Visitors warm up with wine at top show
Zanél Potgieter and Christiaan Dempers at the Place in the Sun stand. The range is Fairtrade-accredited which means the community benefits fully from its making. |
Text: Louise Liebenberg
Pictures: Salvelio Meyer
THE winter chill has hit Nelson Mandela Bay good and proper and while it was initially excruciating to venture out last weekend in the midst of a downpour, I was soon delighted to have done so.
The reason? The Wine Show was in town and as always it was a good opportunity to discover some producers whose wines I hadn’t tasted before or who had not had much exposure in the region up to now.
Visitors were spoilt for choice as there were 71 exhibitors this time – a new record for the three-day event, again held at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
Organiser John Woodward said the figure represented a 70% increase over last year. Despite the foul weather, it was evident by the thousands of visitors that "Port Elizabeth is a city that welcomes the wine industry, and one that the wine industry needs to take seriously”.
"Exhibitors continued to be impressed by the warm welcome, enthusiastic and interested visitors and by just how many of them took the opportunity to buy their favourites direct from the farms at the show,” he added.
Scroll down for more pictures from the show – and yes, I have since fixed the glaring shortcomings in terms of captions! I think I enjoyed the Wine Show a little too much and lost my pocket book with all the names. I blamed this one on Rickety Bridge as their 2010 rose with hints of Turkish delight was a little hard to resist! Thankfully the pocket book later resurfaced.
Louise Liebenberg (me at the centre!) with managing director Sharon Parnell and winemaker JohnSeccombefrom Domaine de Dieux. We loved their Rose of Sharon MCC (named after Sharon, of course!) and its pretty colour and packaging. |
Robyn Martin (centre) from For the Love of Wine in Stanley Street with Marlize Calitz and on the right, Lynx assistant wine maker Helgard van Schalkwyk. |
Carrol Bouah (second from left) gives wine show visitors like Matt Repton and sisters Dominique (left) and Gabriella van Wyk a taste of the Weltevrede Phillip Jonker Brut MCC. Still kicking myself that I didn’t go back to buy a few bottles, but hopefully Prestons can help! |
Distell’s Sarah Gibson (centre) with Preston Sullivan and Nolwazi Ntshona at the JC le Roux stand. We especially enjoyed the classy Scintilla Brut which with its biscuity aftertaste was reminiscent of proper French champagne but with a far more affordable price tag of R150. |
A band of three naughty boys who had a rather raucous time at the show. From left are Vans Basson, Richard Forbes and Marty Pretorius with an altogether more upstanding Preston Sullivan! |
The colourful Obikwa stand with Alexander Hessini and Samantha van Wyk. This pleasant brand is also very affordable. |
Three wine show attendants at the Weltevrede stand. The girl with the nose ring in the middle is Khanya Mzongwana who has Aztec Deli in Parliament Street. With her are Athini Manona on the right and Jeanne Mostert. The three tried the Weltevrede Vanilla Chardonnay. |
Yep, all her fault! Jackie Rabe (left), sales manager of Rickety Bridge with moi by now somewhat tipsy! |