Every year, on 14 July, the French nation commemorates Bastille Day, marking the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison and the beginning of contemporary democracy. Bastille Day is a line in the sand, the third act of a revolution, and the start of a new life for the people of France. Fast forward to 2013, and the […]
We told you recently about Drive Dry’s spot of goodvertising they had undertaken to reduce instances of driving drunk in young adult South Africans (us, you crazy kids). Here’s a brief rundown of how the campaign works, for those of you who missed it the first time around. Navigate to DriveDry.co.za, sign in with your […]
London’s Department of Transport and ad agency Lep Burnett London, came up with an exceptional method of literally shocking young men into never drinking and driving again. It’s called #PubLooShocker. Click through to check out the video.
Introducing, MmmHops, the new beer by Hanson. Thank you girly-boys for making our Friday even more awesome.
This is the last column from me here, for the known future at least. Which, let’s be honest, is nowhere past my first cup of coffee tomorrow morning. It’s been a blast. Or, as much of a blast as a wine column can be. I have stood on a soapbox a couple times and railed against the insidiously commercial, cynically sweet, and risibly reduced-alcohol wines that plague our shelves.
The Bacardi Legacia competition South Africa was held on Wednesday 3rd April 2013 The aim of the competition is to push Bartenders to create classic legacy cocktails such as the Mojito, Original Daiquiri, Pina Colada etc, and whilst doing this making them legendary bartenders. The way the competition also differs, is that the bartenders are […]
Welcome to to “Speedball”, a small pub in the Northern Cape (South Africa) town of Kathu, where grown men down bottles of brandy in mere seconds.
Isaiah Mustaf, or “The Old Spice Guy” dropped off the radar a little bit after his role in the Man Your Man Could Smell Like campaign. Where in the heck did he go? He went to Israel. To sell beer. Obviously.
While I was away in the Drakensburg trying to survive for a week on only box wine, a little pile up of samples built up back at home. In this week’s column I go through them at let you know what they’re like.
Elgin, it’s a beautiful place. Like a scene from a Blake poem, it’s all dew drops, unpasteurised cheese and wood fires, fresh fruit and good wine. Which makes it’s the perfect place to host a wine festival.
This is probably the best thing an uneducated wine drinker could ask for. You know that moment when your waiter asks you what wine you’d like to drink with your food, and you panic, and end up going with old faithful? Well this little infographic could save you from tragic pairings in the future.
I am sure that for every sensible word written about wine, Public Relation teams issue out 100 silly ones. Luckily conscientious writers shield the broader public from much of this hyperbolic guff, however, some of it does slip through on back labels, and boy, is it a load of tripe.
I remember reading this in the Onion once: “The quality of wine is inversely proportional to the ferocity of the animal on the label.” Sadly for South Africa, we have many animal labels. Producers, it seems, think that they can bottle any crap and then throw on a cutesy label and all is forgiven.
I have just settled down next to the heated pool. This after a game of tennis, some brekkie and a 10 minute steam followed by a shower. Things could be worse. How other hotels can claim to be 5-stars, I don’t know.
Need a little help? Hosting a wine tasting club isn’t always the easiest thing to do, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience with the theme. Wine Tasting is becoming a little bit of thing lately, so we thought we’d equip you with the knowledge that you’ll need to pull off hosting a wine tasting club succesfully. […]
If you were wondering how Goldfish were ‘doing’ overseas, do yourself a favour and watch this video. Make sure you’re sitting down.
It’s a short work week. Which means that you’re highly likely to be drinking bubbles this coming Friday. So you might as well do it properly. And by properly, we mean by sabrage. What is sabrage? I’m so glad you asked: The opening of a bottle, normally of champagne, by slicing off the bottle’s neck with […]
A few columns back I mentioned the RE:CM 10 year old wine awards, and how some of the wines I tasted during the judging (I was filming not judging) were not very good. I couldn’t mention the best ones, as the results had not yet been made public. I can now talk freely as the awards have been handed out.
Fear not, I will not be ranting here. I will not spend 1000 words frothing at the keyboard about the abysmal, facile, corporate, lackluster, insulting, sell-out winelists that do not deserve the bad laminating they have.
I have been thinking quite a lot about Pinot Noir lately after having written an article on the grape for a local magazine. I feel that I can usefully reconstitute some of those points here in slightly stronger language.
Become as dapper as Don Draper and as smooth as Jamie Foxx – there’s nothing old fashioned about it. In the spirit of making you a more refined drinker of whiskey, we present the six steps to get you from an amateur swiller of whiskey, to a pro quaffer. You’ll be guided on your journey […]
Go home, United Nations. You are drunk. At least now you know why nothing gets agreed upon there At the General Assembly budget committee meeting on Monday, United States Ambassador for Management and Reform at the United Nations, Joseph Torsella gave his colleagues a slap on the wrist for always showing up to negotiations drunk. Joseph “The […]
I had a new wine experience this past weekend. I wish this meant tasting a new exotic variety, or an ancient vintage, or even just a good Pinotage. But no, it was far more banal than any one of those, it was a trip to the Wade Bales Society wine sale.
I do not lay awake at night wondering about the permutations of whether Oscar Pistorious shoots with or without prosthetics, I do not toss and turn weighing in my mind the quality of Lindiwe Mazibuko’s State of the Nation Address rebuttal, nor do I consider whether Vernan Philander can bowl better. No friends, I ask myself how can I get more people drinking wine
We LIKE this. A new Facebook online store has been developed encouraging their US users to buy and send gifts with just a click of a button. Remembering birthdays used to be a daunting experience until these guys came along, and now they making something like purchasing wine just as easy.
This week’s column may come across as slightly schizophrenic. I have some thoughts on older wines and a wine recommendation. They are totally unrelated.
Wine judging is a strange endeavor. As weird, I imagine, as the judging at country fairs of jams, tarts, cakes, flower arrangements, and whatever other product of pastoral hobbies are put forward.
Welcome to Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal. It’s a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Parents whisk their children to and from bouts of social soccer in the park. Some of them might stop off somewhere for a Cornetto. Maybe not. Others might be enjoying an alcohol-induced coma in the comfort of their running Audi A3 at the traffic lights. Wait, […]
When inspiration in wine deserts me, I can always trust in pure anger at stupidity. Unfortunately there is never a lack of that. The stupidity currently on my mind is any talk about a boycott of South African wines as a response to the recent farm worker strikes.
Riesling. What a grape. I wonder how much you’ve had? Probably not enough. I know I haven’t. The wines of the Riesling grape are hard to have too much off. It is another type of wine in South Africa that is on the up, if a bit slower than Riesling lovers would like; but then all things vinous are slow.