‘Ontdek Zuid-Afrika’, Amsterdam – The Netherlands

September 2019

On Sunday the 8^th of September WoSA hosted the generic wine tasting “Ontdek Zuid-Afrika” in Amsterdam for both professionals and consumers.  We had 31 producers participating in the event, showcasing a broad representation of wines from different regions and distribution channels.  In collaboration with Perswijn Magazine, we had close to 250 guests attending with the focus on professionals, mainly on-trade and independents.

The Cape Winemaker’s Guild pre-auction masterclass with Carl van der Merwe and Niels Verburg drew a lot of interest and the comments were very positive about the quality, especially the elegance, and diversity of the wines (https://bit.ly/2pGnwJ0 - report by journalist Han Sjakes).

Especially in the on-trade channels, sommeliers are looking for quality wines, interesting grape varieties, interesting terroir and alternative winemaking approaches – think of skin contact, amphorae, lower alcohol, more “digestible” wines, sustainability etc. Especially the Cape Site Specific and Pinotage theme tables drew a lot of attention. Sommeliers and media who had lost sight of pinotage were pleased to discover that the grape has come a long way since it was first introduced to the market here. The strong terroir story behind Cape Site Specific was also important in showing South Africa’s commitment to quality and a sense of place of our wines.

In the words of wine blogger Miss Wine and Dine: “Ontdek Zuid-Afrika was a very successful day and an important reminder to keep following the developments in South Africa closely” https://bit.ly/2o7ViGs

Sara Channell – Wines of South Africa, The Netherlands