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On Saturday evening I attended the first Eco-Logic awards. It was held at the ICC and overall it was a top notch event which was well attended. However, there was one fundamental problem with the award, which if they address for the next awards, it will be an event well worth attending. What did I [...]
There’s a bit of a debate going on at the moment whether organic wines are better or worse than their chemical counterparts, in terms of taste. I think that misses the point. Christian Eedes who chaired the judging panel for the Nedbank Green Wine Awards felt that the wines were typical of any selection of [...]
It’s safe to say that the Eat Out Awards is the highlight of the event calendar in Cape Town. Tickets are R1000 each but sell out well before the event and it is attended by about 350 people. I keep calling it the Food Oscars and I still think that’s a good way to describe [...]
With Wine Magazine no longer in print and all sorts of things happening in the wine industry, Christian Eedes has stepped forward and decided to try something new in compiling his list of top 10 chardonnays. If it works well we may see Christian Eedes’ top 10 of all the cultivars. Then maybe a book [...]
As you would expect, this year’s Platter’s Wine Guide is bigger than ever with over 900 producers and over 7000 wines listed. There is no other guide that is this comprehensive. I attended the launch of the new guide this week at the Vineyard hotel. The 5 star wines were all available for tasting, which [...]
The recipe for Pinotage on Tap hasn’t changed much. Last year I did a full review and linked to my previous reviews as well, but this time I’m just going to point out a few of the good and bad things. What I’ve realised about Pinotage on Tap is that it’s a really friendly event. [...]
I recently attended the Sunday Times Food Awards at the Foodcorp Innovation Centre in Black River Park. The awards are designed to recognise individuals within all areas of the food industry. There are awards for Chef of the Year, Young Chef of the Year and Stalwart of the Kitchen. As well as an award for [...]
Here’s the line up for this summer of Kirstenbosch concerts. Some really great ones there. The prices seem to have standardised at R100 except for Parlotones at R125 and a couple that are below R100. Carols by Candelight are R60 and the new year’s eve party with Prime Circle is R250. Details about how you [...]
It was interesting attending two very different beer festivals on the same weekend. I attended the craft beer festival on the Friday night (read my review here) and Oktober Bierfest on the Sunday afternoon. Many people think this is the SAB Oktober fest but actually SAB is just a sponsor. They made the village green [...]
I’m a big fan of the We Love Real Beer craft beer festival, you can read my rave reviews on the previous two here and here. But unfortunately this most recent one was really not enjoyable at all. All the ingredients were there for a great festival. A selection of fine craft beers, some good [...]
I think there is definitely a gap that the Toffie Food Festival fills. A festival which celebrates not just food but all the things around it. Design, community, creativity, invention, passion, and more. It’s very Cape Town. It’s a pity then, that most of the elements were executed badly. This is the first year for [...]
This event held special interest for me, not because it was Meerlust wine, nor because I would be staying over in the lovely vineyard hotel, but because I had assisted with the development of the pairings. This is the first time I have had the opportunity to do this and I found it really interesting. [...]
I’ll start with my conclusion. If next year’s Stellenbosch Wine Festival is anything like this year’s, I’m not going. It was not an enjoyable experience. The festival is just way too crowded and while there was every description of people there, it was mostly young students everywhere you looked. It was almost impossible to get [...]
I was first introduced to the Great Wine Capitals network in 2009 when I was invited to attend the awards lunch for the Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism Awards. Great Wine Capitals is a global network of cities which have their winelands as a key economic and cultural asset. It exists to encourage [...]
Anandale Road in Stellenbosch provides access to many highly acclaimed wine estates which together form the ‘Golden Triangle‘. I have been to many of them, and you will recognise names such as Bilton, Alto, Ernie Els, Guardian Peak, Hidden Valley and Rust en Vrede. That last estate, well known for it’s multi award winning restaurant, [...]
