On the train to Soccer City - the world Cup final vibe is awesome

Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe

Having fun at the Warwick & Vilafonte table at the Nelson Mandela World Cup ball in Joburg

Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe

The evolution Warwick's blue packaging through the ages

Warwick and Budweiser being served at Soccer City in Johannesburg

 

What becomes a wine industry legend? My breakfast with Zelma

There are only a few people in the U.S. wine industry for whom, if you mentioned their first name, everyone would know exactly who you were speaking of. Zelma Long's lifetime achievements would overwhelm anyone, but for Zelma, it's just been a matter of intense curiosity, high standards and focus. I caught up with her earlier this week to chat over scones at Jimtown Cafe in Alexander Valley.

Zelma was one of the first women to receive a Masters Degree from UC Davis and went on to become head winemaker at Robert Mondavi and Simi Winery during the 1970's and 1980's. Today she is co-owner of Vilafonté Winery in South Africa and consultant to wineries in Mendocino, Washington state, Israel and France. She has always had wide-ranging interests which explains why she has been influential not only in winemaking, but also in viticulture, making 'winegrowing' a term we take for granted today. She also plunged into the business end in the 1990's, taking the reigns as CEO at Simi Winery and marketing at Chandon Estates, at the time both units of luxury firm Moet Hennessy. Zelma's curiosity has taken her to scores of wine regions in seven countries as consulting winemaker, working on a variety of grapes from cabernet in Napa Valley to Riesling in the Nahe Germany to chardonnay in Chianti.

Zelma has had a lifelong interest in other cultures beyond that of wine regions, travelling to Tibet four times in the 90's. She appreciates the arts ranging from Asian, Southwest Indian to contemporary South African genres. And she "doesn't dabble" in the arts. Her desire to learn is so keen that she is currently working on a PhD in the field of performance arts from UC Davis.

Her most recent accolades include the Culinary Institute of America's induction into the Vintners Hall of Fame earlier this year and UC Davis' American Society of Enology and Viticulture's 2009 Merit Award for excellence in education, technology, research and business. Her standard for excellence has had a wide-ranging, global impact when you consider all the people she has hired or who have worked under her over the years. Winemakers like Genevieve Janssens, head winemaker at Robert Mondavi, Peter Sisseck at Pingus - one of the most expensive wines in the world - in Ribera del Duero and Dr. Monika Christmann, head of enology at Geisenheim University in the Rheingau, now set the bar high for the next generation of international winemakers. Other renowned winemakers who have worked for Zelma include Paul Hobbs and David Ramey (most recently at Rudd Estate), both of whom worked for five years as assistant winemakers to Zelma at Simi, and Dawnine Dyer who was Chandon's winemaker for over 20 years.

One of the qualities you notice when you speak with Zelma is that she is focused on the goal in whatever she does. Potential limitations, like being one of the few women in a male-dominated wine industry in the 1970's through the 1990's, never seemed to register with her, although today she is gratified that she might have made it easier for all the women she hired subsequently. Some might think going for a PhD in performance arts without an undergraduate and masters degree in the field would be an obstacle, but not for Zelma. Why not go directly for the goal?

Zelma keeps an active schedule, travelling around the world for her consultancies and winemaking at Vilafonté. She just returned from the Rhone, where she participated in the first Grenache Symposium and is now racing off to Bordeaux where she will make a presentation on Old World and New World wines at the Institute of Masters of Wine Symposium.  Gathering perspective from her experiences and through her many activities, Zelma Long continues to lead an impactful life.

Vilafonté Winery in Stellenbosch South Africa receives visitors. Check the website for information. Vilafonté Wines are imported by Broadbent Selections in San Francisco.

June 21, 7:51 AMNapa Valley Insider ExaminerAnnette Hanami

This is the ultimate FIFA World Cup fan picture - go Vuvuzela

Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe

A magnificent day in Stellenbosch Wine country

Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe

Warwick Wine Estate comes to Koko's in Margate KZN - 3rd June

Has South African wine finally arrived in the USA?

It would be fair to say that South African wine has made some reasonable progress in the United States despite Wines of South Africa.

The incredibly restricted USA budget allocation previously deemed appropriate by the misaligned board of Directors of Wines of South Africa has been wholly inadequate and it is due to the frugal cost of access to Rory Callahan and his New York based team that we have been able to maintain at least a semblance of a generic presence. 

 

As the Directors of WOSA are chosen on the base of volume (instead of value), it would come as a surprise to many readers of this column that America would not have been given a greater focus from the 'powers that be'. With the South African 'big boys' chasing shareholder satisfaction by saturating the commodity-driven UK, Dutch and Scandinavian markets with volume, it would be a further surprise that more emphasis had not been given to the USA, the biggest wine market in the world. It is refreshing that a little recent shareholder activism from the currently disadvantaged and under-represented 'quality' driven smaller wine producers finally convinced the powerful apparatchik to rethink the concept of ignoring the USA and finally agree to dip their toes into the US water. It would appear that the collective South African generic initiative has taken a fairly significant step forward.

 

Nobody really knew what to expect when the small scattered army of South African winery exhibitors started streaming into the ground floor lobby of Tribeca Rooftops, the rehabilitated industrial venue chosen as the venue for 'The Great South African Wine Show' in New York City. It is clear that WOSA has really stepped up to the plate and the venue, the layout, the decoration and the atmosphere shouted positivity and would not have ever been confused for another country's generic presence. South African wine was standing proud and it was easy to feel patriotic and proud as a remarkable number of producers invested heavily in creating a presence for themselves here. A question mark of attendance hang heavily in the air and a collective sigh of relief could have been felt as the notoriously fickle US trade started streaming into the venue. 

 

I have not seen official attendance, but I can say that the event was buzzing, a large sub-section of NYC (and from further afield) trade and media thronged the corridors and made the first part of the event a big success. The trade seminars hosted by Andre Shearer, Robin Back and Su Birch were also positively received and were straining to contain the enthusiastic attendees. The consumer seminar in the evening hosted by Zelma Long was also described as remarkable and amazing and played right into the American consumers desire for a little showbiz. The timing of the event could not have been better, just prior to the summer season and, perhaps more importantly, almost exactly a month before the kick-off of the Soccer World Cup in South Africa.

 

The consumer event in the evening was even more eagerly attended and the event felt more like a gigantic wine party than a sophisticated wine event, but underneath the buzz was a large contingent of excited consumers making every effort to learn as much as possible about the wonders of this exciting new wine producing countries. This is how to market wine in America - give them wine education 101 and camouflage it as entertainment. I don't think that we could have wished for a better buzz and it is exciting to see our generic marketing muscle showing it's versatility by flexing in a new market.

 

"There is a remarkable outcome when you withdraw marketing - nothing happens". Well the converse is true of marketing wine into the USA and it can be said that South Africa has taken the first step on what could become an exciting journey. This is the first step on a completely new journey of discovery in the USA, we are not perpetuating the past and the outcomes have the potential to catapult South African wine even further towards our global aspirations. We should applaud the South African wine industry for embracing and funding this challenge, cudo's to the WOSA board for allocating funds and specifically well done to the entire WOSA team for a job well done. 

 

Now the challenge really starts as we attempt, in our own way to maintain and build momentum. If we do not follow up on this event it will be a travesty, an inexcusable waste of the energy that has been injected in New York and it should be incumbent on the producer shareholders of WOSA to ensure that funds continue to flow into the US market. We have taken a big step, but the next one might even be more challenging. Bravo South Africa. 

 

The Author will be cheering for the US team at the World Cup if Bafana Bafana fail to reach the final.

Follow me on Twitter @mikeratcliffe

Zelma and Obama - the dream team

Today is the Big Day of the www.thegreatsouthafricanwineshow.com in New York

The iPad is an excellent tool for winetastings

Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe

Re: Got my iPad ....

Dang!!...........I'm jealous u toss!

Sent from my iPhone

On 07 May 2010, at 22:37, "Mike Ratcliffe" <mike@warwickwine.com> wrote:

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> Mike Ratcliffe
> Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
> P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa
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> FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe
> <IMG00297-20100507-2235.jpg>

Got my iPad ....

Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe

Warwick & Vilafonte fundraising reception to support the United States South Africa Wine Foundation

On May 13th Destination Cellars will host a fundraising reception to support the United States South Africa Wine Foundation, featuring Warwick and Vilafonté wines from Stellenbosch, South Africa. The Foundation aids the post-apartheid transformation of the South African wine industry by developing the skills of the disadvantaged South African wine workforce through internships within the U.S. wine industry. A US-based non-profit, the Foundation fosters diversity in the South African wine sector by exposing workers to the U.S. wine industry with the hope that they will advance in their careers or eventually establish wineries of their own. The event will take place at the Washington DC offices Nixon Peabody, LLC.

About Destination Cellars
Founded in 2006, Destination Cellars is the first and only luxury destination club that offers affluent wine, food and travel enthusiasts personalized access to prestigious winery properties around the world. Individual and corporate club members enjoy exclusive, tailored experiences at more than 100 of the world's finest wineries spanning seven countries. Destination Cellars creates private "once in a lifetime" experiences, to ensure it opens the world of wine to those who desire an extraordinary and memorable journey.

For more information on the event, visit http://www.destinationcellars.com or contact us at 703-327-3109.



Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe

Perfect paradise ... view from the penthouse at Warwick

 

The Great South African Wine Show in NYC May 11th - an invitation

The calm after the storm - the 2010 wine harvest is now settled

Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe

JOIN US FOR THE 'RATCLIFFE FAMILY WINE WEEKEND' APRIL 24-27TH

ENJOY A WHOPPER OF A WINE WEEKEND AT WARWICK!

Warwick Wine Estate is hosting another fun-fined family food and wine extravaganza over the Freedom Day weekend, that is, the 23rd until 28th April. Each day, the acclaimed estate will be offering wine enthusiasts the unique opportunity to sample the estate's finest and rarest wines as the doors to the Ratcliffe family's personal wine vault are opened to the public. Regular and one-off exclusive tutored tastings will be held throughout the weekend, affording aficionados the opportunity of sampling the winery's most prized collection.

For those with an adventurous spirit, the 'Big 5 Safari' will not disappoint as you enjoy a guided 4x4 vineyard tour and mountain top picnic, educating you on the five key varietals making up Bordeaux-style blends. This excursion up the mountain-side boasts a zenith which overlooks the vineyards, and affords one a panoramic view of Warwick and surrounding farms.

You can then sit back, relax and linger at leisure savouring each delectable component of the Bruce-Robertson-inspired 'Warwick Gourmet Picnic' at any of the scenic picnic spots on the picturesque farm. Bring your kids to this child-friendly farm and repose having complete peace of mind that your children are safe and entertained as they clamber up one of the state-of-the-art jungle gyms or bounce merrily on the Jumping Castle.

So, make the most of the last days of summer and public holidays, and revel in glorious scenic surrounds, sampling award-winning wines and culinary soupcons.

 

Entrance and all activities are free.

Dates 23rd until 28th April

Picnics costs Adults: R299.00 (serves two)

Kids picnic: R 49.00