The Vilafonte winery is almost finished.

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More footage of the amazing state of the art Vilafonte winery taking shape in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Vilafonte is South AFrica's first luxury wine brand as well as being the first ever joint-venture between South Africa and the United States.

Tags: wine, luxury, vilafonte, freese, zelma, broadbent, ratcliffe, parker, sexy, south, africa, stellenbosch, podcast, blog, vlog, video, harvest, decanter, spectator

WARWICK TRILOGY: Top 100 Wines of 2006/Wine Enthusiast Magazine

Congratulations Team Warwick!

Mike

 

	Wine Enthusiast SELECTS Top 100 Wines of the Year     December 7, 2006— Elmsford, New York – Wine Enthusiast Magazine, one of the world’s most respected and quoted publications in the field of wine and spirits, has named De Loach’s 2004 30th Anniversary Pinot Noir from California’s Russian River region “Wine of the Year” in its December 31st “Best of Year” issue, available this week.  The Best of Year issue celebrates the Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 Wines of 2006 and also recognizes the year’s Top 100 Best Buys, with a Washington State Shiraz as the number one best-buy choice.    Carefully selected by the editors of Wine Enthusiast Magazine, the annual “Best of Year” selections are drawn from the nearly 10,000 wines tasted over the course of 2006 and represents the highest standards in quality, price, availability, newsworthiness, excitement and buzz! The list covers all five major categories of wine: sparkling wines, red and white table wines, fortified wines and dessert wines. Winners this year include wines from 13 different countries of origin. “More and more countries are making top-flight wines, and the 2006 list reflects the great improvements in winemaking that we’re seeing around the world,” said Wine Enthusiast Magazine Tasting Director and Senior Editor, Joe Czerwinski.    The Top 100 Wines of 2006 The Top 100 Wines of 2006 include 56 New World wines and 44 from Europe.  The New World was well represented in the Top Ten with South Africa’s Warwick Trilogy at number five, and Argentina’s Punto Final Malbec Reserva from Perdriel at number nine. The US boasted 38% of the Top 100 Wines, with three of the top ten produced in California.  Price and value are important criteria for even the best wines – Wine Enthusiast’s number three pick is the Charles Heidsieck Rserve Brut Champagne, at $36 a bottle. While the average price of a Top 100 wine was $53 a bottle, the median price was $36.    Since multiple factors were considered when selecting wines for this prestigious list, not all wines on the Top 100 list are necessarily the highest-scoring wines.  Of those featured, the wines that received the three highest scores from the Wine Enthusiast 100-point rating scale were all Cabernet blends from the 2002 vintage in California, including: Sloan Cabernet Blend, Rutherford, unique recipient of 100 points; Rubicon Estate Cabernet Blend and Harlan Estate, Cabernet Blend, Napa Valley, both 99 points.  The average score of Top 100 Wines is 94, while the average price of Top 100 Wines is $53, with the median price at $36.   The Top 100 Best Buys of 2006 Less than 1% of all wines tasted over the course of the year make it onto the Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s Best Buy list.  Wines designated as the Top 100 Best Buys of 2006 have wine-rating scores of 85 points or higher of the 100-point scale and generally have a suggested retail price of $15 or below.  The grand winner this year was Columbia Crest’s Grand Estate Shiraz from Columbia Valley, Washington, with a 90 point rating score for $11.  Second place went to Portugal's Dao Sul’s Quinta do Gradil, also with a 90 point score, available for $6.  Rounding out the top ten, the USA had five wines (2 from Washington State and 3 from California), while Portugal, Argentina, Australia, France and Spain each had one.   Of the top 100 Best Buys, 52 wines are from the New World while 48 are Old World, while the average price is $11.60.  As contrasted with the Top 100, which had no ross, there are four ross on the Best Buy list. In addition, 40+ wines scored 90 or above: 14 from US, 6 from France, 5 from Argentina, 4 from Spain, 5 from Australia, 3 from Portugal, 2 from Chile, 2 from Germany.     5 Warwick 2004 ‘TRILOGY’ Estate Reserve 95   South Africa, Stellenbosch / $32 Red This was the first Bordeaux blend from the Cape, and remains one of the very best. This 2004 is stylish, very Bordeaux in its structure, yet shows a richness of fruit that Bordeaux can only envy. Black currants, dry tannins and a sense of great ageability - they are all there. Page: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
103 Fairview Park Drive • Elmsford, NY 10523 914/345-8463 • Fax 914/592-0102 • www.wineenthusiast.com/mag

 

 

 

 

The Vilafonté winery is taking shape - mid November 2006

The Vilafonte winery is taking shape

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The next video of the upcoming Vilafonte winery in Stellenbosch. Things are really taking shape and it is looking good!

Tags: south, luxury, freese, africa, series, stellenbosch, wine, vilafonte, long, zelma, ratcliffe

Construction starts on the new Vilafonte winery

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The work has begun on the new home for Vilafonte?Vineyards as the team move in. Foundations and infrastructure is in, walls are up and the roof is one. The reinforced floors and drainage are going in this week in anticipation of tank installation in late october. All very exciting!

Tags: freese ratcliffe series broadbent decanter parker spectator, wine vilafonte luxury construction building zelma

WARWICK ESTATE: Challenge International Du Vin

Dear ‘Team Warwick’,

More good news!

 

The results are in for the Challenge International Du Vin 2006.

The Challenge International du Vin is the biggest French international wine competition with over 30 countries entering and 5000 wineries entering.

 

South Africa received 5 medals, of those, Warwick took home 1 gold, 1 bronze and 1 silver – a total of 60% of South Africa’s results.

http://www.challengeduvin.fr/result_search.php

 

Well done everyone … another positive result!

I hope that this info is useful.

Mike

_______________________________________________________________

Mike Ratcliffe

* PO Box 2, Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

( Phone:    +27 (0) 21 88 44410
4    Fax:       +27 (0) 21 88 44025

( Skype:    mikeatwarwick

ÿ mike@warwickwine.com

"   http://www.warwickwine.com

Next Rootstock meeting

The next Rootstock meeting is coming and we are going to have it soon- details will be posted on both the Rootstock blog as well as on the www.wine.co.za diary page. We are going to be talking technology in wine marketing, the significance of increased internet penetration and the opportunities that this holds globally for wine. Is there an opportunity in South Africa yet. We may talk blogging, podcasting and viral marketing - depends on where we go.

Big topic: Is the Telkom monopoly and their agressive anti-competitive behaviour restricting the roll-out of affordable internet to our populution and reducing our global competitiveness. Well, that was a retorical question - of course it is. Will the new telecon service provider in 2007 change all that or is it a pipedream?
We are putting together a panel of speakers to debate and discuss this hot topic. Sure, we may go off the point and will follow the discussion where it takes us - but it will be a good one.
I will try to get a representative from Telkom - wish me luck. Does anyone have other thoughts for speakers?? Let me know so that we can contact them.

Thoughts on Rootstock guest speaker???

OK, it is that time of year again when Rootstock puts together a plan for some guest speakers. Lets hear what you all have to say. Does anyone have a suggestion for a speaker or a topic that needs to be adressed. Our industry is in a continual state of flux and we should stay ahead of it in this forum. Lets hear your thoughts. Click on comment below.
Mike

Wine across America Blog - Los Angeles

Today's PODCAST from CALIFORNIA.

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Distribution in America is the key to success. Like anywhere in the world, ‘route to market’ is always going to be the killer attribute that can mean the difference between success and failure. Nowhere in the world is this more apparent than in the United States where the neo-prohibitionist hangover of federal liquor controls hangs thick in the air. Americans, it seems, have reached an uneasy state of acceptance of this extraordinary status quo where every facet of a wines journey to the end consumer pads somebody’s pocket. To recapr for those who are confised by these statements. America (generally) has a 3 tiered system of wine distribution whereby the non-American producer cannot legally sell wine to anyone but a wine importer. The absurdity starts when you understand that no single person or business entity may own both a distribution and import license. What this means is that the importer cannot sell wine to the consumer or even the retailer/restaurateur and can only sell wine toa distributor who in turn can also only sell wine to the trade. Technically speaking, the only place a consumer can gain access to imported wines is through the 3rd tier of the channel which is the retailer or restaurateur. Once you understand the vastness of the US market, it is understandable that perhaps this system would have evolved independently as few companies have the infrastructure and capabilities to own and distribute nationally with efficiency. But the system really falls down in the sense that it suppresses free market activities and that the larger National distributors have little in the way of competition. As a result of this and to further entrench this skewed power balance, the larger distributors are being consolidated at a rate that is unprecedented and fewer distributors are controlling more of the market. It feels sometimes that every medium-size distributor in the US is simply waiting for the ‘big guys’ to come along and buy them out. Might I be over-dramatising this? Maybe, but this is the feeling on the ground.
So what does this mean for South Africa? Well, for every distributor that gets purchased, this means fewer distribution slots for South African wines exist and fewer small producers are able to participate in what becomes a much larger structure. The larger a distributor gets, the larger the supplier has to become in order to become a meaningful contributor to bottom-line. The big brands become bigger and the smaller brands get squeezed out. The consolidation of distribution and ongoing production fragmentation continues apace. The two trends are not compatible and we will have to win over some serious buyers to grow South African wine in the US – usually at the expense of another global supplier.
So where are the opportunities?
The federal and state regulators are slowly (very slowly) dismantling the complex wine distribution laws, but a combineation of big business (distributor) lobbying in Washington, a very religious and conservative population and misplaced priorities is hampering this progress. A high-profile battle between retail giant Costco and the state of Washington recently threw up a couple of clues about the future when Costco won the first step in the battle to allow it to ship directly from the producer. Of course this judgement will go to appeal and will probably be held up for years, but Costco is being aggressive and has set a valuable precedent which any sensible judge cannot fail to respect.
Is this a good thing? Well, yes and no as it si being championed by the mammoth retailers and you can be sure that they are not pursuing a Samaritanian endeavour to make money for the supplier – no, they are chasing margin for their bottom-line because they know that through direct imports and direct shipments, that they can leverage their massive nation-wide distribution network to exponentially multiply their sales and balloon already embarrassing margins.
Opportunities exist for South African suppliers to find routes to market that narrow the gap between importer, distributor and retailer. In some states, it is (kind-of) legal for the husband to own an import license, the wife to own a distribution license and the kids to own multiple retail licenses. It happens – another symptom of an idiotic system. Many California wineries drive a substantial volume of their sales through wine clubs and direct shipments to customers. Of course there is a limited amount of states that you can ship to directly, but this has been growing over the years. Is there a business model here for South African wineries. Is there an effective model for a South African winery to run a wine club for direct sales to customers? The answer must be yes, but there has to be demand first and brand South Africa must become more entrenched before this will work. So the hard work lies ahead in this massive market opportunity that is the USA.

Wine across America – California Dreaming!

The late night arrival of Team South Africa on the East Coast with an additional 3 time-zone changes was a minor shock as the road-show rolls on. After 3 months of non-stop rain that has been seriously affecting budding and shoot-development in California, the skies finally opened on the day of the Wines of South Africa tasting downtown, a stones throw from the eponymous Embarcadero. By many accounts, this tasting has been the most successful of the tour to date. Restaurateurs, retailers and eager consumers arrived in droves and kept everyone busy with an intense interest in learning more about South African wine. It is once again clear how closely linked tourism and wine are in selling brand South Africa. A large majority of the consumers had either been to South Africa or knew of someone that was going and this provided the key draw card, in my opinion. Americans have an embarrassment of choice and this is what has made America the enormous consumer culture that it is – or was it the other way around? The consumer, on the one hand, can be a little jaded and confused by choice. But if the message and the choice is communicated clearly and unambiguously to the consumer, they show an incredible willingness to open themselves up to trying something new. I have said this before – but feel that it is important to restate. Americans want us to teach them about our products and they want to buy them. We just need to start working on a clear message because at the moment our little wine industry does not have the financial or logistical clout to really get the message across. Sydney Harbour Bridge sells more Australian wine than you can imagine. ‘Finding Nemo’ and many other cultural icons has driven a whole generation to find Aussie interesting and exciting. We got close with Lion King – but it was really not there, was it?
On the subject of repeating myself, If I hear another consumer complaining that the wines on the WOSA show are not available in the USA, I will scream. It is always going to be difficult to give ‘new entrants’ an opportunity to show their wines, but perhaps we are putting the cart before the horse on this one. Perhaps these producers have had an opportunity to learn a huge amount about the US market and get a feeling for how to go about positioning themselves to enter the market, but it seems like an illogical and costly entry and market research solution. The tasting this afternoon in Costa Mesa, South of LA is being hosted by a prominent retailer called Hi-Time liquors. Once again the problem is going to raise its head as the consumers can only purchase the wines that the retailer stocks, and at best wines that have Californian distribution – it’s a tough school.
Wow! The Costa Mesa Orange County tasting was a hit – the consumers came out in droves and we were run off of our feet. This tasting must have rated as one the most intense and focused consumer wine tastings that I have ever been privileged to participate in. Wines poured, winemakers sweated, consumers listened and the wines of South Africa touched the perfect Southern California market. It was a monumental tasting and even impressed the organizers. I arrived a little more than 10 minutes before the tasting started ( a little late) and had to fight through about 100 people queuing at the door to get in. Big thank must go to Hi-Time Cellars for their excellent organization and boundless energy – the show was great!
I would like to pay tribute to the WOSA team for the effort and organization in putting this tour together – it has been an eye-opener for many producers and will be a catalyst for South Africa in this market. It is also a catalyst for greater cooperation in building South African wines in the US by building brand South Africa. One of the great minds behind doing just that is Yvonne Johnston at the SA International Marketing Council. It has been said that a bottle of wine in every wine shop and on every wine list in America will act as a positive reinforcer for Brand South Africa’s generic image. The wine industry has a lot to offer our marketing drive and we should not play second-fiddle. Tourism and many other SA industries engaged in marketing all have an excellent opportunity to harness synergies by partnering with WOSA – wine is exploding in America and we are in the right place at the right time – but there will not be more than one chance to get it right.

The Wines of South Africa tour heads West

I have now arrived along with Team South Africa in beautiful (and chilly)
San Francisco – the flight from Chicago is only 4 hours, but takes in 3
times zones and even this short distance leaves you with jet lag – after a
run along the Embarcadero, the waterfront of San Francisco I feel refreshed
and ready for another big day.
But first, lets chat about Chicago. I had some very detailed debates about
the efficacy of the South African presence in the USA with Norman Cilliers
and Ken Forrester who are co-conspirators on this unabashed assault on the
USA. A lot of thoughts came out along with a lot of things that I wanted to
share. A question was posed about how many of the people manning the stands
on the WOSA roadshow actually have authority to transact business and take
any kind of meaningful business decisions. A lot of comment has been
received from consumers, retailers and restaurateurs that they have liked a
lot of the wines and upon enquiring about the producers distributor, were
told that the wines are not available in the USA. Now we understand that
many of the producers are looking for importers and distributors and that
this is a ‘fishing’ expedition, it was seen as intensely negative from many.
Another thought was that there may be examples of people from South Africa
on the tour who were considering this as a mini vacation from the office and
really had very little likelihood of doing any business. I would encourage a
thorough evaluation of the process upon return to South Africa to see if
there has been any return at all from this trip across America. This is a
concern – does this apply to other WOSA road trips? It was suggested in the
same debate that if a ‘follow-up’ meeting was called for South Africa upon
return, how many of the tour participants would attend?
On the positive side, we had a very beneficial day in Chicago and saw a lot
of existing clients and customers as well as spent some valuable time with
our distributors who are doing a great job. Business was done, relationships
formed and strengthened and the Wines of South Africa made a very positive
impact.
Another debate was raised in Chicago. The question about the coordination of
South Africa’s marketing efforts was discussed and it was felt that we
should be seeking greater cooperation between South Africa’s marketing
agencies. A South African wine tour would be a perfect companion for a
tourism tour, a finance tour and perhaps even a Safari lodge tour of
America – we have invested heavily in this tour and it is a certainty that
we should be cross-pollinating our efforts to a larger extent. The financial
economies of scale alone scream for this type of cooperation. What if the
big South African investment conference that was in NYC at the same time as
the WOSA tour had been in the same venue??? The missed opportunities hurt
the more you think about them. This is not a finger-pointing exercise. It is
however an effort to spark debate about the future of South Africa’s
investment into the world market with the greatest potential for South
Africa and our wines in particular.
Many producers have reported exceptional sales into the USA, but this could
easily be explained away with ‘filling the pipeline’ – the shelves are
starting to report increased populations of South African wines – but are
they moving. The answer has to be yes, but too slowly. This is a consumer
issue and not an importer/distributor issue. Distributors will not take on
any more brands if the existing ones are not moving. This is what is
happening and we should welcome debate on this. This is not a rule, but a
generalization – many producers are doing well – but Brand South Africa is
NOT flying off the shelf. We need to coordinate our icons – what about gold
and diamonds, table mountain, wild animals, Nelson Mandela, Charlize Theron,
Dave Matthews and many other wonderful SA icons that are yet to be
discovered.
Another contentious question has to be raised about the (negligible)
representation of WOSA board members at this event. The board members on the
tour numbered one (excluding the hard-working CEO, Su) –out of a possible
13. If this market is going to be successful we need the support of the
board and this is only going to come about if they understand the market and
this will only ever come about as a result of having been here. It is my
contention that in the next year we are going to have to raise our game
significantly through greater man-power, significantly increased funding and
national coordination if we are going to win the consumer over. Without a
thorough understanding of the complexities and challenges of the US market,
we cannot have strong leadership and without this we are dead in the water.
Despite these challenges, South Africa is gaining traction that will provide
us with a solid platform for our REAL marketing push. Lets call this a
scouting expedition shall we?

The WOSA tasting in NYC

The WOSA tasting in NYC

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A brief video showing the space and the excellent attendacne at the WOSA New York City show a couple of days ago.

Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois - the train continues rolling!

Great excitement for South African wine is that the head winebuyer for the PLCB (Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board) has decided that it is about time that South Africa is featured as wine of the month and October 2006 it will be. After an excellent lunch with Steve Pollack, Mark Hazurand the guys from the Wine Merchant a broad agreement was made on how to proceed. Pennsylvania is a monopoly state and over 150 wine stores and outlets are owned and controlled by the State. This could be an opportunity? Steve has undertaken to assemble 125 store managers in one place for a whole afternoon in September for a South African seminar in which we can ‘educate’ them about South Africa, our geography, geology, climate and wines. I spoke to Rory Callahan and he has committed to presenting the seminar – he will need some backup. Bill Kohl who is the GM of the Harrisburg Hilton has agreed to make the conference facilities available to us in September at no cost and so we are all set. This is going to be enormous for South Africa! Well done Rory!
The train to NYC was uneventful and a late arrival and check into the crappy Holiday Inn was not very exciting! My shoebox (hotel room) at $290 per night was a firm welcome to NYC gift and I realized that NYC is back after the horrors of 9/11. Boy this place is expensive.
Back onto the train on Saturday and a great visit to Farmingdale, a vaguely charming town on Long Island. My train was delayed twice due to brush fires and I ended up taking a bus, another train and 2 taxis to make my way to Stew Leonards Wine Shop. I spent the afternoon doing a tasting and educating the guys on South African wine – they reported a steady growth in their South African sales, but mentioned that South Africa had not yet really dome anything significant to compel customers to reach for our wines. The shelves were also (at the bottom) languishing with expired vintages of wines that I cringed at. Perhaps our friends at the big winery in Paarl could do something to try to sell through some of the unsold back vintages polluting the South African category and taking up valuable shelf space around the country?
Monday … the big day and the WOSA tasting in the Puck building on Lafayette street was all ready to go. Wines of South Africa and the supporting contingent have to be congratulated for putting on a great show and showing a spectacular face to the buyers and trade of NYC. I was proud to be South African as I saw all the winemakers and agents in a beautiful venue, well dressed and with a wonderful selection of SA wines. The tasting started slowly and then started building until it was fantastically busy – it really was good and the trade poured in. For those that had dome some preparation, it was a great opportunity. I cannot speak for the participating producers without importers about the success of the day – but my gut feel is that it might have been a little less successful business wise? There was a good mix of sommeliers, waiting staff, wine shop owners/buyers and other wine buyers and they all seemed really interested. Pinotage was popular and I heard this remark a number of producers who were caught off guard. The fruity, yummy Pinotage wines that had a little sugar found favour with the patrons. You can agree or choose to disagree, but the fact remains that wines with higher extract, good concentration, some sweet oak, a little residual sugar and a smooth finish do wine the customer over in the US. Now, we can fight this, or we can accept it and listen to the market. This does not mean a wholesale corruption of winemaking philosophy and South African terroir – we should just make a point to understand our markets and adapt ourselves to this. This is not a global direction and w4e should treat this topic carefully and not just accept it. It could get heated if treated lightly. We should perhaps open this topic to greater debate and I intend raising this topic at a Rootstock forum some time this year. Anyone want to join in the debate? Click on the comment tab below to start the debate.
I write this column from my airplane seat en route Chicago for the next installment of the WOSA tour – the windy city will meat the marauding South African wine industry on Wednesday and we can expect to meet some interested and influential customers. Stay tuned.

Wine across America - DC, PA, NY 28th April 2006

Wow, it has really been a whirlwind and things are going well so far – I am now 4 days into the tour and looking forward to meeting up with the WOSA gang in New York tonight. I am writing this on the AMTRAK train from Harrisburg Pennsylvania to New York City - the only direct service that avoids going through Philadelphia. It is always a good diea to purchase tickets online in advance as it is cheaper and it avoids finding a fully sold-out train – like this one.

I spent Tuesday night in Baltimore and presented a well-attended South African wine dinner at a restaurant called Abacrombie which has the reputation (I later realized) as one the best restaurants in the state of Maryland, Sonny Sweetman is the chef/owner along with his beautiful wife and they were filled to capacity with 53 people crammed in for a wonderful dinner. The cuisine was exceptional and the guests were intent on learning as much as possible – it was at this evening that it dawned on me that South Africa has really got a chance to win the battle for recognition in the USA. The dinner guests were interested, thirsty for knowledge about South African wine and eager to learn – how often do you see this in Europe these days? The US challenge seems so large and the obstacles enormous – but every time I am back here it appears that there is tangible progress in building brand South Africa. This is so invigorating – we just need to maintain the momentum and make sure that we take our best wines to the USA – this must surely be the KEY!

After a wonderful early-morning run around historic Baltimore harbour, Wednesday found us on the interstate highway back to DC for another trade tasting and South African seminar – I had the pleasure of meeting Carter Nevill, regional sales manager for Cape Classics and we hit it off. Cape Classics should be recommended for being a proud ambassador for South African wine in the USA. I also had the pleasure of meeting Brad McCarthy, the winemaker and co-owner of the famous Virginian winery Blenheim Vineyards which he co-owns with Dave Matthews – the US singer/superstar.

The next day was spent on a ‘ride-with’ (literally spending the day with a distributor sales person) doing tastings for a number of restaurants. We visited the eponymous Restaurant Eve, a great wine shop FineWine.com owned by the passionate Jonas Gustafsson. Then on to Le Paradou, an awe inspiring restaurant owned by legendary chef Yannick Cam; we tasted for at least an hour and shared rugby stories with sommelier, Nicolas Rouet who is a big South African fan. We got 2 listings on their epic winelist, the first time a wine from the Southern hemisphere has been listed – we felt very proud and decided to celebrate with a couple of cold beers at Vidalia, the famed DC eatery where we planned to meet fine wine merchant, Mike Tilch from Silesia Liquors for a 7 course tasting menu presented by Manager/Sommelier Doug Mohr. I have included (below) a video blog in which I interviewed Mike on his positive feelings about South African wines. The evening was capped with a spectacular 1970 Chateau D’ Yquem which was at the height of its powers – a very generous gift from Mike. What an evening!

A 04h45 wake-up was not really what was needed at this stage – but it had to be to catch an early flight from Dulles to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. More about this in the next installment! New York here we come!

The Young Winemakers at Cape Wine 2006

The Young Winemakers at Cape Wine 2006

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Here is an interestingpost for those of you that were at Cape Wine 2006, here is the great clip taken for the 'Young Winemakers' seminar.

Mike Tilch, fine wine dealer from Maryland talking about SA wine

Mike Tilch, fine wine dealer from Maryland talking about SA wine

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Driving through Washington DC

Driving through Washington DC

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Driving past the Washingotn memorial in DC

American wine diary -Baltimore Maryland

The American Wine Diaries – Baltimore, Maryland

CLICK HERE FOR TODAYS BALTIMORE PODCAST
I woke up too early in DC and then forced myself to go back to sleep – jetlag in traveling across timezones is a reality and you have to really take it into consideration. Igot up and went for run in Rock Creek Park which is barely 5 minutes walk from my B&B. It was such a beautiful day and one can only marvel at the beauty of some of Americas parklands. Bumped into my first Starbucks coffee. Whether you are an anti-globalization activist or not – you have to admire the Starbucks ability to make a good cup of coffee – every time! OK, so engines recharged time to get ready, check out of the hotel and head for the most beautiful railway station in the world – Washington DC’s Union station. See the photo attached. I got some good advice and avoided AMTRAK and instead went for the local MARC train system which runs parallel to AMTRAK – the fare for the same ride was $7 versus $22 for AMTRAK.
I arrived in Baltimore very efficiently and was collected by Julia and then we headed to the Country Vintner trade tasting. About 150-200 people in attendance and wines from allover the world. I managed to get in some good tasting and some excellent wines. I fell in love with the Bassermann-Jordan Riesling Trocken 2004 from the Pfalz which has always been a favourite – the 2004 vintage is such a step up on the hot 2003 German wines. I digress…
I was asked to present a seminar on South Africa which (as it turns out) was the only seminar on the day and was certainly a big drawcard with a huge turnout. I felt a little overwhelmed and under prepared, but in the end I adopted a very informal ‘round table’ discussion and luckily had some awesome slides that I could present as part of a powerpoint presentation – it went well and the half hour allotted for the event stretched to almost an hour as a large proportion f the audience stayed for the entire hour. What a great time and so many intelligent questions. There is no question in my mind that Americans have an enormous propensity to collect and collate information better than any nation on earth. When they become interested in something, they go harder and show more dedication to getting all the facts. Shields T. Hood and Lisa Airey from the Society of Wine Educators were at the tasting and they remarked on how positive their image of South African wine is. Rory Callahan and Robin O’Conner will be presenting a large seminar on South African wine at the SWE conference in Eugene Orgeon this year. Now this is a fantastic opportunity to preach the SA gospel.
OK, make sure that you have listened to the PODCAST this morning. Any comments or requests are most appreciated.

Just arrived in Washington DC!

Click on this link to hear the first podcast from my hotel room in DC - just shaking the cobwebs out!

'The American wine diaries' - Heathrow

Well the epic USA trip has kicked off! Hi from the airport lounge in
Heathrow terminal 4 ... the first 11 hour flight to London is completed and
it is just about time to head for BA217 to Washington DC. I sat next to lady
on the BA flight who had been in SA for Cape Wine 2006 and had then followed
this with a week's holiday - she was bowled over by the show and by the
country in particular. She has already booked her 2nd trip and will be back
in SA in December. Well done WOSA!
This daily 'American Wine Diary' has a number of goals - first is to try to
help as many people as possible gain an understanding of the American market
with lots of insights, thoughts and anecdotes. The USA has been identified
as the market showing the most potential for South African wine and it is up
to the whole SA wine industry to make sure that we take our rightful place
alongside the other top wine producing countries. It can only happen with a
collective effort. At the same time, lets have some fun and see how we can
harness technology as a road warrior. We won't get over-concerned about
grammar and spelling as it will be regularly posted via Blackberry. (the
first hot tip for communicating on the road!) The USA is a long way from
South Africa - we need to harness the power of the internet to bring our two
diverse cultures together and bring South African wine to Americans who are
amongst the most adventurous and eager-to-learn wine drinkers in the world.
This diary has been commissioned by www.wine.co.za and is going to last for
about 3-4 weeks. It is intended to be interactive and we invite you to post
comments and generally get interactive. The diary will be posted
simlutaneously on the ROOTSTOCK BLOG www.rootstockforum.blogspot.com so log
on and check it out.
This diary is going to take in a huge and active itinerary commencing in
Washington DC and followed by brief stints in Arlington Virginia, Baltimore
Maryland (home of Robert Parker), Virgina, Delaware and then a short flip
over to Harrisburg (the state capital of Pennsylvania. At this stage I will
be joing the WOSA USA tour in New York which will then progress to Chicago,
San Francisco and then onwards to LA culminating in a grand tasting at the
famous (or is it infamous) Beverley Hills Hotel.
We will be doing some daily podcasting, I will be posting Video Blogs and
attempting to do some interviews and chats with people across the USA - so
watch this space. If there is something that you would like to hear about,
let me know. if you like it, let me know.

Announcing the new 'Wine across America' Blog

Starting from Monday April 24^th, I will be departing on a 3 week tour across the USA.

The itinerary takes in Washington DC, Baltimore Maryland, Arlington Virginia, Harrisburg Pennsylvania, New York City – the Big Apple, Chicago, San Francisco, Orange County, Beverley Hills and then finally back to San Francisco before a break-neck flight to London England. I will be writing a daily diary with Podcasting, video blogging and lots of other innovative stuff. Its going to be great! Check in or subscribe for the feed today!

 

 

Do you know the power of blogging? Learn more here!

What is a Blog?
A blog (or weblog) is a website in which messages are posted and displayed with the newest at the top. Like other media, blogs often focus on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news. Some blogs function as online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Since its appearance in 1995, blogging has emerged as a popular means of communication, affecting public opinion and mass media around the world. Blogs can be hosted by dedicated blog hosting services, or they can be run using blog software on regular web hosting services. For more on this click HERE.

What is a Podcast?
Podcasting is the distribution of audio or video files, such as radio programs or music videos, over the Internet using either RSS or Atom syndication for listening on mobile devices and personal computers. The term podcast, like "radio", can mean both the content and the method of delivery. Podcasters' websites also may offer direct download of their files, but the subscription feed of automatically delivered new content is what distinguishes a podcast from a simple download or real-time streaming (see below). Usually, the podcast features one type of "show" with new episodes either sporadically or at planned intervals such as daily, weekly, etc. In addition to this, there are podcast networks that feature multiple shows on the same feed.
Podcasting's essence is about creating content (audio or video) for an audience that wants to listen when they want, where they want, and how they want.
For more on podcasting click HERE.
I find that the best way to subscribe to a podcast is by using iTunes. Download it for free HERE.

WOW - Cape Wine is done and dusted!!

What an amazing week for South African wine as the WOSA team pulled out all the stops for an amazing introductory week for scores of foreign journalists and buyers. It is always hard to judge results - but I certainly think that it is going to pay off big time.
So now the hard work starts for producers in following up and chasing those contacts - making sure that the pile of bussiness card is not wasted.
Go for it!
Mike

THE ROOTSTOCK BLOG LAUNCHES

TO ALL YOU ROOTSTOCKERS OUT THERE DYING TO GET INVOLVED, BE HEARD, HAVE YOUR SAYE AND MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ONGOING DEBATE THAT IS THE SOUTH AFRICAN WINE INDUSTRY - THIS IS YOUR CHANCE! GET INVOLVED - SAY WHAT YOU WANT - BE ANONYMOUS IF YOU MUST BUT REALISE THAT ANY HATE MAIL OR SPITE WILL HAVE YOU TRACKED DOWN LIKE THE DIRTY DOG THAT YOU ARE.

www.rootstock.co.za