Hi 22C° Low 8C° | 
Pendock Uncorked
11 hours, 39 minutes ago
The Wheel Deal
1 day, 8 hours ago
GabiVille
6 days, 12 hours ago
The Wanderer
1 week, 1 day agoView all Times LIVE Blogs
Portuguese wine is suddenly sexy in the UK while the Cape is increasingly looking clapped out. Not only in the UK. A participant in WOSA’s controversial Luanda Take Off tasting earlier this year reports that between 10 and 15 visitors attended the show – way less than the number of producers present. Quite how producers justify the expense of a trip to Luanda while ignoring the Soweto Wine Festival with over 8000 punters, remains a mystery. But perhaps this year’s inaugural Gugulethu Wine Festival on May 27 and 28 will pack them in.
Portuguese vineyards
Exports of packaged and bulk wine to the Netherlands were down 500 000 litres last year but WOSA, Wines of SA, the exporters’ mouthpiece, has come up with a cunning cultural plan to reverse the decline. By sponsoring an Afrikaans Kunstefees (arts festival) in Amsterdam in June featuring well known tipplers Breyten Breytenbach, Gert Vlok Nel and Chris Chameleon, WOSA hopes to boost SA wine sales.
Chris Chameleon to front SA wine in Amsterdam
Now that the screaming has subsided and SA’s shocking export figures for the year to end November (December’s numbers are rumoured to be even worse) have sunk in, some fascinating facts emerge: Pinotage and Chardonnay are the big losers while Chenin Blanc is a roll.
Luanda and Lagos rather than London and Las Vegas is the new export message for SA wine. This in a wine survey for the Financial Mail, echoing my column last week on Angola as the fastest growing export destination for SA wine. Read More…
