GUGULETHU, CAPE TOWN, 28 May 2013
– Ask any of the 4555 people who
thoroughly enjoyed the TOPS at SPAR Gugulethu
Wine Festival last weekend and they will
all tell you the same thing; it was the
most fun-filled, vibrant and integrated
wine festival in the Western Cape to date.
It saw the likes of YFM, DStv, Cape Talk,
SABC, KykNET, City Press and about 150
other media from around the country and
internationally flocking to the event.
Says festival co-founders and
local entrepreneurs, Mzoli Ngcawuzele
from Mzoli's Place and Lungile Mbalo,
“A special thanks to all wineries
and sponsors who make this event what
it is. Also a special mention and respectful
recognition to Durban Tourism and Cape
Town Tourism for being in Gugulethu and
giving us you undivided support to this
festival.”
“Education, employment, upliftment
and social cohesion are the primary objectives
of our wine festival and we are achieving
this year after year in a big way. The
feel-good emotions that was felt and displayed
by everyone at the festival, stems by
providing a safe place for everyone to
enjoy ‘the authentic lifestyle’
that wine has to offer, and more importantly,
a safe place for people of all races and
cultures to really get to know and understand
one another. Our people may not have big
houses and big cars, yet, but they have
love and this was reciprocated with open
arms.”
Two initiatives that stood out, and should
be available at every alcohol-serving
festival in the country were the TOPS
at SPAR’s DRYVER campaign, and SOBA.
TOPS at SPAR’s clever initiative
is DRYVER, a mobile app, which is “tipsy-friendly”
and simple to use; all you have to do
is download a free app at Dryver.mobi,
choose a community network of friends
from your phone contacts, and help or
a lift home can be arranged at any time
you feel you’ve had one too many.
Says TOPS at SPAR Group Liquor
Manager, Mark Robinson, “Drinking
and driving is a serious issue in our
country and we feel strongly about playing
our part in finding solutions to the
problem. By delivering our message in
a practical, fun way, that includes
a call to action, we believe we are
taking our responsibility seriously.”
Says Lungile Mbalo, co-founder
of the festival, “In
an effort to become self-regulatory
and responsible focused on the prevention
of the negative consequences of alcohol
abuse, this year, in association with
our headline sponsor, TOPS at SPAR,
we wanted to include these initiatives.
We want to reduce alcohol-related harm
through combating the misuse of alcohol
beverages and promoting only their responsible
use via education and choice. Both these
initiatives were widely received and
of great benefit to our festival goers.”
The Nederburg Wine and Food Taste theatre
was pumping with enthusiasm as Pete
Goffe-Wood, SA MasterChef Judge, and
Wilhelm Pienaar, winemaker at Nederburg
engaged with festival goers treating
them to a hands-on experience of wine
and food pairing. Every class was packed.
The luxury wine lounges were a hive
of activity with popular Two Oceans
Quay 5 wine lounge offering hair and
makeup touch-ups for the ladies whilst
they were tasting their low-alcohol
Quay 5’s Fruity Fresh White, Floral
Fresh Blush or Berry Fresh Red; and
the new Brazilian-inspired Carioca wine
lounge bedazzled ladies with beautiful
face décor getting everyone into
the rhythm of Rio in Gugs. Debuting
at the festival, if the queues at the
Carioca lounge were anything to go by,
Carioca has already stamped its brand
into the memories of thousands.
Marilyn Cooper, Cape Wine Master
and CEO of the Cape Wine Academy and
organiser of the wineries at the festival,
says “This was an outstanding
event. Thank you to all the wineries
that support this important festival.
One of the challenges to overcome at
the TOPS at SPAR Gugulethu Wine Festival
is that many wineries tend to ‘dumb
down’ to this market, meaning
that they only bring their lower end
sweet, semi-sweet and rosé wines
believing that this is the market they
are addressing."
“Whilst this may be true for
60% of the visitors who are entry level,
the other 40% are looking for the more
top end wines. So we encourage wineries
to bring their full range of wines.
Our festival mandate is to educate the
wine market; and increase South African
market share and consumption, which
is finally on the rise. This increase
locally has come specifically from the
black market."
Anel Grobler from winetimes.co.za
says, “I do believe
that today's emerging wine market are
not just looking for something cheap
and sweet, they are also looking to
discover the finer red and white wines
on the market. The problem is they will
never buy it if they don't know about
it. Shows like the TOPS at SPAR Gugulethu
Wine Festival are the perfect platform
to introduce our country’s finest
and top-end wines.”
Beverley Horrell, the wine ambassador
for Alvi’s Drift winery
who brought the Naughty Girl
range of wines to the festival
had this to say “I would just
like to thank you from my side for an
excellently arranged festival –
I thoroughly enjoyed it, and can’t
wait for next year. The Naughty Girl
Sparkling wine went down extremely well,
and we sold a considerable amount from
the stand. People were constantly enquiring
as to where they can obtain these wines
in Gugs."
Theola Conyers, brand manager
at DGB says, “Special
thanks to TOPS at SPAR for making wine
lifestyle possible in Gugulethu, educating
and enriching our communities with the
art and enjoyment of wine and providing
all an opportunity to taste and grow
with wine”.
And so say all of us!
|
