After opening a bottle of wine it just takes a few days for the  wines to “go bad”. The time which it will “stay good” depends on a few factors.

Both red and white wines will oxidise once exposed to the elements and will eventually convert into vinegar. Essentially, the only wines that keep for any length of time after removing the closure are fortified ones (ports and sherries).

Typically, white wines will turn sour faster than reds and the process is accelerated by higher temperatures; by replacing the cork or screwcap and keeping the wine in the fridge, oxidation is inhibited but not avoided.

A rule-of-thumb says that letting an open bottle of wine stand on the counter accelerates the ageing process by one year for each day opened.

If this is the case, a red wine intended to age for a few years may be propelled to age in this rather crude fashion. The counter is that in opening a bottle of wine and not finishing it in one sitting, there is the opportunity to drink it up to several days later.

A white wine does not usually last longer than two days after opening and being stored in the fridge.

Arniston Bay Brand News:

The Arniston Bay wine pouch has a wide array of environmental advantages but it also keep the wine fresh for longer. Wines can keep up to one month in these pouches which means you can enjoy the your everyday drink wine for a longer time

The Wine:

Source: tonight.co.za

In the US, Merlot was almost unheard of until the 1970s and gained prominence in the US market when customers found it stylish and classy to ask for a glass of Merlot, which became synonymous with a glass of red wine.

Merlot achieved rapid prominence because at its best, it’s the easiest fine wine for novices to appreciate, and maybe the easiest to pronounce. As a result of this rise in popularity, producers made oceans of the stuff, eventually forgoing quality for quantity

In 2004 Merlot slipped in popularity and sales, thanks to just two lines in the movie Sideways. In a much-quoted scene, the wine snob character Miles tells his easygoing friend Jack before a double-date dinner: “If anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am not drinking any f-g Merlot.” Ironically, one of the character’s favourite wines is Chateau Cheval Blanc: it is a blend of Merlot and another varietal he slams, Cabernet Franc.

As Merlot sales plummeted and Pinot Noir sales increased, it seems that this might have caused Merlot winemakers to focus on making a better product. The recession has also helped Merlot as good Pinot Noir usually costs a little more, so customers are looking for wines at great prices which helps Merlot sales very much.

Merlot is sometimes easily described as what it’s not – not as light and soft as Pinot Noir and not as big, full and robust as Cabernet Sauvignon. At its best Merlot makes some of the very best wines in the world; think about some of the world’s best Bordeaux. It’s wonderful in a way no other varietal can achieve. A great Merlot is gentle, yet fruity; easy to drink, yet elegant and interesting.

It can be as generic as supermarket jug wine – in fact, the so-called international style of red wines is based largely on the taste of Merlot. But a great Merlot can also be as complex as the finest Cabernet, without the formidable tannins or the necessity of bottle-aging for decades. Merlot is often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon in order to soften it.

Arniston Bay Brand News:

The Arniston Bay Merlot 2008 has been described as a food-friendly red with a good structure and clean execution and with compact aromatic portfolio.

The wine:

Source: jamaicaobserver.com

Consumer goods with a relatively wide price range like coffee and wine are deemed to be indicators for economic trends. The buying patterns of US consumers can be seen as a possible indication of trends in the global economy.

A recent report by a leading US retailing group indicates that the buying patterns of consumers are predicting that the recession may have reach turning point.

Steven Burd , CEO of Safeway said :”When we went into the recession, we saw a change in the mix of lattes versus coffee, and now we’ve seen – it’s early, but we’re seeing – a trend back to lattes,”

Apart from coffee buying patterns it seems that wine purchasing are also an indicator of buying patterns which relates to economic conditions.

At the beginning of the recession retailers indicated that the percentage of premium wines sales declined. Burd added that they noticed that these declining premium wine trends are reversing.

This may be an indication that we are close the turning point of the economic downturn.

Arniston Bay Brand News

Despite the recession the Arniston Bay wine brand has experienced a marked sales increase over the past year – latest figures reveal that off-trade sales are up 29% by value and 31% by volume (AC Nielsen: 52 weeks to 05 September 2009).

Source: insidebayarea.com

What’s a green wine drinker to do? The cork versus screw cap battle is getting increasingly dirty. The issue of environmental credentials has entered the fight and that is yet to have closure – so to speak. So for the wine drinker with a green tinge, how do they stack up?

There is nothing more annoying or environmentally wasteful than tipping wine down the sink because cork taint has ruined it. Cork taint is the mouldy flavour that deadens the wine and is imparted by a 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, or TCA. This amazingly intense chemical can be detected in white wines in two parts per trillion.

How it comes about and how it gets into cork is one of the wine world’s most hotly debated issues but it seems that, like most of the problems besetting the human race, we brought it on ourselves. When moisture is present, common microscopic fungi such as aspergillus and penicillium convert chlorophenols that have ended up in the cork bark through the use of pesticides into TCA.

Cork companies claim their corks account for less than 1 per cent of tainted wines. Other more independent studies show figures of between 5 and 7 per cent. But if your definition of cork taint is any effect on the wine from the cork, then the figure is more like 10 to 12 per cent.

In defence of the cork, it is a sustainable industry. After bark is stripped off the trees, regrowth occurs which is ready to be harvested nine years later. A cork tree takes about 25 years to reach the right size and has a commercial life span of about 150 to 200 years or about 16 harvests. Cork is recyclable and biodegradable. But, that’s where the good green news ends.

After being stripped from the trees the cork is left to season. This is thought to be the time that the cork picks up the TCA. Travellers in Portugal are often bemused to see piles of cork sitting outside in the damp, and wonder if a better seasoning method might be preferable to applying chemicals later. Apparently cork that comes in contact with damp ground is used for flooring but a little TCA goes a long way. After seasoning the cork is disinfected, cut into shapes, washed with hydrogen peroxide and treated with ozone. Some are glued; some are even covered with plastic to protect the wine from the cork. The process is about the TCA, not the cork, and in a TCA-free world, cork would be a truly green industry.

A screw cap, on the other hand, is made from aluminium, which is very polluting to make. It has been estimated it takes as much electricity to produce one screw cap as running a TV for an hour. On the other hand, aluminium can be endlessly recycled. Of all the aluminium produced since 1886, two-thirds is apparently still out there as a Coke can, a 747 or a screw cap. Recycling aluminium saves on 95 per cent of the energy used to make new aluminium. So, in the scale of greenness, if you recycle your screw caps, you’re probably neck and neck with the cork pullers.

Arniston Bay Brand News:

When it comes to wine packaging the choice is much clearer for green consumers. Arniston Bay was one of the pioneers in pouch wine packaging. This revolutionary packaging has 80% less of a carbon footprint than wine bottles. It also has 90% less waste and takes up less space in a landfill than two glass bottles.

Another great thing is that wine can be stored up to one month after opening the pouch.

Source: smh.com.au

British wine consumers continued their new found love affair with Rosé wines as the sales of this pink wine has again outperformed the overall drink sector.

Demand for Rosé among women has pushed wine sales through the £5 billion barrier for the first time.

The market for non-sparkling wine grew by 6.5 per cent to £5.04 billion in the year to August.

Britons are on course to buy a record 100 million cases this year.

The wine market has significantly outperformed the overall drinks sector, which is up 5.6 per cent, said market analysts Nielsen.

Experts say much of the growth in wine sales has been driven by Rosé, sales of which were up 15 per cent, giving it a record 11 per cent share of all wine bought in supermarkets and off-licences.

Arniston Bay Brand news:

The Arniston Bay Pinotage Rosé  – with its lively strawberry and violet aromas and fruity taste – is immensely popular in the UK market. The Arniston Bay wine brand has experienced a marked sales increase over the past year – latest figures reveal that off-trade sales are up 29% by value and 31% by volume (AC Nielsen: 52 weeks to 05 September 2009).

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Wines of South Africa (WOSA) is planning a series of international braai festivals, a World Cup for sommeliers, and a range of other novel initiatives to highlight abroad South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 World Cup. 

The braai festivals, to be held in key export destinations such as the UK, Holland, Germany, Scandinavia and countries in Latin America and the Far East, will be scheduled to co-incide with important matches of next year’s tournament.  The events will feature high-profile South African chefs, as well as winemakers at venues where matches are being televised.

Linked to the braai festival concept is the publication and international distribution of a book of special braai recipes created by local winemakers to match their wines.  The compendium of recipes will appear with styled photographs, and marketers all over the world will have access to the recipes and images to use in their South African wine campaigns.

A World Cup for sommeliers, to be held in a number of countries selling South African wine, is intended to increase awareness of local wines among on-consumption buyers. The winning contestant from each participating country, judged on the basis of their ability to identify a series of local wines and pair them successfully with foods, will be flown to South Africa late in 2010 for the finals.

WOSA has also developed a special logo for 2010 that includes a soccer ball, approved by FIFA. It will be available to producers to feature in their marketing material and on wine bottles in those countries where legislation permits. In Sweden, for example, local legislation forbids a link between alcohol and sport in any advertising or merchandising.

The organisation’s CEO, Su Birch, said an animated wine and soccer video was being produced for release at next year’s ProWein trade exhibition in Germany in March, and which would be made available internationally.

These braai festivals will give South African wine brands like Arniston Bay wine and Welmoed wine the change to associative with uniquely South African cuisine and social events surrounding the 2010 World Cup.  

Source: cbn.co.za

It seems that UK retailers are focusing to pour their resources into promoting low-alcohol wines.

Supermarkets and retailers are gearing up to stock a wider range of low-alcohol wines in the run-up to Christmas, in response to growing consumer demand and increasing health concerns about drinking.

The latest research confirms that British drinkers are unwittingly knocking back more units of alcohol than they were nearly 10 years ago because of the prevalence of extra-strong lagers and high-alcohol wines.

An industry event this week will bring producers and retailers together to look at how they are expanding their ranges of low-alcohol wines and beers, which traditionally have fed a niche market, and what might be the potential for growth to meet changing and increasingly sophisticated consumer tastes.

Wine experts from supermarkets, including Tesco and Sainsbury, will also consider the finding, which suggests that consumers who want to buy low-alcohol wines prefer better-tasting products. Shoppers have also complained that it is difficult to find these drinks on supermarket aisles because wines are traditionally grouped by country of origin and colour, not alcoholic strength.

Important changes in European regulations, which have traditionally hampered the growth of this market, are also set to increase the pace of change. It is now legal to sell wine which has had its abv (alcohol by volume, expressed as a percentage on labels) reduced by up to 2% through the use of two specialist techniques, reverse osmosis and the “spinning cone” method.

Taste has always been a problem as the processing required to lower the alcohol content of wine has had a detrimental effect on its flavour.

But sales are edging up. According to the latest figures from the market researchers Nielsen, the broader category of low-alcohol drinks, which includes no-alcohol beers, wines and ciders, has seen sales growth of £25.2m in the last 12 months, a rise of 11%.

Health charities believe that the increasing popularity of higher strength wines, especially those from Australia and South America, has contributed to problem drinking levels. Some of these wines have an abv as high as 14% or 15%. Low-alcohol wines typically have abvs of 9% and lower.

To satisfy the consumer demand for lighter alcohol wines successful South African brand Arniston Bay has launched The Lighthouse Collection which offers numerous health benefits and value for money.

While this collection of fruity lighter style wines – befitting the brand’s easy-drinking persona – has considerably lower alcohol levels (10% to 11%) it doesn’t compromise on taste and the wines have a rich impressive flavour profile typical varietal aromas and good acidity. It’s ideal for people watching their waistlines or for occasions such as having a drink over lunch and then heading back to the office.

In keeping with the brand’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint (Arniston Bay also produces an eco-friendly wine pouch which takes up less space in a landfill than glass bottles) The Lighthouse Collection boasts lighter packaging making it a winning option for consumers with a conscience.

Source: guardian.co.uk

The dynamic South African wine brand, Arniston Bay, is continuing its great performance in the UK market. AC Nielsen figures reveal that Arniston Bay off-trade sales are up 30% by value and 31% by volume, making the brand one of the fastest growing in the UK.

Barney Davis, brand and business development manager for the company of wine peopleTM said that a new range – The Lighthouse Collection – has been added to the Arniston Bay brand.

The new range extensions will be presented at the Wines of South Africa Mega Tasting on October 13 and 14, and will include The Lighthouse Collection from Arniston Bay plus new 2009 vintages the brand.

The Lighthouse Collection is a range of lower alcohol wines at 10-11 per cent volume, that aim to address some of the challenges relating to health and the environment. They are available in red, white and rosé varietals with an RRSP of £4.99, they are presented in lightweight glass bottles to reduce packaging waste and lower the overall environmental impact of the product.

Davis added that  ‘For us, this year’s WOSA Mega Tasting offers the chance to highlight to both the trade and the consumer the strong sales momentum that we have seen for the Arniston Bay brand over the past twelve months. At the company of wine peopleTM we are focused on building strong, sustainable brands in core markets with sufficient investment in quality, packaging and innovation that competes head on with the best that other wine countries have to offer. With the help of Percy Fox & Co we expect to see the success that we’ve seen for Arniston Bay mirrored across our entire portfolio of wines.”

Source: harpers.co.uk

The well known South African food and wine writer, Michael Olivier recently heaped praise on the easy-drinking Arniston Bay Chenin Blanc/ Chardonnay.

He said: “This is such a lovely, lovely wine. Pale straw in colour  and you can pick up some pineapple and ripe melon on the nose.” He added that wine has a “lovely sort of full feeling on the palate” and concluded by saying “this is a barefoot wine” especially for those beach and pool moments.

To listen to his comments visit: michaelolivier.co.za

A taste for Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay or a liking for Merlot or Shiraz can indicate more than just a preference in wines. It could also reveal personality traits.

New research showed that drinkers who preferred a sweet taste in wine were more likely to be impulsive while those who chose dry varieties had greater openness.

According to the Australian researchers, participants with a sweet taste preference were significantly higher in impulsiveness than their dry preference counterparts.

Researcher for Sheffield Hallam University added that apart from impulsiveness and openness, no other personality trait was significantly different between the two groups.

“There is some support for the notion that sweet preference develops early in humans and thus could drive the development of impulsiveness,” said the researchers

They tested the wine preference of 45 people from Sheffield in South Yorkshire and divided them into two groups — those who liked sweet or dry wine.

Each group was also given personality tests to evaluate their impulsiveness, empathy, openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.

The researchers said there is some evidence that a preference for sweet tastes fluctuates throughout life. It seems to be heightened during childhood and then declines in late adolescence.

Source: Reuters

As the title reads, this Wine Tourism Handbook is South Africa’s Ultimate Guide to the Cape Winelands full of useful and practical information you can use to visit wine regions, cellar doors and restaurants with the help of  maps and contact details for the wineries and more.

First thing the book does for someone like me who has been to South Africa before is it transports you instantly to the beautiful Cape Winelands region where small mountains adore as the backdrop for most of the vineyards and make them look picture perfect.

For a first time visitor, the book is an excellent companion and a complete guide to help understand the South African wines. It includes the history, the grape varietals grown, the environmental issues involved. It helps you understand the labels, wine styles and all the regions, Districts and Wards.

It also gives useful advice on the cellars where one can taste wines, tips on wining and dining and various wineland activities to help you make the trip well rounded. It does not purport to be exhaustive but is extremely practical for a first time tourist or even repeat visitors. For someone who is not much into wine, it might even convert them into wine lovers and value-add to their trip. It is truly a practical 101 type or course book on South Africa as a wine destinations.

Although the information on accommodation is too abridged, it does highlight specific wineries to visit due to their significance-historic or otherwise as also several places for stay because of their special charm. It does list the basics for a tourist though.

The Guide has been organized to help you traverse the various wine routes and not according to the regions. It starts with taking you through the Coastal routes-starting naturally with Constantia, Darling, Durbanville, Franschhoek, Paarl, Somerset West, Stellenbosch, Swartland, Tulbagh and Wellington. The accompanying maps are very clear and give specific location of the wineries in these Districts and Wards.

From there it takes you to the inland wine routes starting with Breederkloof, Klein Karoo, Northern Cape, Olifants River, Robertson and the capital of co-operative wineries- Worcester. Mountain Routes include trips to Aguilhas & Elim, Elgin & Bot River and walker Bay.

The book is in full colour and art paper with lots of pictures that make a very conducive reading. Perhaps for financial reasons, it is full of sponsored winery ads. Before it takes you to various wine cellars where tasting is possible, it helps a first time taster learn the basics of tasting sitting on your armchair in the privacy of your home.

Read Subhash Arora’s review: indianwineacademy.com

Pop into your local bottle shop and you’re overwhelmed with options. Red or white? Rosé or sparkling? Domestic or imported? And nowadays: traditional or eco-friendly?

Although our minds tend to wander to organic farming and sulfite-free winemaking when thinking about eco-friendly wine, it’s actually the transportation of the product that produces the largest carbon footprint. Wine writer and researcher Tyler Coleman recently collaborated with Pablo Paster, a sustainability metrics engineer, on a study measuring the varying factors at play within the wine industry. The results, published in the Journal of Wine, confirmed it. “The transportation and packaging elements in a lot of cases actually end up being the most influential in terms of the quantity of CO2 emissions,” said Coleman.

As with produce and other comestibles, Coleman supports “locavorism.” But not everyone has the joy of residing in wine country — and therein lies the reason why packaging plays an integral role in how the wine industry takes its toll on the planet. Fortunately, innovations in the world of packaging are breaking new ground, all in the spirit of promoting environmental integrity.

This wine pouch weighs about 20 times less than glass bottles. These pouches have an 80% lower carbon footprint and 90% less landfill waste compared with glass.

Source: thisisbrandx.com

Consumption, most analysts agree, has not been affected by the recession. If anything, Americans are drinking more wine than ever. But they are drinking cheaper wine and spending less money on it.

Another thing we might notice is fewer of those enormously heavy bottles so often used to convey that you have picked up (or tried to pick up) a wine of great status. Aside from the environmental cost of producing, shipping and disposing of these sorts of bottles, they are also more expensive. Will we see in the next few years a return to more sensible and less expensive bottles? We can only hope that the recession will add such benefits to the too-obvious consequences.

Apart from lighter bottles some producers are moving towards more eco-friendly packaging. Arniston Bay was the pioneers in creating the pouch.

This wine pouch weighs about 20 times less than glass bottles. And since the wine is made and packaged in South Africa and then shipped around the globe, the weight of the package makes a big difference to the eco-impact.

These pouches have an 80% lower carbon footprint and 90% less landfill waste compared with glass.

It seems that consumers are really taken by this value and eco-friendly wines. According to a recent Nielson Report,  Arniston Bay is the 5th fastest growing wine brand in the UK.

Sources:

thepour.blogs.nytimes.com And jlduran.blogspot.com

the company of wine peopleTM and Percy Fox & Co have agreed that Percy Fox & Co will become the exclusive UK distributor for leading South African brand, Arniston Bay. The agreement will take effect from Monday 10th August and will also include the Welmoed, Kumkani and Versus brand portfolios.

These brands will provide a powerful new South African dimension to the Percy Fox & Co portfolio that already includes Blossom Hill, the UK’s No 1 wine brand, Piat d’Or, the No 2 brand in the French category, the Chilean wines from Santa Carolina and leading Champagnes Heidsieck & Co Monopole and Pommery from Vranken Pommery Monopole.

Percy Fox & Co and the company of wine peopleTM have great ambitions for the next stage of development for Arniston Bay in the UK.  It is already a strong brand with true momentum, recording MAT volume growth of 41% (July 09 Nielsen) in the buoyant South African wine market, currently the fastest growing category in the UK.  The partnership aims to drive growth by developing consumer engagement and extending distribution channels in both the on and off-trade.

Barney Davis, brand and business development manager for the company of wine peopleTM, will continue his role and work closely with the team at Percy Fox & Co.

Hermann Böhmer, CEO of the company of wine peopleTM, commented on the agreement: “We believe that in Percy Fox & Co we have found a like-minded partner that brings significant extra reach and influence in the UK market. Their extensive experience of building brands in the UK, together with their focus on the consumer and customer, mean that Percy Fox & Co is ideally positioned to build on the strong momentum Arniston Bay has developed over the last twelve to eighteen months in partnership with Ehrmanns, while their reach allows us to develop our other brands such as Welmoed and Kumkani.”

Simon Lawson, Percy Fox & Co director & general manager commented on the agreement: “We are delighted to announce this partnership. We believe the strength and potential of Arniston Bay makes it an ideal fit with the existing high performance Percy Fox & Co portfolio. It has natural synergy with our current wineries, and we are looking forward to working with the company of wine peopleTM to drive the brand forward.  Arniston Bay already occupies an enviable position as the fifth fastest growing brand in the UK off-trade, and we believe that Percy Fox has the resources and expertise to build on this momentum and realise the brand’s full possibility in the UK”.

A recent study shows that British wine drinkers are shifting in colour as they turn to the competitors of red.

Over the first trimester of 2009, red wine lost six points, being the favourite drink of 72 percent of wine drinkers, whereas the number was 78 only three months before. The share of red wine in the wine consumption of wine consumers decreased in the same period from 44 percent to 40 percent.

The obvious offset of this trend is the rising rates of competitors ‘white ‘and’ pink ‘. The consumption of white wine in the United Kingdom rose in three months from 40 to 43 percent, while rose climbed 16 percent to 18 percent.

White wines are in a winner’s mood. Within this category, the success of Pinot Grigio suggests that the Italian version of a French grape has been on the right market at the right time; in return, it boosted the performance of all white wines ! In October 2008, 47 percent of wine consumers mentioned they had emptied at least one bottle of Pinot Grigio over the trimester ; in April 2009, the figure has already risen to 54 percent. Thus, this variety is now sharing the number two position of the British hit parade of white grape varieties with Sauvignon Blanc at , after the still inaccessible Chardonnay.

Some say the shift is a matter of season, others point at a structural shift towards lighter wine styles. Other studies in the United Kingdom suggest that a growing number of consumers go for red wines during ‘formal occasions’, and prefer to keep their light and crispy white wine sip for more’ casual ‘settings.

Source: winealley.com

Researchers in France have found a way to identify wine so accurately they can pinpoint where the drink was made and in which barrel it was fermented.

It uses an electronic nose to make even the most well established sommelier a little nervous.

The unique way exploits the complex mix of thousands of compounds found in each bottle of wine that gives the drink subtly different scents and flavours.

Researchers analysed the compounds in vaporised samples of wine to produce detailed chemical signatures that can be matched against a database of characteristics to identify a wine’s source. They did so by using a kind of electronic nose, known as a mass spectrometer.

It means they can tell exactly which variety of grape a wine is made from, the region and vineyard where it was produced and the source of the wood used in the barrel.

Regis Gougeon, from the University of Bourgogne, in Dijon, France, who led the research, said: “In winemaking, several processes can subtly modulate the characteristics of wine.

“Wine experts use their eyes, mouth and nose as detectors and are able to distinguish wines according to their ages, grape varieties, terroirs.

“All we know is that so far, none of the sensory analyses of the wines we looked at could discriminate like we did.

“Our approach reveals the extremely high yet unknown chemical diversity of wine. It was exciting to be able to observe such a diversity at once, where many compounds, even in low concentration, may contribute to the body of the wine.”

Source: blog.taragana.com

Have you ever wondered who came up the idea of heels? It seems that these shoes has been around for ages and women all around the world are loving their heels

Rumour has it that the heel was invented by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Throughout history the heel has been enjoyed, by men and women, for its coquettish charm, as well as its height-helping inches.

Since the harlots of ancient Greece wore platforms to make them easier to spot, heels have been shorthand for sexy. Catherine de Medici, Italian wife of the Duke of Orleans and future Queen of France, commissioned a pair of heeled shoes for her first wedding in 1533 ‘both for fashion, and to increase her stature’. But it wasn’t until the 1590s that heels really caught on in Europe, says Susan North, a curator at the V&A. Elizabeth I was a devotee, but it wasn’t just the girls, says Susan: ‘The, er, vertically challenged Louis XIV of France wore red heels in the 1650s – though presumably when his courtiers caught up with the fashion he was back where he started! And in England, Charles II set the fashion for high heels after the Restoration, although men’s heels got lower again throughout the 18th century.’

A good heel is like a flash car, or an incredible work of art. It is worth bearing in mind that you assume different characters in different heights. heights go from (yawn) 5cm: practically flat; 7cm: day heel; 9cm foxy heel; 10.5cm: the true pro aesthetic

Walking in heels is like riding a bike – once you know how, you’ll never forget. But just like a bike, the first time you ride without stabilisers can be very precarious. Get the arches of your feet flexed and ready for some high heel hints.

Why is a catwalk called a catwalk?

The word first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1885 but as fashion historian Grace Rothstein, from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, reveals: ‘Catwalks were originally much narrower than you’d see today, so that more space could be afforded potential buyers. Combined with high heels, the walk was said to be so perilous that only a sure-footed cat could walk it.’ Now only women thinner than a moggy can strut it…

Source: docstoc.com

And perfectionistgal

We’re having another Market Day wine sale at our Welmoed cellar door in Stellenbosch.

Dates: Thursday 30 July to Saturday 1 August 2009

Venue: Welmoed Cellar door. Here are the directions: Directions to Welmoed

The following wines will be on sale:

If you’d like more details regarding the sale, please contact Anri or Zoliswa at our cellar door on 021 881 8062

South African wines continue to go from strength to strength in the UK market as it moves past French wines to claim the fourth spot. Wine from Australia, USA and Italy are still more popular but the gap is decreasing.

Latest market figures from analysts Nielsen show that drinkers prefer reds, whites and rosés from Italy and South Africa – which has only exported to Britain since the end of apartheid in the mid-Nineties – to those from the traditional home of wine. With demand for Chilean wine also rising fast, France could even slump into sixth.

Wine experts said France had been hit by high costs in its small vineyards, the strength of the euro, damaging petty disputes between its 21 wine regions and changing tastes during the recession. The country has seen the mass vin de table market virtually wiped out by the influx of cheap wines from the New World.

The collapse is so severe that British retailers and importers, including Tesco and Morrisons, have even clubbed together to advise the French government on how to improve the image of its wine.

Brian Howard, business development director of Wine Intelligence consultancy, said the recession accelerated the trend: “It is not as if Britain’s 27.9million adult regular wine drinkers have woken up and said ‘I’m not going to drink French wine today’.

“French is still preferred in the over-£6 category but we have seen a move away from formal occasions at home when traditionally a big French Bordeaux or Burgundy would be the must have.”

South African wines have been particularly popular over the past year because the rand is weaker than the pound, allowing supermarkets to lower prices. The average price of a South African bottle sold in Britain is £4.25.

Source: thisislondon.com

Congratulations to Ramona-Lee Scott.

Ramona-Lee Scott

Ramona-Lee is the lucky Facebook fan of the month and has won an Arniston Bay wine hamper.

Become a Facebook Fan of Arniston Bay and stand a chance to win wine hampers: Arniston Bay Facebook Page

South African wine producer, the company of wine people, is launching a new range of wines exclusively for the independent and on-trade sector.

Cape Reflections is a collection of entry-level red and white blends, with a recommended retail price of £4.99.

The new range is part of the Arniston Bay portfolio, but has been specifically developed with clear differentiators for the on-trade.

Cape Reflections will allow independent customers the chance to benefit from the demand associated with a major wine brand, enabling them to mirror the growth of Arniston Bay (up 42%) and the South African wine industry (up 34%) which is currently being enjoyed by the off-trade sector.

The wines, which are light and fruit driven in style, represent extremely good value for money and are already proving popular.

Source: talkingretail.com

Living green really is easier than you think. If you make a few small changes it can have a great impact on the world around you. Here are some of the tips on green living…

Reduce, Re-use and Recycle.

Reduce. Be more responsible about how you use resources. Look at how you can use less water, less fuel and opt for products that use less packaging, they would probably be fresher and healthier anyway.

Re-use. Products often have more than one life, ice cream containers become lunchboxes and shoe boxes become material for school projects. Save money and time by finding new uses for used items you are have.

Recycle. Recycle your waste. Paper, plastics, cans and even glass can also be recycled. Use recycled paper and other products as much as possible at home and at work.

Starting at home

Conserve energy:

• Turn off lights in unused rooms.
• Unplug idle appliances.
• Replace traditional incandescent light bulbs with more energy-efficient compact fluorescentlamps.
• Switch out conventional hot water heaters in favour of solar hot water heaters.
• Use less hot water. It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Don’t fill the kettle to make one cup.
• Lower your geyser’s heating temperature.

Conserve water:

• Choose a shower instead of a bath.
• Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth.
• Repair leaks and dripping taps.
• Replace traditional showerheads and toilets with pressurised low-flow alternatives.
• Capture rainwater to irrigate the garden.

Insulate your home

Over 30 percent of your home’s heat escape through the roof. Install a layer of insulation and you can save on heating and cooling costs.

Other things you can do

Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible.

Put a lid on saucepans and pots. This will reduce the amount of energy needed to cook your food.

Maximise natural lighting. During the day, let the natural light in by opening curtains and blinds and closing them at dust to keep in heat.

Only run your dishwasher when there is a full load and use the energy-saving setting.

Plant a tree. A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15 percent.

Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible.

Buy fresh foods instead of frozen ones. Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.

Buy locally grown and produce foods. Buying locally will save fuel and reduce related emissions.

Buy eco-friendly products.

Walk or cycle to the corner store and back.

Be more responsible at work

• Choose laptops over desktops. Laptops consume five times less electricity.
• Support the implementation of your organisation’s environmental policy.
• Ensure that every aspect of your business operations has the least harmful effect on the environment.
• Recycle and use recycled paper.
• Turn off air-conditioners, computer and lights when you leave office.
• Maximise natural lighting. During the day, let the natural light in by opening your office blinds.
• Use tele-conferencing facilities. By utilising technology you can reduce your need to travel to meetings especially flying.
• Educate others and keep them aware about the environmental impact of their business operations.

Going green when travelling

• Reduce your car use. Use your car emissions by using public transport or car-pooling.
• Change your driving habits. You can save a lot of money and fuel by avoiding harsh braking and accelerating. Check your tyre pressure regularly and cut down on air-conditioning, open a window instead and get some fresh air.
• Park in shady areas when possible. This will minimize the los of fuel due to evaporation.
• Service your vehicle regularly. This will save you fuel cost and reduce emissions.
• Make sue that your tyres are properly inflated. Under-inflated tyres can cause fuel consumption to increase.

Source: iafrica.com

Kylie Minogue has been voted the female celeb people would most like to have over for dinner.

The Australian pop star beat the likes of Nigella Lawson and Cheryl Cole, winning 23 per cent of the votes in a poll of ideal dinner guests carried out by Arniston Bay wines.

Domestic goddess Nigella received 19 per cent of the votes, followed by The X Factor’s Cheryl with 16 per cent.

The least popular female dinner guest was Katie Price, who only got three per cent.

Nelson Mandela topped the list of ideal male dinner guests with 32 per cent of the votes. He beat Brad Pitt and David Beckham to take the top spot.

Barney Davis from Arniston Bay said: “The ultimate desert island dish is a steak dinner with Kylie and Nelson Mandela as guests, listening to classical music and drinking Chenin Chardonnay. Perfect!”

Source: thisisbristol.co.uk

The second most populated country in the world, India, are predicted  to become one of the giants in the intentional wine markets. With more than 1 billion people this market is attracting attention from all the mayor wine producing counties.

South Africa is a relatively small player in the international wine market and is only the ninth biggest producer of wine. But the South Africa is making inroads into the Indian market according to Wines of  South Africa (WOSA).

WOSA,  the body promoting the export of South African  wine, says the main potential market is India’s growing middle class with about 1.5-million Indians taking to wine drinking.

Andre Morgenthal, spokesman for Wines of South Africa, said about 700000 litres of locally produced wine was exported to India last year. This represents a 44% growth on 2007 figures. Morgenthal said about 20 local companies exported between 30 to 40 wine labels to India.

Morgenthal said despite the healthy growth, South African wine was not as well represented in India compared to other international markets.

Mark Lester, the business development manager of the company of wine peopleTM added that this market has a lot of challenges.

Lester said: “Realistically the South African wine category has a great deal of work to do in this market, despite the positive statistics presented in recent years relating to growth of wine or the sheer potential size of this untapped market. The South African category is miniscule compared to the more established wine producing nations such as France or Italy, whom have truly made in-roads into this market by supporting their generic marketing bodies in a big way, not only to promote their wine category, but also to introduce wine appreciation to a consumer who is predominantly new to the fruit of the vine.”

Lester added that further market barriers such as the ever changing customs duty on wine, especially in noticeable wine consuming states, further poses a challenge to those wishing to import their wines. In essence therefore, one must not ignore the potential of this market, however one must also not underestimate what is required to succeed here. Shared common threads such as our historical colonial past, our cultural links to the sub-continent and relationships forged by co-hosting a tournament such as the IPL, should however give us the inside lane to what incredible India has to offer.

Source: thetimes.co.za

The Stellenbosch Wine Festival, which takes place from 30 July to 2 August at the Paul Roos Centre, is eager to give something back to the community by aiding welfare organisations in the area.   Stellenbosch Child Welfare, Stellenbosch Animal Welfare and the Clover Mama Afrika project will each receive funds raised at the festival from concerts and demonstrations.

The preceding Wine Week kicks off on 24 July with a Concert-in-the-Cellar, where Lize Beekman, renowned musician and songwriter will entertain the crowd at Delheim Wine Estate. The gourmet evening starts at 19h00 and includes a delicious meal, exceptional wines and great entertainment at only R280 per person. Funds raised from ticket sales will go to the Stellenbosch Child Welfare.

Animal lovers can support the Stellenbosch Animal Welfare Dinner, which takes place on Friday, 24 July, at Clos Malverne Wine Estate. The evening, hosted by Middelvlei, Stellekaya and Clos Malverne, includes an unforgettable three-course dinner, a wine auction and live music at only R200 per person – all for a good cause.

The Clover Demonstration Kitchen is getting their pans dirty for the Clover Mama Afrika project by selling raffle tickets, which give festival goers a chance to win a Clover hamper at each demonstration. Last year, the Clover Mama Afrika project managed to raise R33,000 which made the building of a bakery possible. With exciting themes such as Kaas is Baas, Magical Mushrooms, Hot-Love-In-Here and Clover with Kids, the Clover Demonstration Kitchen is definitely one stop not to be missed.

The Stellenbosch Wine Festival will display a special selection of over 500 wines and gourmet delights from 170 top exhibitors all under one roof. It comes as no surprise that the festival also provides charitable organisations with a platform to create more awareness for their cause and projects. This year, the Anna Foundation that assists disadvantaged schools and communities, and Charity Wines, who raise funds for charities relating to Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, will each showcase their organisations.

The Pebbles Project that is focused on enriching the lives of children with special educational needs, will run the Kiddies Care Service, available on Saturday and Sunday at the festival. They will also be organising a toy-drive on these two days and are appealing to kids to bring along a new toy to be donated to a crèche, which will help other children to learn communication skills, hand-eye coordination, numeric skills and assist in their creative development.

The Stellenbosch Wine Festival is a popular destination for both local and international visitors and has become an ongoing tradition during the winter months in Stellenbosch.

For more info visit: wine.co.za

The Salomon Featherbed Trail Run is a new cult event at the Knysna Oyster Festival.

Featherbed Nature Reserve is an iconic attraction for Knysna and the Garden Route – and although it’s been open to the public for twenty five years, this was the first time it’s opened its gates to an organised sporting event. Before the race, owner William Smith said that it was important to know that “we’re working with people who are sensitive to the ecology, who understand the problem and who aren’t out to grab.”

The runners themselves raved about the course and winner, Piet Jacobs (a 2:17 marathoner who took the Featherbed title in a blistering 49:14), said “my race went according to plan – I went really hard up the hills because my legs were still hurting a little bit from Sunday’s Night Run. I wanted to take it easy if I could on the down-hills and I knew that if I was in front in the last section the race would probably be mine because I come from a road running background.”

Deon Braun, publisher of Go Multi Magazine, personally took part in the race and said, “I found it varied, I found it very interesting, I think there was a lot of thought that went into it and I think it would suit a lot of runners.

Coelacanth Trail Run : 13 km.

The longer 13km Coelacanth Route will take you through incredible vistas including views across to the sheer cliffs of the Eastern Head, and out beyond the Indian Ocean to Buffalo Bay. Be prepared to be challenged by some hill work as you climb up from sea level to take in the splendour on the ridge line above the   Heads. Some well earned relief on the downhill into Lake Brenton and along the currently unused Outeniqua Choo Choo railway bridge to the Finish Line back at the Featherbed Paddle Steamer Jetty/Cruise Cafe.

Seahorse Trail Run : 8 km

The shorter 8km Seahorse Route takes a more direct line to the finish, but also enjoys breathtaking views across the Knysna Lagoon as you look over at Leisure Isle, Thesen Islands, the Knysna Waterfront and the historical Knysna Yacht Club. There is also a fair share of challenging hill work to make this a run to remember. The Seahorse route joins up with the Coelacanth Trail in Lake Brenton to share the same dash across the Outeniqua Choo Choo railway bridge to finish back at the Featherbed Paddle Steamer Jetty /Cruise Cafe.

For more info visit: magneticsouth

The Knysna Oyster Festival is supposed to be “the best 10 days of your winter”, according to the organisers, but in the days running up to the festival it felt like they’d chosen the worst 10 days of the year.

And then, after days of howling wind, driving rain and grey skies, the clouds went away, the wind dropped and the festival started living up to its hype.

Now in its 26th year, the Knysna Oyster Festival attracts visitors from far and wide to enjoy the fruits of the town’s famous lagoon.

If the economic downturn has badly affected the hospitality industry, it has not made much of an impression on the festival, which has drawn an even greater number of bookings than in the past.

Knysna’s head of tourism Shawn van Eck said: “We are bound to feel the pinch eventually, but so far interest in the festival continues to grow.”

Entries for the accompanying events, the Knysna Forest Marathon and the mountain bike race, have increased by 10 percent on last year’s figures.

Festival organiser Nicci Rousseau said an effort was being made to spread the attendance over all the days of the festival, rather than over the weekends.

“Our aim this year is to push the midweek events. Historically, the two weekends of the festival have always been busy, so our goal is to encourage our visitors to extend their stay in Knysna through the week.”

One of the highlights is the oyster-eating competition at the Long Barn. Best known for its pub meals, the Long Barn lays on oysters by the thousands for contestants who see how many they can get to slither down their throats.

But if form is anything to go by, they are all swallowing in vain if they think can beat local police captain Michelle Lesch, who has won the contest for the past 10 years and will be back to defend her title on Thursday.

Lesch explains she has a technique where she slices through the muscle and sucks out the oyster in one swift movement. She admits she does not feel “too well” the day after her feat but says she is back eating them after a few days.

There is also wide interest in the Oyster and Wine Mardi Gras, which has been held for the past three years. It takes place on Wednesday, and entry is limited to 800.

Event director Gino Adriaensen said there would be more than 15 000 oysters and 300 litres of wine, including French champagne, for consumption by guests.

Included in the night event is an oyster cooking contest which involves up to 25 local chefs preparing cooked oysters for a crowd of about 800.

Last year the best oyster dish was awarded to George restaurant Tarragons for its light and refreshing Oyster with a Twist.

Down at the Knysna Oyster Company, they are preparing for an influx of visitors who are going to suction up hundreds of thousands of oysters.

Any doubts as to whether there will be enough to go around are put aside by Patrick Ngele, who conducts daily tours of the factory, where visitors can see the process of turning tiny seeds into fully- grown oysters.

At any one time there are millions of oysters being cultivated in the lagoon.

The seeds, or spats, are imported from France and Chile and left in the lagoon to grow.

While the oyster festival is mainly about eating oysters, the art of opening them is also the subject of a contest.

Tabasco Sauce sponsors an oyster shucking contest. The record is held by an employee of the Knysna Oyster Company, Eleki Ngcwangu, who managed to shuck 30 oysters in one minute and 39 seconds, an achievement that won him the world title for shucking at a contest in Ireland in 2006.

The high winds and sweeping rain of recent weeks have dampened spirits, but they also posed a temporary problem when it came to erecting the huge marquee in which many of the events are to be held.

Picca du Bruin, who heads the logistics for the events at said it was a bit like raising the sails of a large boat at sea.

Source: tonight.co.za

Ten days of extravagance and beauty await you at the annual Pick ‘n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival – 3 to 11 July – as the streets of Thesen Island become a taste adventure just waiting to be shucked. But it will be all the sweeter if you head for the hotspots, which I had the privilege of uncovering during my most recent secret-season visit.

“So where exactly are these hotspots?” I hear you asking.

Well, some of the eateries I’ve identified for their affordability of this fine delicacy include 34′ South and the Knysna Oyster Company. The former because it doubles-up as what has been described as the ‘finest wine shop this side of the grape curtain’ and the latter because it is renowned for being not only the oldest, but also the biggest oyster farm in South Africa.

Take a look at what is waiting for you at this year’s festival…

Your biggest dilemma: selecting between cultivated or wild oysters.

My best piece of advice is arm yourself with as much self-control as you can muster and get ready to enjoy this sumptuous aphrodisiac. Otherwise, ignore the looks from your companions and make the most of it. Gorging might never again be this fashionable.

As you mollusc away to your hearts’ delight, don’t forget to take in the town’s other draw cards, some of which have been cleverly incorporated into the festival.

Heads Up A visit to Knysna without a cruise on the lagoon is like enjoying an oyster without a bit of champers on the side. And brand new to this year’s celebration is the Whisky and Jazz Cruise.

Boasting Knysna’s own Jazz Quartet, it’s an opportunity to enjoy some sweet rhythms while sipping various international whiskies as you cruise the lagoon to the Heads and back. Having had just a taste of this a few weeks ago, it’s sure to go large.

Super-duper scuba If you’re brave enough to embrace the lagoon temperatures, book a scuba-diving experience with Hippo Dive Campus at the Knysna Heads. It’s an opportunity to explore the inner or rather under-workings of the sea, you might even be lucky enough to spot what could be the lagoons biggest octopus – or so I’ve been told.

Unwind on the hill Wind your way up to the exclusive Pezula Resort Hotel & Spa, where you can expect to indulge in a 45 minute massage. An experience equivalent only to the first time you tasted an oyster: delicate and painfully pleasurable.

Mardi Gras munching Another exciting event to consider is the popular Oyster and Wine Mardi Gras. Previously known as the Oyster Cooking Competition, ticket-holders (at R175.00 per person) get to taste a combination of 25 different oysters prepared by a selection of Knysna’s top chefs competing for the prize of first place.

Your palette will only be subjected to the very best. Mine certainly was.

Tuk-tuk shuck Want the skinny on this Garden Route town? Then hop on Mr Bertie Dewberry’s Thai looking tuk-tuk. What’s so quaint about this fast-paced tour is Dewberry himself.

He prides himself on his local knowledge so much so that he is able to point out a house across the gorge, name the owners and the number of rooms inside before offering a personal tour of the mansion itself.

Work it baby! The Knysna sun seems to give of her very best even in the month of July; nothing like the Cape Town winter currently undergo – useful to know for those in doubt of the fest’s physical, outdoor events.

Look out for the Feather Bed Trail Run or the Nando’s Knysna Lagoon Challenge: yes, to be executed in the lagoon. Participants have to paddle to Thesen Island, the Waterfront and the Knysna Quays.

To add to the fun there is the Salomon Adventure Nights/Petzl Night Run on Saturday the 4 July at 3pm. Armed only with a headlamp, the aim is for the teams to race against the clock on a combo of ‘Marked and Rally style routes’ – in the dark!

Designed to test both novice and pro athlete, you’ll use your personal Route Book to navigate visited strategically located checkpoints throughout the course as you make your way to the finish. Night running: another world of dynamics…

This just happens to be a selection of the many events on offer, guaranteeing a holiday break of extravagant pleasure filled with laughter and not forgetting mouthfuls of tantalising oysters.

Buon Appétit!

Source: gotravel24.com

More than 700 “controlled drinking zones” have been set up across England, giving police sweeping powers to confiscate beer and wine from anyone enjoying a quiet outdoor tipple.

Local authorities are introducing the zones at a rate of 100 a year. Some cover whole cities, a radical departure from what the law intended.

Once a control zone is in place, police can seize alcohol from anyone who is not on licensed premises, even if the bottles or cans are unopened. Although drinking is not banned in the zones, police can ask anyone to stop drinking and it is an offence to refuse, punishable by a maximum £500 fine. No explanation or suspicion that the person could be a public nuisance is required. The highest fine will soon rise to £2,500.

Campaigners say that if the rapid spread of the zones is not halted it will soon be impossible to find anywhere to have a picnic or outdoor drink on a summer’s evening.

It will be crying shame if you cannot enjoy a glass of wine with a picnic.

From: timesonline

Long dismissed by certain purists, boxed wine is now getting a thumbs-up, of sorts, from the realm of science.

One type of cardboard packaging, according to a new study, is better than any cork or screw-cap when it comes to reducing an unpleasant “green” taste that strikes some wines.

This taste may come from one of two sources, said Gary J. Pickering, senior author of the study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Either the wine was made from unripe grapes, or the grapes were infested with a species of ladybug.

For some reason the researchers can’t explain, wines stored in Tetra Pak-brand cartons had the lowest levels of these unwanted chemicals, called methoxypyrazines.

One possibility, Pickering said, is that the chemicals escape through the carton’s innermost layer, made of polyethylene, and then attach to an adjacent layer made of aluminum foil.

On the downside, the boxes were not so good at preserving wine from oxidation over long periods, said Pickering, a professor of wine science at Brock University in Ontario.

The best storage method for preventing that problem, the study found, was a bottle sealed with a screw-cap – which, like the cardboard carton, has some connoisseurs wrinkling their refined noses.

Pickering says perhaps there is some hybrid approach that will borrow the best elements of each wine-storage method.

The benefit of using cartons was a surprise to one winemaster, who works for a member of a trade group that helped fund the study.

“I personally am not a fan” of boxes, says Marc Bradshaw, of Pillitteri Estates Winery in Ontario. “I like to think of myself as more of a traditionalist.”

Yet even Bradshaw started using screw-caps on a few of the vineyard’s wines last year. The reaction?

“There was somewhat of a backlash,” he says.

Source: philly.com

It’s been hardly a decade since the long-maligned metal screw cap started appearing on quality wines, and during that short time, many wine enthusiasts have moved from snobbish rejection to closer analysis and on, for many, to enthusiastic acceptance of a wine bottle closure that cannot impart cork “taint.”

Now get ready for the next big thing: With consumers, manufacturers and governments world-wide looking much more closely at the “carbon footprint” of consumer goods in an age of environmental concerns and rising fuel costs, the glass wine bottle is coming under critical scrutiny.

“Glass is one of the heavier packaging materials, which has made wineries investigate alternatives,” reporter Jo Burzynska wrote last month in The New Zealand Herald. Just as wine makers Down Under were first to embrace alternative closures, this same region – around the world from export markets in North America and Europe – may take the lead in ditching glass in favour of lightweight wine containers.

South African wine producers were the industry leaders in this field and the wine pouch were one of the first environmentally friendly packaging solutions.

Developed at some cost by the company of wine peopleTM the pouch was a world first in terms of eco- friendly packaging.

The pouch offers an environmentally friendly solution to wine packaging, creating 80% less environmental impact from cradle to grave than the equivalent volume in glass bottles, 90% less waste and takes up less space in a landfill than two glass bottles. It is also 20 times lighter than a wine bottle and preserves the wine for up to a month once opened.

Sources: wineloverspage.com

A new independently published wine guide, The People’s Wine Guide, lists 600 wines and features “blind tasting” to ensure impartiality. It’s aimed at those who buy wine from supermarkets and liquor chains, and is written in everyday language.

Tasting for the first edition of The People’s Wine Guide, commenced recently in Cape Town’s The Nose Wine Bar. The 600 wines were submitted by wineries from throughout the country for the judges’ scrutiny. Their views will be made public when The People’s Wine Guide hits the bookshelves in September.

According to Neil Pendock, who is writing the book in conjunction with wine author and former restaurateur Michael Olivier, the guide aims to assist consumers in their selections, as well as highlight the tremendous diversity and excellent quality of wines found in supermarkets at reasonable prices.

“Most of the media, and other guides, tend to focus on the merits of wines made in limited quantities that carry price tags out of the reach of most and are also not readily available to the public,” said Pendock.

Not a “lofty tome”

“The People’s Wine Guide is exactly that: a guide for members of the average wine-buying public instead of a lofty tome full of wine-speak focusing on the so-called wine expert. The wines they have become familiar with through their supermarket purchases, as well as a couple of exciting new discoveries made by lesser-known producers will be incorporated. The writing style, layout and general tone of the book will be just as accessible as the price and quality of the wines reviewed.”

Pendock said that tasting for the guide is blind, meaning that the judges are not privy to the relevant wine in their glass.

“This allows us to make a true independent judgement without prejudice or subjective views, something that has been proven to sway tasters’ opinions,” he added.

Wine sales increasing

Olivier, who is also a former wine and food consultant to Pick n Pay, says that the amount of wine sold in supermarkets is increasing on a monthly basis.

“With the selection of wines available to supermarket shoppers increasing, it has become necessary for a guide aimed at helping them wade their way through the aisles,” he said. “And just as these shoppers have unique needs in their wine purchases, a guide is needed to assist them with their selections.”

Besides Pendock and Olivier, the tasters are Norma Ratcliffe, winemaker and proprietor of Warwick Wine Estate, Cathy Marston, former owner of The Nose Wine Bar, sommelier David Msebi and Portuguese winemaker and commentator Aníbal Coutinho.

Source: bizcommunity.com

Feeling the pressure of the economic downturn, South Africans are tightening their budgets and cutting out unnecessary expenses. However, alcohol which is a luxury item is still very high on the priority list for most people.

The Nielson Global Consumer Confidence Index saw South Africans’ consumer confidence dropping to its lowest level yet , with 15% of people saying that they have no spare cash at the end of the month – and the 41% that do say they use it to pay off their debts and credit cards.

With these stats, surely South Africans should be cutting luxuries like alcohol straight off the shopping list?

This doesn’t seem to be the case:

Pick ‘n Pay’s food merchandise director Paul Connellan was quoted saying: ” When consumers have less discretionary income per month, goods such as alcohol and tobacco are recession-resistant and perform well.”

Proving this further SAB managing director, Tony van Kralingen says, “The beer market has historically been resilient in tough economic times and it is likely to perform similarly in the current economic climate,”

He goes on to say, “We see sustainable opportunities in the premium market, even though the sector’s growth rate has softened more recently.” SABMiller recently introduced two new beers to the SA market, Grolsch and Dreher Premium Lager. SAB recorded a 6% growth rate in line with last year.

Is this a uniquely South African phenomenon? America, who has undoubtedly been hit very hard by the recession, is reporting the same thing. As Americans face tougher times from a slowing economy, they are consuming more alcohol, Reuters reported Jan. 12. Clearly, people need to hang on to remnants of their ‘normal’ lives in times of crisis.

The questions are clear, is alcohol an untouchable commodity? Do we need to prioritise our expenditure? In tough times people need to find relief and it seems that people will always find a way to fund what they enjoy doing, whether it means changing from their favourite to a cheaper brand or cutting down on their consumption.

Source: bondbusters.co.za bondbusters.co.za <a/>

Here are some useful ‘green tips’ to mark World Environment Week (1 – 5 June).

Truly “greening” yourself involves fundamental changes and some deep thinking about how you consume and pollute. But if you aren’t quite up for that yet, then ease into it with some low-key lifestyle tweaking. Here’s some easy tips for this week that you can do (or at least start doing) within five minutes of reading them:

Spring-clean your closet once a year

Somewhere, deep in the lizard brain of all of us, is an instinct to hold on to the most unbelievable pile of rubbish on the off chance that “it might come in useful some day”.

One of the best activities you can do for your personal space and your own peace of mind is to filter your closet once a year.

By all means put aside your school rugby top, the bow tie from your Matric dance and your lucky kilt, but anything else that you haven’t worn in the last year can safely be given away with no more than a moment’s panic.

Keeping your cupboards filled with piles of unused items isn’t only wasteful, it’s selfish too. And if you’re really struggling with the emotional side of things, sell your unwanted stuff for a nominal amount and buy something tangible like a new tree with the cash. – Simon Gear

Roll up your sleeves

An excellent remedy for despair about the global environmental crisis is to get your hands dirty on the frontlines, where you can see the benefit of your direct actions: chopping through an alien stem, cleaning an oil-slicked feather.

The mass whale stranding this weekend at Kommetjie showed that South Africans are crazy about nature and wildlife, and only too willing to put their time and energies into trying to save it. But if you’re going to volunteer, make sure you’re actually helping effectively and not hindering relief efforts such as this.

Instead of leaping into well-meaning but potentially counter-productive action when something big happens, rather join a volunteer organisation that appeals to you before the time, and be prepared to learn the ropes so that you’re best placed and suitably skilled to make a real difference.

We have a wealth of green-hued volunteer initiatives in this country to choose from. Here are a few ideas:

• National Sea Rescue Institute (stations along the coast, and some inland waters): for hands-on rescuing of people and marine animals, you need to undergo rigorous 6-month training.
• Volunteer Wildfire Services (Cape Town and environs): again, active duty on the fireline requires 6 months of skills training and physical fitness.
• Honorary Rangers, South African National Parks: senior and junior rangers contribute to conservation efforts in national parks nationwide.

Source: health24.com

Top winemakers, wine experts and chefs will be in Joburg for the Wine Show Joburg, running from 29 to 31 May at Gallagher Estate in Midrand.

Exhibitors who have booked to be at the show include vineyards Vriesenhof, Arniston Bay, Kumkani, Versus, Bellingham and Annandale Shiraz, and the Cape Wine Academy. While most of the exhibitors have been at the show before, new names are also appearing, including Ken Forrester, KWV and Nederburg.

The celebrities are out in force at this years Show, too! On Saturday you can sip delicious Versus wines with the big man Vernon Koekemoer himself. Vernon is on Versus’ stand from 2pm until 5pm on Saturday May 30th.

“The Cape Wine Academy participated for the first time in 2008,” said Marilyn Cooper, the managing director of the institution. At the Wine Show Joburg, it was able to “reach a particularly special person, who is usually knowledgeable about wine and keen to learn more”.

The academy is an educational and training body that promotes awareness and appreciation of South African wine. It was founded in 1979 in Stellenbosch.

In all, there will be 130 stands, where wine can be tasted and bought from the vineyards and distributors; punters can also learn more about the drink and viniculture.

Besides wine tasting, top chefs will take part in the Friends for dinner theatre, on Friday from 6.30pm, on Saturday from 12.30pm and again on Sunday from 12.30pm. Participants will learn about food and wine pairing and get the hottest entertaining tips.

Chefs at the show will include Jonathan Duiker from Melrose Arch Hotel, who will team up with Arumdale Wines and Bilton Wines; and Debi van Flyman from Cullinary Productions, who will team up with the Cape Wine Academy.

And it’s not all food and drink – there is boules and golf too, with cases of wine up for grabs.

There will also be an exclusive vintage tasting, called the Whole Nine Yards, with wines going back to 1909. Hosted by sommelier Jörg Pfützner, it will take place on 29 May at 7pm and costs R8 900 per person – and there are only 12 tickets.

This price includes full weekend passes to the Wine Show Joburg. Booking is essential, and must be done through Natalie Campbell natalie@wineshow.co.zaThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Tickets for this exclusive tasting are not available at Computicket.

Wines that will be tasted include the 1909 Armagnac, the iconic 1919 Corton Hotel St Petersburg, a 1929 Cos d’Estournel and a Meursault from 1969, according to the show’s website.

Over the past years, creative ways have been devised to use the wine show as an opportunity to raise funds for charity; this year is no different. Organisers worked hand in hand with Getpix Images and Photographic Academy to launch a competition themed Wine laid bare.

For a R50 entry fee, amateur and professional photographers will be able to submit their photographs interpreting the theme. The cash will be donated to breast cancer awareness and research. The best entries will be exhibited at the show.

Judges from Getpix will choose the 12 best entries that will feature in a charity calendar. Sold for R100 each, the calendars will be available at the show.

The Wine Show Joburg runs from Friday, 29 May to Sunday, 31 May at Gallagher Estate in Midrand. Doors are open from 5pm to 9pm on the opening night, from noon to 9pm on Saturday and from noon to 6pm on the final day.

Source: joburg.org.za

Beer will help my bones but shrink my brain. Which should I sacrifice, wonders Michael Deacon

For years I’ve tried to hide it but at last I must confess: I have a problem. It’s my drinking. And I’m terribly worried. Either I’m drinking too much – or I’m not drinking enough.

So science tells me, at any rate. Seemingly every week sees the publication of new research into the effects on health of alcohol consumption – and each set of results appears to contradict the last. Last week it was reported that drinking half a glass of wine a day adds five years to your life. Excellent, I’ll stick at it.

But hang on. Does that override the results published in February that said one small glass of wine a day increases the risk of throat cancer? I’m ashamed to say I didn’t study science beyond GCSE level but my understanding is that cancer tends to shorten your lifespan, rather than lengthen it.

Then again, in November, research showed that a substance found in red wine could help to mend damaged backs. Great news. But while I’m sinking red wine to sort out my back, I’m simultaneously increasing my risk of heart failure (according to research from last February). Beer will help my bones (March) but shrink my brain (May 2007). Oh dear: which is more important to me, my skeleton or my mind? I wonder which one I should sacrifice to save the other.

Drinking wine improves the memory (December). But drinking wine weakens the memory (October).

It’s all too difficult. Perhaps I should give up booze altogether. Wait a minute, can’t do that: giving up booze can lead to depression (last July).

Following the results of scientists’ research can be stressful. They are medical experts, after all, and I am not, so I dutifully obey each new set of instructions. One week I can’t get the stuff down my neck fast enough, the next I’m recoiling from the bottle as if it contained a cocktail of polonium-210 and anthrax spores mixed by a Mexican pig. I don’t know whether I’m coming or going, and not only because half the time, on what are practically doctors’ orders, I’m leathered. It’s enough to drive a man to drink.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

Wine is the preferred alcoholic drink for consumers in the UK, according to a survey commissioned by the Wine and Spirit Trade Association.

The survey, published to coincide with this week’s London International Wine Fair, saw white wine emerge as the number one drink of choice, the WSTA said on Saturday (9 May).

According to the survey, which was carried out by research group Wine Intelligence, one in three (34%) UK consumers who drink alcohol said they prefer wine, compared to just over one in four (27%) who expressed a preference for beer and one in five (20%) who prefer spirits.

Asked to name what they drink, over half (54%) of all UK adults said they drink white wine, with 48% saying beer and 47% saying red wine.  Rosé wine is next in the league table with over a third (35%) saying they drink it.

When alcohol drinkers were asked to specify why they like certain drinks, they put wine top in terms of taste (77%), as a relaxing drink without food (75%) and good with food (89%).  Beer comes top as the drink for outdoor occasions (75%), just ahead of wine (69%).

Brian Howard, of Wine Intelligence, said: “This survey provides the most up-to-date and possibly the most comprehensive picture of who drinks what across alcohol categories in the UK. One thing is clear: wine is a strong and stable fixture in UK adult social life.”

Source: just-drinks.com

CAT’S pee and sweaty passion fruit are hardly flavours to make your mouth water but it seems Kiwis can’t get enough of them.

Pure NZ Sauvignon Blanc

These are the core aromas of New Zealand’s world-leading Sauvignon Blanc, according to a six-year study by a team of wine scientists.

The team spent more than $12m defining the flavours of the country’s most popular grape variety, which has a unique flavour and character that has captured the world’s interest.

They concluded it was a winning combination of sweet, sweaty passion fruit, asparagus, and cat’s pee.

The tests were carried out by an expert sensory panel trained to distinguish between sixteen flavours, including canned and fresh asparagus, stone fruit, apple and snowpeas.

A wine region called Wairarapa, near the capital of Wellington, was found to be the top spot for cat’s pee influences in the white wine.

Sauvignon Blanc in the celebrated South Island wine region of Marlborough had an intense “sweet, sweaty passion fruit” and asparagus flavour, a flavour a panel of ordinary wine drinkers ranked their favourite.

Plant & Food science research leader Dr Roger Harker said wine connoisseurs routinely describe wine using the terms such as cat’s pee and capsicum and now the market place was also catching on.

One winery, Cooper’s Creek, had already caught on, calling its Sauvignon Blanc Cat’s Pee on a Gooseberry Bush.

Sue Blackmore, a wine science lecturer at New Zealand’s Lincoln University, said the flavours were only found in moderation.

“We’re talking about parts per billion, very tiny amounts to make the wine more complexing and interesting,” Blackmore said.

“If you had a whole lot of the compounds that give you cat’s pee it obviously wouldn’t be great but it’s amazing what a little can do.”

One wine retailer said New Zealanders would not be fazed by the unsavoury associations in their favourite wine.

“Most wouldn’t stop to think about it,” he said.

“Most people drink purely for enjoyment – they don’t stop to analyse the wine.”

My question is:  “How do they know how cat pee tastes like?”

Source: www.theaustralian.news.com

Our next Market Day Sale will take place at Welmoed Cellar Door on Friday 8 May and Saturday 9 May 2009.

Here is the list of wines that will be promotion this weekend:

• -Thandi Chardonnay/Chenin Blanc 2007 @ R 16.00 per bottle (Case lots only – R 96.00)
• -Kumkani Chenin Blanc (Barrel fermented) 2006 @ R 10.00 per bottle (Case lots only – R 60.00)
• -Bergschaduw Ruby Cab/Cinsaut @ R 10.00 per bottle (Case lots only – R 60.00)
• -Arniston Bay Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 @ R 12.00 per bottle (Case lots only 12x750ml – R 144.00)
• -Thandi Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 @ R 12.00 per bottle (Case lots only – R 72.00)
• -Thandi Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 @ R 12.00 per bottle (Case lots only – R 72.00)
• -Welmoed 4-Packs @ R 59.95
• -Arniston Bay The Tides Range @ less 20%

Prince Charles has converted his vintage Aston Martin car, given to him on his 21st birthday by Queen Elizabeth II, to run on English wine, a spokesperson said.

The move, part of the prince’s green drive to reduce by 12.5% his carbon footprint up to 2012, was announced in a recent report released on the royal’s activities. And according to the report, the prince, an keen advocate of the environment, has already reduced his carbon emissions by 18%.

Sir Michael Peat, the prince’s chief aide, called the conversion a “symbolic role” saying: “Charles only travelled two or three hundred miles a year in the Aston but he wanted it to be environmentally friendly. It just happened that our bioethanol supplier makes the fuel from surplus English wine.”

The classic 1970 Aston Martin Volante convertible is usually only driven in the summer, having an annual mileage of around 300 miles (480 km).

The prince’s other cars, including Jaguars, Audis and Range Rovers, are entirely powered by cooking oil.

The annual report on the Prince of Wales said: “When their Royal Highnesses are travelling in the UK the aim is to reduce emissions through greater use of cars, trains, and turbo-prop aircraft. In accepting and arranging engagements more consideration is being given to reducing travel distances.”

The prince’s carbon emissions do not include the highly criticized Royal Air Force flights taken by his son Prince William at the British taxpayers’ expense. According to The Guardian newspaper, William flew a military helicopter to his girlfriend’s home, his father’s house, as well as to a stag party in southern England.

The Ministry of Defense said all flights were part of the prince’s training, while admitting that there may have been an element of “naivety” in their planning.

 Source: portalino.it

South African eateries have proven that they can compete with the best in the world. Two Cape restaurants have made the coveted San Pellgrino World’s Top 50 Restaurants list.

Le Quartier Francais

The splendid Franschhoek Restaurant, Le Quartier Francais, was judged to be the Best Restaurant in Africa and the Middle East. This restaurant climbed 13 places this year and obtained the 37th spot on the San Pellgrino list.

Cape Town’s pride and joy, La Colombe, took the 38th position. This is proof that the standards of South Africa’s fine cuisine is up there with rest of the world.

 Here is the Top 50 list

 1 El Bulli, Spain (1) 2 The Fat Duck, UK (2) 3 Noma, Denmark (10) 4 Mugaritz, Spain (4) 5 El Celler de Can Roca, Spain (26) 6 Per Se, US (6) 7 Bras, France (7) 8 Arzak, Spain (8) 9 Pierre Gagnaire, France (3) 10 Alinea, US (21) 11 L’Astrance, France (11) 12 The French Laundry, US (5) 13 Osteria Francescana, Italy (new entry) 14 St. John, UK (16) 15 Le Bernardin, US (20) 16 Restaurant de l’Hotel de Ville, Switzerland (27) 17 Tetsuya’s, Australia (9) 18 L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, France (14) 19 Jean Georges, US (17) 20 Les Creations de Narisawa, Japan (new entry) 21 Chez Dominique, Finland (39) 22 Ristorante Cracco, Italy (43) 23 Die Schwarzwaldstube, Germany (35) 24 D.O.M., Brazil (40) 25 Vendome, Germany (34) 26 Hof van Cleve, Belgium (28) 27 Masa, US (re-entry) 28 Gambero Rosso, Italy (12) 29 Oud Sluis, Netherlands (42) 30 Steirereck, Austria (new entry) 31 Momofuku Ssam Bar, US (new entry) 32 Oaxen Skargardskrog, Sweden (48) 33 Martin Berasategui, Spain (29) 34 Nobu, UK (30) 35 Mirazur, France (new entry) 36 Hakkasan, UK (19) 37 Le Quartier Francais, South Africa (50) 38 La Colombe, South Africa (re-entry) 39 Asador Etxbarri, Spain (44) 40 Le Chateaubriand, France (new entry) 41 Daniel, US (41) 42 Combal Zero, Italy (re-entry) 43 Le Louis XV, France (15) 44 Tantris, Germany (47) 45 Iggy’s, Singapore (new entry) 46 Quay, Australia (new entry) 47 Les Ambassadeurs, France (45) 48 Dal Pescatore, Italy (23) 49 Le Calandre, Italy ( 36) 50 Mathias Dahlgren, Sweden (new entry)

Source: food24.com

Back in 2001, Leonard Lauder, then the chairman of the cosmetic giant Estée Lauder, described the relationship between the state of the economy and the sale of cosmetics. After September 11, he noticed the sales of lipstick jumped higher and suggested that the sale of lipstick was a good measure of the health of the economy; when the economy was down, people bought more lipstick. He dubbed this phenomenon the “Lipstick Index”

Similarly, during the Great Depression, it had been found that cosmetic sales increased despite the enormous reduction in disposable income.  During World War II, lipstick sales were on the increase; whether that indicated difficult economic times or just the availability of non-rationed, desirable, and affordable products is difficult to determine.

Some fashion aficionados, on the other hand, suggest that it is the hemline of dresses, whether they are long or short, that indicate the state of the economy instead of lipstick sales. Sports enthusiasts suggest that which team wins the Super Bowl is a predictor of economic times.

The origin of the “Lipstick Index” – being observed and coined by a cosmetic company who would clearly derive marketing benefits from its acceptance and popularity – does incite scepticism and doubt about its reliability; yet, the concept of people enjoying an affordable product during difficult economic times does resonate as a logical conclusion.

Noted wine consultant, Jan Fredrikson, finds that people are trading down to less expensive wines that they consider of value.

When looking at the cost of dining out, consumers will make less risky choices and stick with grape varieties and regions they are familiar with. In South Africa, Merlots and Cabernets (or Boudreaux blends) wines are easy to recommend since they offer consistent quality at a great price and pair well with a broad range of foods.

Source: corksavvy.com

The Platter Wine Guide is not opposed to blind tasting as a wine evaluating method. This is according to the Philip van Zyl, editor of the popular South African John Platter Wine Guide.

Van Zyl made these remarks at Platter’s open discussion forum which was held in Somerset West on Thursday 16 April. This forum was initiated by the editor and publishers of the Platter guide after its tasting methods, objectivity and transparency came under public scrutiny by wine writers such as Neil Pendock. Public interest in the contentious issue was immense and more than 220 people working in the wine industry attended the forum.

Van Zyl said the guide will publish its 30th edition next year and boasting more than 1.25 million copies sold, the guide has definitely become part and parcel of the South African wine industry. He stressed that transparency, objectivity and honesty are very important to the Platter guide and therefore the forum was initiated to educate and inform the public about their tasting methods.

With reference to the blind versus sighted tasting debate, Van Zyl differentiated between sighted, blind and double blind tasting methods. He elaborated on their multi-stage tasting process and ensured that consistency plays a very important role in their evaluating and reporting process. The guide will continue to be a consumer advisory publication and sighted tasting will remain the main tasting method for future publications.

The Platter guide will taste about 6500 wines for the next edition. This vast amount of wines causes practical and logistical constraints and that is one of the reasons why blind tasting methods cannot be exclusively used to evaluate the wines. 

Van Zyl added that the guide is not against blind tasting as an evaluation method. He indicated that the guide uses blind and double blind tasting in certain cases to confirm their results. The potential Five-star and Super-quaffer wines are all tasted blind and this implies that hundreds of wines are therefore tasted blind.

I think that the huge turnout confirmed the importance and popularity of this guide and their mythologies. This guide will remain the benchmark of SA wine evaluations and consumer will still trust and act on the recommendations.

Treat your taste buds to a day in the country – Cheese lovers should diarise the weekend of 24 to 27 April 2009 when the SA Cheese Festival returns to the picturesque Bien Donné farm between Paarl and Franschhoek.

 For more info visit: sa-venues.com

It’s the perfect excuse to have another glass of Red wine  - research has shown that  drinking red wine helps you think.

Men and women did better in mental arithmetic tests after being given resveratrol, the ‘wonder ingredient’ in red wine.

It is thought that the plant chemical – said to have abilities from burning off junk food to warding off heart disease – increases blood flow to the brain. 

Northumbria University researchers set 24 healthy adults a series of tests before giving them a resveratrol pill or a dummy tablet.

When they were tested again, those that had taken resveratrol performed better, the British Psychological Society’s annual conference will hear today.

Other tests confirmed that the drug, which is found in grape skins as well as raspberries, blueberries, cranberries and peanuts, widened blood vessels, boosting the brain’s blood supply.

Other studies have linked resveratrol with fighting old age, cancer, obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.

It is also claimed that just half a glass of red wine a day can greatly cut the odds of death from heart disease.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Women buy eight out of 10 bottles of wine to drink at home, according to research.

Females are now the major buyers of wine, prompting experts to urge wine brands to cater for feminine tastes.

But the findings will fuel concerns that women are bingeing on cheap plonk in the secrecy of their own homes.

Their love affair with white wine – typified by Bridget Jones’s affection for Chardonnay – has faded. Instead 55 per cent say red is their favourite, followed by 35 per cent who favour white wine and seven per cent rose.

More than half (54 per cent) of the 1,300 British women questioned for Vinexpo said they were not put off by health warnings Some 4,306 women across the UK, France, Germany, Japan and the USA were questioned.

Source: Daily Express

Rosé wine has become increasingly more popular in the UK and is now officially part of the UK’s inflation basket.

This “inflation basket” serves as an general indication of  the typical basket of goods of UK consumers. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) uses this basket  to monitor inflation.

The list is reviewed annually to ensure it represents consumer spending with changes made for reasons ranging from improved technology to popularity.

Other products that have also been added to the basket includes hot cooked chicken and online DVD orders. The items leaving the list include boxes of wine and rentals from DVD stores.  

The ONS indicated  that hot cooked chicken has been added to the list to represent the increasing market for hot take away food, freshly prepared in supermarkets

The inclusion of rosé wine follows a boom in sales to young women in the 25-45 year old age bracket.

Sales of the pink wine rose from £114 million in 2002, less than 3 per cent of the wine market, to £200 million in 2005, nearly 7 per cent of the wine market.

It seems that Rosé wine is truly the “flavour of the month”. The increase in the sales and the subsequent market share improvement has put these wines on the map.

So, in order to be a new true Brit, how about ordering a DVD online and enjoy the DVD with a hot chicken and glass of Rosé wine?

Sources:

timesonline

Bloomberg

South Africa’s wine industry was ranked just one place down from US President Barack Obama when it comes to building public awareness of environmental issues.

WOSA made the Top 5 on the 2009 Green List compelled by the UK magazine, The Drinks Business. This Green List lists the 50 most influential drinks companies, individuals and organisations with “a strong environmental influence over many consumers”.

The first three places were taken by multinational retail giants Tesco, Carrefour and Wal-Mart, with President Obama in fourth place. WOSA’s recognition was due to their involvement with the Biodiversity and Wine Initiative (BWI), a project jointly managed by WWF and the Botanical Society of South Africa and funded by The Green Trust, a partnership between WWF and Nedbank.

The Drinks Business praised WOSA for its involvement in BWI, a strategic partnership between the wine industry and the conservation sector, its adoption of biodiversity guidelines and its focus on environmental impact studies.

Sue Birch, Chief Executive of WOSA, said: “That we are in the company of the world’s most powerful retail chains, who are able to exercise significant influence, as well as the new and highly popular president of the United States, makes us feel extremely proud!”

She lauded the role of BWI in promoting and protecting biodiversity within the Cape Floral Kingdom, where over 95 per cent of the country’s wines originate. “In less than four years, 140 local wine producers, under the auspices of BWI, have set aside 112,550 hectares for long-term conservation. This is significantly more than the total national vineyard footprint of 102,000 hectares.”

Well done WOSA. It is a great accomplishment for the SA wine industry and I hope the whole industry follows by supporting and creating similar environmental efforts. 

Source: panda.org

Here’s 10 simple steps to make our offices more eco-friendly

On a global scale, carbon emissions recorded for the IT industry equal those of the aviation industry. That’s not to say your home computer powers up like a jet, but it does sound a warning bell.

Because, even if you only have one, you should know that it takes around 1.8 tonnes of chemicals, fossil fuels and water to manufacture every average PC. In turn, the unit generates 100 kilograms of carbon dioxide per year and is generally obsolete after three.

When it’s time for an upgrade, worldwide around 31 million PCs are discarded with common household rubbish every year, contributing to the saturation of landfills. But it’s not only computers that leave a scar on the planet – CDs and DVDs, paper, staples and batteries are all home-office tools used without second thought.

What if you used a portable flash drive to store and transport information? Not only would you cut back on printing paper, you’d throw away fewer discs. And if you swapped staples for reusable paper clips? Or printed on both sides of the paper?

So, cast an eye around your home office and see which of these tips could work for you. At the very least, you’d cut down your stationery consumption (read bill), thus making your office, and the world, a greener space.

- When scouting for office furniture look for items made from reclaimed materials (for example, recycled railway sleepers, plastic or metal) or wood that’s been grown and harvested sustainably. Make a point of choosing furniture that’s durable.

- Staple less. Friends of the Earth, an international environmental organisation, calculated that, if each person on the planet used one less staple a day, we’d save as much as 120 tonnes of steel each year. Be conscious of what you consume and how much, from pens to glue sticks, paperclips and rubber bands. It all adds up.

- Make your next monitor a flatscreen model. Not only will it free up desk space, a LCD monitor uses less than half the energy of its cathode-ray tube counterpart. When powering down, remember to switch off the monitor as it often draws more energy than the hard drive itself uses.

- Computers use substantially less energy while computing than they do when idling – the energy you save by turning off your computer overnight could laser print two reams of A4 paper. Consider getting a laptop, which can use as little as 10 percent of the electricity a PC needs (and will come in handy during bouts of load shedding). When not in use, switch off all computer-related gadgets, including your printer, fax machine, scanner, copier and speakers. Turn them off at the wall – even on stand-by they still require significant quantities of power.

- Storing documents in electronic format makes them easier and faster to search, and cuts down on your paper consumption. If your computer’s memory isn’t very big, discuss the possibilities of an external hard drive with your computer consultant.

- Use environmentally-friendly supplies. Recycled pencils and a sustainable bamboo computer mouse may be hard to find on the local front but you can easily opt for envelopes made from recycled paper. If you regularly receive and send items by post, reuse the boxes, padded envelopes, bubble wrap and other packing materials. And if you have to have that bamboo mouse, order it online from www.thegreenoffice.com. (and make sure you offset the CO2 emissions it will take to get it here).

- Using a solar-powered calculator will cut down substantially on the number of batteries that end up in landfills. If you do need battery-operated office tools, rather use rechargeable batteries that are available at most supermarkets, stationers and hardware stores.

- Pause before you print and you could cut carbon emissions by 2.5 kilograms for every kilogram of paper you save. When you do print, use both sides of every page – it’s called duplex printing and most modern printers can be easily set to do it. If you are in the market for a new printer, choose the inkjet variety, which is generally more energy efficient than the equivalent laser printer. Unless you require high quality print-outs, opt for the draft mode, which uses less ink. Also recycle printer cartridges by returning them to the shop when getting new ones.

- Use ecofriendly printer paper. Read the labels and look for chlorine-free paper produced mostly from recycled paper and a smaller percentage of sustainably grown fibres. Paper represents about 70 percent of office waste, so dodge the debris and read emails on screen. Waste paper that hasn’t been used for jotting down notes and messages should be taken to a recycling depot. Visit www.paperpickup.co.za. to find a paper bank near you.

- Send virtual faxes. There’s a range of software programs that allow you to send documents from your PC to a fax machine, and receive faxes from either source as an email. Alternatively, if you have a scanner, simply scan documents and send them as email attachments.

Source: women24.com

Sign up for Earth Hour 2009 and become part of what could be the single most powerful demonstration of global solidarity on any matter in the history of the planet.

On Saturday 28 March 2009, at 20:30, millions of people worldwide will switch off their lights to make a statement of concern about the future of our planet as part of Earth Hour 2009, an event led by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when more than 2.2 million families and businesses turned off their lights. One year later, Earth Hour reached 370 cities and towns in more than 35 countries across 18 time zones.

Earth Hour 2009 hopes to reach one billion people in 1 000 cities worldwide.

Already 900 cities have agreed to take part including Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, London, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Rome and Dubai with more signing up every day.

Participating in Earth Hour is easy, fun and free.

All you need to do is sign up on Earth Hour or SMS your postal code to 34017 (R2 per SMS) to register your support for action on climate change.

Your name will form part of a global petition to world leaders, challenging them to reach a fair and effective climate change agreement when they meet in Copenhagen at the end of the year.

Spread the message to colleagues, friends and family and encourage them to spread the word too.

And, remember to switch off the lights of your home for one hour on 28 March 2009 at 20:30.

Make your name count. It will mean the world.

For more information, earthhour.org.za

Source: news24.com