Utopia Cape Town Service Ambassador and Sommelier Loried Munetsi has just been featured in the latest Knight Frank estate agents ‘Standing Out’ digital newsletter.
I know Loried as a waiter at Utopia, and am impressed with his wine knowledge when I sometimes join the waitrons for wine tastings with winery representatives.
Loried has big dreams as far as enhancing his wine knowledge goes.
Whilst I was travelling in Argentina last year, I discovered that one of the Wine Estates that I visited in Mendoza, Zuccardi Piedra Infinita in the Uco Valley, was named the Number One Vineyard in the World, an inaugural ranking of the World’s 50 Best Vineyards, a similar ranking competition as the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, and organised by the same publishing company William Reed in the UK. I am even more delighted to see that Zuccardi has been named the Number one Vineyard in the world yet again, in the 2020 ranking, and that Delaire Graff Estate in Stellenbosch has been named the 14th Best Vineyard in the World, and the Best in Africa, as well as the Highest Climber, having been ranked at Number 39 last year. Continue reading →
One of the shock decisions by the Government during the State of Disaster during the Corona Virus Lockdown has been to make it illegal to export South African wines, and to transport wines from wine estates to the ports, just nine days after exports were allowed, and despite the export of fresh fruit and other agricultural products being allowed. The export wine ban means a loss of R200 million per week to the wine industry, says industry body VinPro. Continue reading →
Despite a hugely challenging year for the wine industry due to the drought, CapeWine 2018 is an impressive showcase of optimism, friendliness, and proudly South Africaness, running at the Cape Town International Convention Centre until tomorrow. I attended yesterday, with my Parisian friend Aurelié Jullien, and we were both impressed with the magnitude and professionalism of the exhibition, held every three years, and attended by the local and international wine trade. Continue reading →