The Sweet Service Award goes to all the South Africans who honoured former President Nelson Mandela on his 95th birthday yesterday, by giving 67 minutes of their time to help others, including operating soup kitchens, giving talks at schools, making sandwiches for learners at disadvantaged schools, collecting clothing and blankets, volunteering at the Oranjezicht City Farm, reading at a retirement home or hospice, donating blood, volunteering at an animal shelter, serving tea and cake at old age homes, painted school exteriors, offered TB and HIV screening, provided free horseriding lessons for disabled children, brought joy to sick children at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, and did many more good deeds in honour of the father of the nation. Continue reading →
Tag Archives: Western Cape province
Cape Town to be developed into 24-hour world class city
Many would say that Cape Town already is regarded as a world class city. However, the Western Cape province and the City of Cape Town, in association with the Cape Town Partnership, believe that there is more work to be done to turn Cape Town into one of the top cities in the world, and to rezone the city into “mixed-use-zones that are lively, inviting, open and operate 24 hours a day” by 2014/2015, reports the Weekend Argus.
Driven by the MEC for Public Works and Transport, Robin Carlisle, Cape Town is to be divided into six ‘precincts’:
* the Artscape precinct will connect Artscape with the new to-be-extended Cape Town International Convention Centre, to be doubled in size, to operate 24 hours a day, and to be completed by 2014, via the Artscape Gardens, to be developed as part of the extension. The Gardens are to be raised to the height of the freeway, and parking developed beneath it. Two buildings, one an hotel and another an office block with 30000 square meters of retail space, will be designed to act as ‘wind buffers’ against the south-easter, which affects the area close to the harbour badly. The Artscape Gardens is planned to contain an amphitheatre seating 25000 visitors. The Convention Centre expansion will include the proposed move of the Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital to the precinct too. 
* the Somerset precinct plans have not been finalised, but include the Somerset Hospital, a part of the building having historical value. A new casino is planned for this area, an attractive location for it, being adjacent to the V&A Waterfront. One of the options is that the Gold Reef’s Mykonos Langebaan casino may move to this precinct. This area is also planned for mixed-use zoning.
* the Prestwich precinct will see high-rise buildings and another pedestrian bridge and Fan Mile, to ‘allow the city and the Waterfront to better complement each other’, and connecting these two popular areas. Prestwich Street runs parallel to Somerset Road, and is the street in which The Foundry/Beluga can be found.
* the provincial government precinct around Dorp, Wale and Keerom Streets will see glass walls erected to block the wind from blowing through the arches of the provincial building. A new high-rise building is to be built on the corner of Loop and Leeuwen Streets, to accommodate the office requirements of government departments.
* the Government Garage precinct in the Roeland/Hope/Mill Streets area is to get a facelift, with retail, residential and urban spaces to be developed. Entry-level housing is to be developed, to allow residents to work and live in the city without having to use cars to get to work. “This precinct will focus on turning Roeland Street into a ‘boulevard’ leading down to the gates of Parliament, with shops and cafés at street level, and accommodation on the first floor, built around squares. The Government Garage and ambulance depot are to be moved to the ex-abattoir in Maitland.
* the Two Rivers Urban Park, including Oude Molen, Alexandra, Valkenberg and other government property, will focus on medical facilities, including the expansion of psychiatric hospital Valkenberg, an office park for ‘bio-medical engineering companies’, ‘compact hospitals at Alexandra’, and will expand the residential arm of Oude Molen. A ‘water taxi’ is to connect Oude Molen and Athlone via the Black River.
Linked to the province’s bold city regeneration plans is the planned development of a second international airport near Saldanha Bay. It is also planned to introduce ‘130 new, quieter and graffiti-repellent trains, which could comfortably transport 550000 people a day…’.
The plans for the regeneration of the Cape Town city center sound exciting, and will lead other businesses to invest in the city centre. For example, the section of Bree Street near Buitensingel Street is seeing a revival, with interesting restaurants and decor shops opening. One hopes that the DA will win the municipal election in May, so that these grand plans can be realised.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
Cape Town International Convention Centre to add growth to city centre
The announcement by the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape province earlier this week that R 4,5 billion is to be invested in the expansion of the Cape Town International Convention Centre is welcome news for Cape Town, and its tourism industry, not just for leisure tourism, but for business tourism too. This investment reflects the City’s recognition of the importance of Events as an important part of its economic development strategy, reports the Cape Times.
Commenting on the planned investment Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold wrote that “Cape Town’s brand position must encompass business, study and our contemporary, gritty and creative urbanism, amongst other things, in addition to simply leisure and beauty, which adds to our significant seasonality problem” (somehow this sentence from the Cape Town Tourism media release seems jumbled, and communicates exactly the opposite to what is intended, in my opinion). Mrs Helmbold added that Cape Town’s 2014 Design Capital bid and the completion of the planned expansion of the Convention Centre in 2014 are ‘perfectly aligned’.
The expansion of the Convention Centre will include 10000 square meters of retail space, a new Netcare Chris Barnard Memorial hospital, an office tower, parking, and a Founder’s Garden, which will stretch towards Artscape via a skywalk. Custom’s House, which was previously rumoured to be part of the expansion of the Convention Centre, will not be part of the expansion. The expansion of the Convention Centre is seen to ‘regenerate’ this city area closest to the harbour.
The Cape Town International Convention Centre, a city and provincial funded project in a partnership with business backers, has proven to be a success, and its operating and capital costs have been recovered. It is financially independent of its original funders. It has created more than 4000 jobs, and this will double by 2018. Its contribution to the GDP is R 2,3 billion, and this is forecast to more than double to R5,1 billion after completion of the expansion.
Mrs Helmbold predicted that the Convention Centre expansion would “enhance Cape Town’s liveability (sic), workability and walkability – encouraging 24 hour utilisation of public spaces and buildings, and linking the IRT public transport system directly with the new convention centre and the arts and culture precinct around the Artscape Theatre Complex”.
The Cape Town International Convention Centre is ranked 35th in the world, and top in Africa. Cape Town is the leading convention and meetings destination in Africa. The expansion program is aimed at establishing the Cape Town International Convention Centre as the best long-haul convention centre in the world. Any increase in business tourism resulting from the expansion of the Convention Centre will be warmly applauded by the tourism industry of Cape Town and the Western Cape!
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
Overhex Balance wines are good balance between quality and price!
On Friday I was fortunate to experience a tasting of some of the wines in the Overhex Wines International range, and specifically their new additions to the two year old Balance range, which was held at one of the most popular restaurants in Cape Town, namely Luke Dale-Roberts’ The Test Kitchen.
The Test Kitchen in the Old Biscuit Mill premises in Woodstock is a small space, and we must have been about thirty journalists and bloggers who were lucky enough to be invited by charming PR consultant Nicolette Waterford. The stature of the event was reflected by the attendance of Sunday Times wine writer Neil Pendock, Cape Wine Master Christine Rudman, Cape Times wine writer Cathy Marston, Christian Eedes, Wade Bales, Spit or Swallow’s Anel Grobler, Joanne Gibson, Greg Landman, and more, and the restaurant venue must have been an important attendance drawcard. Spread over the two tables were staff of Overhex, including the co-owner Gerhard van der Wath, who manages the company, in close co-operation with JC (for Jean Claude) Martin, who is the Production Director, and is responsible for the wine styles and blends, assisted by Jandre Human, the cellar master. Being private-owned means that Gerhard and JC can make quick decisions. They are not restricted to only the grapes of their region, but can buy in the best grapes to suit their requirements, including from the Swartland, West Coast, Franschhoek, and Stellenbosch, allowing them to make wines at different price points. The Overhex farm in the Breede River Valley outside Worcester produces about 10 000 tons of grapes, and about 5 million litres are bought in, JC told us.
JC (on the right, chatting to Greg Landman) has a Swiss German lilt when he speaks, and arrived in South Africa six years ago, having met his wife Carolyn (daughter of Walter Finlayson) on the wine estate in Switzerland on which he worked at the time, where she came to present label designs on behalf of the London design agency she worked for. His association with Overhex started in 2005. Alongside the Overhex wine involvement, JC makes his own Creation wines in the Hemel en Aarde valley outside Hermanus. While this was not a Creation function at all, we did discuss the wines and the marketing of them, which JC does on the side when he represents Overhex wines overseas. His wife does the marketing of Creation wines locally, and they had an average of 300 visitors per day in their tasting room over the festive season, he said. They are very excited about the fact that the Western Cape province has placed the Caledon – Hermanus gravel road going through their valley as number one priority on the list of roads to be tarred in the province, and they see this as being of huge future benefit to themselves and their colleagues on the recently created Hemel en Aarde Valley wine route. I sat opposite JC, and asked him questions abouit Creation – he did not talk about Creation when he addressed the guests. JC told me he studied winemaking in the French part of Switzerland. Switzerland is not generally known as a wine producer, but JC told me that the Swiss drink all the wine produced in the total area of 25000 ha, and therefore it is not exported. Whalepod is a new Creation brand, and we have started stocking it in our Whale Cottages. JC told me that they are launching a new Syrah/Malbec Whalepod blend. Tasting rooms on wine farms are unique to South Africa, in that one can visit most wine farms without making an appointment, making this wine tourism valuable to wine farms selling their wines from the cellar door – for Creation it represents 30 % of their sales.
In 2003 Overhex was started as a co-operative, and was bought by Gerhard and a partner in 2005. Initially their focus was on the international market, and they now export to 25 countries. JC told us that they export to supermarket and liquor groups such as Marks & Spencer, CO-OP UK, and Fosters, making own label wines for them. Most of the wine is made to the specific requirements of each of these chains, and exported in bulk, and bottled in the UK and in Germany. Ten Overhex brands are exported, being 3,5 million bottles in total.
The reason for the launch function was to introduce the new additions to the Balance range, being the Winemaker’s Selection Shiraz 2010 and Winemaker’s Selection Sauvignon Blanc 2010. They complement the existing Balance range of Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 (won a gold medal at Michelangelo 2010), Shiraz Merlot 2010, Pinotage Shiraz 2009, Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2010, Chenin Blanc Colombar, Reserve Unwooded Chardonnay, Sparkling Vin Sec, Sparkling Vin Doux, Shiraz Rosé and a sweet Rosé, aiming them at the domestic market for the first time. Balance has been shaped for local wine drinkers, and the range is designed to be easy drinking wines with a shorter life span. We were asked to evaluate the wines relative to their price point, the Winemaker’s Selection Sauvignon Blanc costing R40 and the Winemaker’s Selection Shiraz costing R45, representing incredible value, as none of the white and red Balance wines are more expensive than these two prices. JC said that the Balance wines should not be judged on price alone, in that a cheaper wine does not mean that it is a bad wine. Overhex operates ethically and cares about its supplier farmers, in that they offer them a price for their grapes that allows the farmers to survive. The Balance wines are available at ULTRA intitally, and they are working on expanding the distribution at local outlets. I asked about the elephant on the label, and the designer was at the function, but she could not explain it, other than that it was on the first Balance labels. The Balance pay-off line is “for life’s lighter moments”. The Overhex cellar now has a tasting room and Bistro, and locals are invited to visit the wine estate. “Our goal with Balance is to get the wine lover to celebrate everyday wine culture, making it easy to enjoy delicious wines from a varied range at an affordable price point”, said Gerhard.
The Test Kitchen food was outstanding, and deep fried sushi was served before we started. I chose a Trout tartar starter, which was light and perfect for the hot summer’s day. As I had the kingklip when I had dinner at the restaurant in December, I ordered the beef fillet, and it is the softest I remember ever having, simply presented with green beans. For dessert the choice was a cheese platter and lemon tart. 
The launch and tasting of the Overhex Wines International Balance range of wines, ‘paired’ with the wonderful food by Chef Luke-Dale Roberts of The Test Kitchen, and the gift pack of Balance wines, was the start to an exceptional day, which ended with the attendance at the U2 360° concert at the Cape Town Stadium for many attending the function.
Overhex Wines International, 71 Stockenström Street, Worcester. Tel (023) 347-6838. www.overhex.com Tuesday – Thursday 10h00 – 17h00, Friday and Saturday 10h00 – 16h00.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage