Two weeks ago I attended a pop-up dining event at RED! The Gallery on Wale Street, hosted by Chef Ridian Kabeya, who had invited me and 19 others to attend his dinner. We were a mix of Influencers from the modelling world, a lawyer, an artist, two restaurateurs-to-be, and I the only food writer.
I knew only one person, Vee Roux of MoreVino, who supplied and introduced each of the three wines which were paired with each dish. Continue reading →
The most coveted 2019 Diners Club Winelist Award, its Icon Award, recognising restaurants that meet all the requirements of a Diamond Award, but also feature an extensive collection of international wines, as well as Reserve and vintage wines, having a sommelier on the floor, and having ‘a deep interest in wine curation’, were awarded to Restaurant Mosaic at the Orient Boutique Hotel in Pretoria, and the Saxon Hotel Villas & Spa in Johannesburg. This is the second year that the Icon Awards have been presented, to both restaurants. Continue reading →
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* SA Tourism will spend R100 million to market our country domestically, Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom has announced. The domestic campaign ‘Nothing’s more fun than a Sho’t Left’ communicate that local travel is fun and economical. Local tourists spent R24 billion last year. The goal is to have 18 million domestic tourists by 2020.
Thelema hosted a tasting of its Thelema and Sutherland brand wines for hotel and restaurant staff as well as writers at Dear Me in the city centre yesterday. At the tasting it was announced that a Thelema MCC will be launched later this year.
We were welcomed with a glass of 1994 MCC, a once-off production, which had been made for a family wedding. It was disgorged three years ago. Thelema was bought by Gyles Webb in 1983, then a 157 ha fruit farm. It is one of the highest and coolest wine estates in the area. The first wines were produced in 1988. The Thelema Family Trust bought the 100 ha Sutherland farm
in Elgin in 2002, and half of the apple orchards were replaced with vines. The Sutherland wines are slower to ripen, being grown in the cooler climate Elgin, have more minerality, are more approachable, and can be drunk sooner. They are made at Thelema’s cellar in Stellenbosch. Rudi Schultz has been the winemaker since 2000, with Webb the Cellarmaster. Thelema is particularly well-known for its Cabernet Sauvignon. Continue reading →