sustainable Wine Tourism Service: Waverley Hills Organic Wine and Olive Farm in Tulbagh, with La Motte highly commended.  Waverley wines ‘are produced in the most sustainable way’ in the total production process, and this leads to the making of organically certified wines. They also have a hiking trail in their fynbos garden, have a fynbos nursery, have implemented a waste recycling programme, they manage invasive alien plants, conserve water, educate children at schools in the area, and help to restore river systems in the upper Breede area.  This category was judged by Joan Isham, BWI extension officer.

Wine Tourism Services: Waterford in Stellenbosch, with Steenberg Vineyards highly commended. At Waterford, wine tasting is enjoyed in a relaxed space, and the families that help to make the wines are introduced to tasters.  Staff are passionate, knowledgeable about their wine, farm and region, and customer-focused. This category was judged by tour operator Margi Biggs.

Wine Tourism Experiences: Solms-Delta in Franschhoek, with Spier highly commended.  Solms-Delta was recognised for its archaeological and historic tour, interactive museum, a garden with culinary and medicinal ingredients used by the early inhabitants of the valley, a menu at Fyndraai restaurant which incorporates the ingredients, its passionate and enthusiastic staff, and its innovative programme of social upliftment, empowerment and profit-sharing.  This category was judged by wine and food journalist Myrna Robinson.

Wine Tourism Restaurants: Tokara Restaurant, with Rust en Vrede highly commended. Tokara was praised for its beautiful setting, good modern food, professional service, wine appreciation, and opening hours.  This particular award is named in honour of Lannice Snyman, and was judged by restaurant reviewer JP Rossouw.

Accommodation: Delaire Graff Lodges & Spa, with Grande Provence highly commended. The accommodation has excellent views, state-of-the-art equipment, 600-threadcount Egyptian cotton, welcoming perfection, outstanding service, and encouragement by the staff for visitors to visit other wine farms too, ‘epitomising what Wine Tourism is all about’.  This category was judged by wine writer Joanne Gibson.

Architecture & Landscapes: Waterkloof in Somerset West, with La Motte highly commended. Waterkloof was praised for its unpretentious modern winery perched on a hill, ‘perfectly proportioned columns’ inside, which are filled with natural light and offer framed views, its Scandinavian restaurant furniture, ‘mysterious oversized paintings‘, its warm and welcoming tasting area around a fireplace, its open kitchen, and its biodynamic farming based on minimising its environmental impact.  ‘A dramatic interplay of architecture, agriculture and the natural landscape can be experienced by visitors‘.  This category was judged by architects Johan van Papendorp and Alex Robertson.

Art and Culture: La Motte, with Delaire Graff highly commended.  Art and culture are the foundation of La Motte, especially with the presence of JH Pierneef, embodied in the name of its restaurant and for bringing the collection of one of our most famed artists back to the country, and creating a special gallery for it.  This category was judged by Marilyn Martin, Director of Art Collections for Iziko Museums.

Overall winner:  La Motte, for its ‘consistently high performance across other categories it had also entered’.

The Great Wine Capitals Global Network consists of Mainz-Rheinhessen in Germany, Bilboa-Rioja in Spain, Bordeaux in France, Florence in Italy, Mendoza in Argentina, Porto in Portugal, San Franciso-Napa in the USA, Christchurch in New Zealand, and our Cape Winelands.

I sat at the table with representatives of Tokara and Solms-Delta, and the biggest surprise of all was sitting next to JP Rossouw, our first meeting.  JP is not ever seen at industry functions, but he attended as judge in the Restaurant category. He told me and Tokara Chef Richard Carstens that the judging for his 3-star restaurants had closed in March, to get his annual restaurant guide printed in Singapore.  At that time Pierneef à La Motte and Tokara had only been operating with their new chefs for six months, and therefore he did not award them 3-stars for 2012, explaining the contradiction of his Great Wine Capitals best restaurant selection.   The other restaurants that were of a high standard were Waterkloof, Rust en Vrede, and Pierneef à La Motte, JP said, and their quality was almost equally high.  JP was very gracious about our meeting, and is looking forward to the birth of his twins in January.  Chef Richard seemed happy with the recognition he received yesterday, after the shock exclusion (not just to him but also to many chefs and restaurant lovers) from the Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant list on Sunday.

We had an enjoyable lunch at Pierneef à La Motte, with Chef Chris Erasmus in attendance, and my choice of Franschhoek Trout, sorrel and asparagus velouté, poached baby potatoes and braised fennel was perfect. The alternative choice was grilled venison.  A Cape cheese plate followed, with healthy rye and wholewheat breads, berries and a fruit chutney.  Coffee and dessert treats were served under the oak trees, and included mini Cape fruit tarts, chocolate truffles, macaroons, fynbos blancmange with guava and granadilla jus, warm malva pudding honey cakes, ginger and rooibos syrup.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage