{"id":1403,"date":"2009-03-02T23:41:41","date_gmt":"2009-03-02T21:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=1403"},"modified":"2009-03-03T08:54:41","modified_gmt":"2009-03-03T06:54:41","slug":"solms-delta-sparkles-on-bbc-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/wine-news\/solms-delta-sparkles-on-bbc-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Solms-Delta sparkles on BBC Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Franschhoek winery Solms-Delta was one of two South African wine estates featured in the third programme of a BBC Four documentary series called\u00a0‘Wine’<\/strong>\u00a0this evening, reports www.blog.winecountry.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Called “WINE: The Future”<\/strong>, the episode focused on two wine producers who are each re-tooling post-apartheid South Africa on their own respective estates”.<\/p>\n

“The segment follows the story of Mark Solms, a world-renowned neuroscientist who has brought black empowerment and sweeping social changes to a 320-year-old farm. The colourful culmination is a Franschhoek valley first: a Harvest Festival for the workers hosted by the farm’s owners, complete with the vernacular music of the rural Cape. A performance by the farm’s very own Delta Optel Band is a touching high point.” says the website.<\/p>\n

“It’s hard not to be moved by what the two South African wineries, both at least partially black owned, are trying to achieve,” said The Observer<\/strong> wine writer Tim Aitkin, after watching a preliminary screening.<\/p>\n

The wines of Solms-Delta have received positive nods from several UK wine writers. Solms-Hegewisch Africana 2005 was included by Neil Beckett in his “1001 Wines You Must Taste Before You Die”.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wine critic Jancis Robinson<\/strong> includes Solms Hiervandaan (2004)<\/strong> among her \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcFranschhoek favourites’. Writing in the Financial Times<\/strong>, she says: “”Mark Solms \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 has fast drawn attention to the Solms-Delta winery on his family property on the road in to Franschhoek since he moved back there from London five years ago \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 With ex-Boschendal winemaker Hilko Hegewisch, Solms is \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 experimenting with winemaking techniques suggested by his reading of ancient texts \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which makes for some seriously distinctive wines.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The other estate featured in the programme is M’hudi Wines, owned by Oupa Rangaka.\u00a0 The BBC website claims that Oupa is the “only black people to own a vineyard in South Africa’, which is not true,\u00a0as Tokyo Sexwale is a proud owner of\u00a0the Oude Kelder\u00a0wine estate in Franschhoek.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Franschhoek winery Solms-Delta was one of two South African wine estates featured in the third programme of a BBC Four documentary series called\u00a0‘Wine’\u00a0this evening, reports www.blog.winecountry.co.za \u00a0 “Called “WINE: The Future”, the episode focused on two wine producers who are each re-tooling post-apartheid South Africa on their own respective estates”. “The segment follows the story […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[898,19],"tags":[937,182,940,32369,938,936,942,944,939,946,943,941,945,935],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t