www.sowetowinefestival.co.za
Nederburg is bringing two talented members of its award-winning winemaking team to Gauteng for the Soweto Wine Festival in September. They are internationally trained Wim Truter, who makes the white wines, and Wellington Metshane, who is a senior member of the team making the reds. Both work under the direction of cellar master Razvan Macici.
They will present some of the exciting new developments that have been taking place at the famous Paarl winery, and also Nederburg’s entertaining and interactive Taste Theatre that explores the impact of various food flavours on wine.
Visitors to the event that runs from Thursday, September 6 to Saturday, September 8, will have the chance to try some groundbreaking new wines and also sample various foods with a selection of wines to discover how they affect the taste of the wines.
Nederburg spokesperson Wencke Grobler says: “Whereas in the past we had one presenter, we have decided to bring two, so guests have more chance to interact with us, either at the theatre itself or at our stand.”
The Taste Theatre has been conceived as a taste adventure and will highlight the impact on wine and food pairing, made by the five basic flavours – sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami (a Japanese term to describe a flavour that is intensely savoury).
“We want to show how something that seems as insignificant as a squeeze of lemon or a little extra salt added to your food can make a substantial difference to the way you experience an accompanying wine.”
She says the theatre isn’t meant to create more rules surrounding wine. “If anything, the aim is the exact opposite. We want wine lovers to free themselves from the burdens of do’s and don’ts involved with wine and food matching. All we want is to demonstrate how you can enrich the pleasure of the wine you drink by offering you the experience of combining it in a way that brings compatible flavours together. So often you can taste a wine with a food that is not ideal and the result can lessen your enjoyment of both. It doesn’t have to be that way once you are exposed to some very easy guidelines that are more about common sense than anything else.”
She says popular red, white and dessert wines from the Nederburg range will be lined up in the Taste Theatre for visitors to try with foods such as beef, tuna, cheddar cheese and chocolate.
The Taste Theatre is open to festival goers on a first-come first-served basis. The presentation will be staged at various times on each of the three days.
Nederburg has the highest number of five-star rated wines in the 2012 Platter’s South African Wine Guide, a distinction it shares with two other wineries. In 2011, Nederburg was the Platter’s Winery of the Year. Last year, a Nederburg wine achieved the highest score on the inaugural Five Nations Wine Challenge, involving South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina.
Tickets, at R100 a head can be booked through WEBTICKETS, from Cape Wine Academy, Morara Wine Emporium and the Soweto Hotel. For more details, go to www.sowetowinefestival.co.za.
