| SOUTH AFRICA, SOWETO,
GAUTENG, 15 AUGUST 2011 - Mzansi’s
most stylin’ wine festival, the TOPS Soweto Wine Festival,
is bubbling over with great anticipation and excitement
for what is being hailed as the biggest and most vibrant
wine festival to date with an over 9000 visitors expected
over the 3 evenings.
Says Marilyn Cooper, Cape Wine Master, joint founding member
of the TOPS Soweto Wine Festival and MD
of the Cape Wine Academy who are the organisers of the festival
says, “Believe it or not, we are full! There is no
more space to fit another sponsor or wine exhibitor, and
we have extended the space this year.
"The wineries that have booked this year are bringing
a fantastic variety of wines to cater to all palates from
the new tasters to premium wine drinkers.
We have worked hard on the additional marquee and the outside
areas to provide a full spectrum experience of wine, different
foods and entertainment with
luxury wine lounges and a gorgeous VIP lounge for sponsor’s
top management, celebrities, government officials and accredited
media to network in a VIP-only area with free flowing wine,
food and entertainment. It is going to be incredible!”
Research over the past 6 years show a shift in approximately
50% of visitor’s wine preferences from rosé
and semi-sweet wine to premium dry whites
and reds. Premium wines such as Meerlust,
Rupert and Rothchild, Ernie Els,
Alto, Boekenhoutskloof, Hartenburg, Raka
and Zandvliet
all show growth in their premium wines within this market
and will be at the festival.
A favourite at the festival is the 4th
Street wine lounge. Comments Ebith Jurgens,
brand manager at 4th Street; “4th Street loves the
TOPS Soweto Wine Festival as it is as vibrant and
fun-loving as our easy drinking natural sweet wine.
"This year at the TOPS Soweto Wine festival we will
have a bigger and better stand for you to party the night
away on. On the 4th Street stand you will
not only be able to taste our new delicious natural sweet
white and natural sweet red variants, but also be snapped
partying with your friends, and stand a chance to win an
awesome array of fun, fashionable prizes!”
There are new food additions to the festival. In the first,
Appletiser has teamed up with some of Soweto’s finest
restaurants to bring our visitors a sit-down restaurant-type
environment where they can choose from a selection of foods
from the Soweto Hotel’s Jazz Maniacs Restaurant,
Roots Restaurant & Gallery, or Sushi by entrepreneur
Vusi Albert Kunene of Mobile Sushi. Dinner will be served
in a sit-down environment with live jazz band and festival
favourite ‘Safika’.
The second edition is the Ribshack Red Shisa Nyama
Bedouin Marquee, where visitors can sit down and enjoy a
Shisa Nyama with a glass of DGB’s Ribshack Red, which
is a fine blend of Pinotage and Shiraz,
with a touch of wood and made to be enjoyed with meat dishes.
Shisa Nyama, which literally means “braaing
the meat” in isiZulu, is a buy-and-braai
concept that started in South Africa's townships. The Shisa
Nyama will be cooked by Soweto-based chef, David Molope,
a member of the South African Chef’s Association (SACA).
Over the years, the Soweto Wine Festival has been a catapult
to many thriving businesses within the industry. Mnikelo
Mangciphu, co-founding member of the Soweto Wine Festival
and owner of Morara Wine Emporium in Soweto launched his
first wine store, Morara Wine Emporium, in Soweto after
the first Soweto Wine Festival in 2005. Now a thriving enterprise,
Mangciphu has franchised the Morara Wine Emporium in downtown
Johannesburg and throughout Soweto, in which over 3 million
people reside.
Heritage Links Brands based in the USA also launched after
attending the inaugural Soweto Wine Festival. The founders
were inspired to create Heritage Link Brands after learning
at the Festival that people of colour were grossly underrepresented
within the country's and global wine industry. Harvard MBA’s
Selena and Khary Cuffe wanted to give black wine producers
a better chance to thrive.
The TOPS Soweto Wine Festival has also been the launch-pin
to several other successful township festival’s such
the Gugulethu Wine Festival and others.
Says Mnikelo Mangciphu, co-founding member of the TOPS
Soweto Wine Festival and owner of Morara Wine Emporium
in Soweto says, “We are also aware of a wine distribution
company that has opened a warehouse in Soweto directly due
to the growth in wine sales in Soweto, which can be directly
related to the Soweto Wine Festival. And there are many
people that have approached Marilyn and me and said thank
you, your festival inspired me to launch my magazine, my
wine club, my business, my restaurant.
"It stands to reason though; if you can make it in
Soweto, you can make it anywhere in the world. We are a
nation of trend-setters and entrepreneurs!”
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