Friday, September 26, 2025

The Story of South African Sauvignon Blanc book launch

The Story of South African Sauvignon Blanc
is the first publication to present the full history of South Africa’s most popular white wine cultivar
Available now in good bookshops

We were invited to the launch,
held in sponsor First National Bank's offices on the top floor of the Portside building in Cape Town

Asked to come in African gear...

Elunda Basson (chairperson of Sauvignon Blanc SA and cellarmaster at Steenberg Vineyards) opened proceedings

Master of ceremonies, radio presenter Success Lekabe of Smile 90.4FM

Stephan Claassen (provincial head of FNB Business for the Western and Eastern Cape) gave the opening speech

Elunda Basson, chairperson of Sauvignon Blanc SA,
hands a copy of The Story of South African Sauvignon Blanc to Stephan Claassen

 Success Lekabe asking members of the audience who they were. This was a Broadcaster on KFM Ute Hermanus

Thys Louw (vice-chairperson of Sauvignon Blanc SA and winemaker/owner of Diemersdal Wine Estate)

There was a line up of Sauvignon Blancs from the members of the Association and we attempted to taste them all
Such different areas, such different terroirs, such different styles and they all impressed
Some that we bought recently too!

Some favourites, some new to us and some with such high standards you know you can rely on their quality

One bubbly from Steenberg is always good for occasions like this. Some big producers and some smaller ones


Some regular winners of local and international awards.  We love Sauvignon Blanc

Master of ceremonies Success Lekabe announcing that food will be served

Chatting to Rico Basson (CEO of South Africa Wine) about the industry while tasting the range of Sauvignon blancs

South Africa’s first Sauvignon Blanc aroma wheel
was developed by researchers at Stellenbosch University’s SAGWRI and Sauvignon Blanc SA,
in collaboration with South Africa Wine and local and international experts

 All the stories we have produced since 2012 can be opened from the archive list near the top of the column on the right of this page

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Wine Trade Show at The Winchester, Sea Point

The refurbished Winchester Hotel in Sea Point's Beach Road

We arrived quite early, it did get nice and busy soon afterwards

Wow! a treat to see Andre van Rensburg with his own wines under the label AVR
He has already received very good scores from UK writer Greg Sherwood for his maiden white and red wines
We tasted the wooded Chardonnay, just as good as Andre can make, layered and full of future

On to Wildekrans for their excellent Chenin Blanc and enjoyable Cap Classique
It is time we visited the farm in Bot Rivier instead of steaming past it on the way to somewhere else

It is always good to see Rudi Schultz with his own label. We so enjoyed tasting his well-made and carefully crafted wines, they are very special
Lynne really loves his Boneyards Cabernet Sauvignon with a hint of Petite Verdot which rounds it off beautifully
The Skeleton Bay Chenin is very good too, the style we love
Surfer Rudi has won awards for his label designs, all named after good surfing beaches


Canetsfontein in Wellington was new to us. The farm was bought by the Falk family in 1994
They enlarged and transformed it into a diverse agricultural estate,
with organic and sustainable farming of wine, olives and fruit.

Another farm we have not visited in a long while Riebeek Valley in the Swartland
We used to sell a lot of their wines in our shop, especially their reasonably priced Pieter Cruythoff Brut sparkling wine

Having fun with others in the industry, Rui Blanco with Shirley Griffiths of Vino Pronto!



De Wet Viljoen with the Wildekrans wines

and with Chef restaurateur Giorgio Nava of Carne

De Wet's wife Annelie presented their Spijkerbessie wines, which are named after the late Duimpie Bayly's cows

The Longridge table
Talented Longridge MD,  shareholder, and cellar master of Longridge Wine Estate,
Jasper Raats has turned this Stellenbosch farm into a laudable biodynamic and certified organic farm
and he is a partner in Vigneron Consulting, an international consulting business
His winemaking is ultra natural and it shows in the impressive wines
We enjoyed tasting their wines which show such attention to detail and the terroir so well

A new release is the Longridge 2024 Cuvée Blanc Eclectic 1.2

Groenland wine estate is in the Bottelary area of Stellenbosch, where Chenin Blanc grows so well
Owner winemaker Piet Steenkamp also grows high-end Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot 

The Steenkamp Old Bush Vine Chenin Blanc is really well crafted

Eenzaamheid farm (Dutch for “solitude”) is situated in the Agter-Paarl
The name refers to its isolation from Cape Town, when it was named in 1693
Janno Briers-Louw, 7th generation farmer, produces award winning, handcrafted wines from the old dryland vineyards
If you want to see history, watch this film of the historic farmhouse
And then go and visit the farm, as we intend to do

Peter Falke wines are grown and made on Groenvlei Farm,
up the Annandale Road on the slopes of the Helderberg Mountains in Stellenbosch
Their red wines do very well in competition and they do have a good Muscat d'Alexandrie
Good to see Wim Braak, the sales and marketing manager, behind the table

Winemaker Narina Cloete of Blaauwklippen showing her wines
She makes a good range of modern wines on this ancient Stellenbosch estate

Alvi's Drift is in the Scherpenheuvel ward of the Worcester Breede River valley
They produce award-winning Chenin and Sauvignon blancs, Cabernet, Shiraz, Merlot and Pinotage and Bubblies,
on this large 410 hectare diverse terroir farm
Good to see Alvi's wife Junel, a Cape Wine master, whom we see often at award ceremonies

Some canapés to balance the wines and line the tums

Carmen Stevens Wines was established in 2020 with her maiden vintage in 2014

She was the first black South African to study the art of winemaking in SA
and in 2019 she registered the first black owned winery in SA in Stellenbosch
She sources fruit from a range of grape-growing regions with exceptional vineyards,
enabling them to celebrate the array of soil types of South Africa

A wagtail having a drink at the fountain in the courtyard

The doorway to the sunset boulevard of Sea Point's Beach Road

All the stories we have produced since 2012 can be opened from the archive list near the top of the column on the right of this page

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Sunday, September 07, 2025

Sunday music and art at the Prince Albert Kaleidoscope Festival

The Sunday concert was held in another historic Building on Church Street
in the Pink Drawing Room at The Central Private Hotel (now known as Garfield’s Place)
Featuring Artists Louise Lansdown and Emma Farnsworth (violas), Elliot Tingley (cello)
and Tony Alcock (double bass)






Louise Lansdown is the very talented and able organizer of the Music Festival and hopes to repeat it next year
Violist, educator, researcher and philanthropist, Louise is currently Assistant Head of Strings (viola)
at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester
and Professor of viola at the Yehudi Menuhin School (YMS)

Along with her viola students,
she is the founder of a major cross-continental collaborative string teaching project called “ARCO”
ARCO Soweto was founded in July 2015 in Soweto, Gauteng
in partnership with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in the UK, where Louise was Head of Strings
She and her partner  bassist Tony Alcock live in Prince Albert in their house called Molly
She commissioned some of the music played in the concert

With the title Long Walk to Freedom this concert remembers the struggle, and in particular highlights the Rivonia Trial
with four movements from Monthati Masebe’s Trials that Trail for solo viola
and Grant MacLachlan’s Yihle Moya and Shosholoza for solo double bass
There are two new commissions and world premieres in this concert, both by South African composers -
Gqeberha based Jan-Hendrik Harley and Stellenbosch based Arthur Feder
Harley has composed a short suite for solo double bass ‘Molly’ (the name of Tony and Louise’s house in Prince Albert)
in honour of Tony Alcock’s 60th birthday and Feder a duo for viola and double bass inspired by the Karoo, “In die stilte van die Karoo”
The festival finished with three Argentinian and Uruguayan Tangos
arranged for two violas, cello and double bass by cellist Elliot Tingley
All but these African composers and the music was inspiring

Programme

🇿🇦 Grant MacLachlan (1956*)
Yihle MoyĂ  and Shosholoza for solo double bass
🇿🇦 Monthati Masebe (1995*)
Golden (Arthur Goldreich)
A healthy Grave (James Kantor)
Kathy (Ahmed Kathrada)
Madiba, Dlomo, Yem-yem (Nelson Mandela)
Trials that Trail for solo viola
🇿🇦 Arthur Feder (1987*)
World premiere, new commission for viola and double bass “in die stilte van die Karoo”
 đź‡żđź‡¦ Jan-Hendrik Harley (1980*)
Molly Variations for solo double bass. New commission and world premiere **

Two Tangos (arr. for two violas, cello and double bass by Elliot Tingley)
🇺🇾 Gerardo Matos Rodriguez (1897-1948)
La Cumparsita
🇦🇷 Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Libertango
Oblivion

Applause!  The music was so well played and so inspiring

Tony Alcock

Louise on Viola



Emma Farnsworth (viola)
She is a recent graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music and passed her final exams with Distinction

Elliot Tingley (cello)

 Emma Farnsworth (viola)


and a visitor just arrived from the UK 


Sitting on the sunny stoep is something South Africans love to do 

The quiet charm of the old houses

Like us, making plans for lunch
We had formally booked a restaurant on line only to discover that they only open in the evening on Sundays
so we had to find another. Rude. Our second find was a huge success. See our article on the Lazy Lizard

Trees do survive in this dry environment

Coral Tree in bloom in this very arid environment; they get only 100 mm of rain a year
Erythrina lysistemon is a species of deciduous tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. It is native to South Africa.

And the vivid Tiger Striped Daisy
It is described as a common characteristic of certain Gazania rigens species
(also called African Daisies or Treasure Flowers) Osteospermum 

We took a walk down Church Street and visited the Prince Albert Gallery
It is filled with some of the best Art we have seen in a very long time

Very inspiring

And so much mixed media too
The landscape pictures in oils are so inspiring. There is a photographic area as well

Lynne is studying watercolours and was very inspired by this small painting of an olive branch

All the stories we have produced since 2012 can be opened from the archive list near the top of the column on the right of this page

If you do not wish to receive e-mails from us, please email menucape@gmail.com with the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in your email

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