Record wine sales at 2008 Stellenbosch Wine Festival

L'Avenir L-R: Pieter-Niel Rossouw, Samantha Pugh and Tinus Els (winemaker)

Despite heavy downpours on the first two days of the festival, which took place from 31 July - 3 August 2008, the event was anything but a washout with over 12,500 people attending over the four days, the same number as last year.

Wine sales soared by R100,000 over last year's record of R300,000 with more than 500 wines on offer from 100 wineries, all members of the Stellenbosch American Express® Wine Routes.

The festival also made a difference this year in terms of raising funds for the Clover Mama Afrika project that assists women to generate income and look after abused, abandoned, orphaned and HIV affected children as well as the elderly in their respective communities. All the proceeds, some R33,000, of the star studded entertainment in the Clover Festival Café was donated to this empowerment initiative.

Cutting down the carbon footprints

Annareth Jacobs (CEO Wine Route) and Vanessa Singh (head of marketing Amex cards)

The festival also took massive strides towards minimising its carbon footprint this year with practically every scrap of waste either turned into compost or collected for recycling with the help of Close the Loop, a local company specialising in organic waste and local entrepreneurs in Kayamandi.

“We are delighted that even the inclement weather could not keep wine lovers away from tasting the wonderful wines from our Stellenbosch producers and that people did not only taste the wines but also purchased wine from our festival shop,” says Annareth Jacobs, chief executive officer of the Stellenbosch American Express Wine Routes, and head festival organiser.

Appealing to all types

The festival which attracted both local, up-country and overseas visitors again this year, managed to reach the full spectrum of wine consumers from the connoisseur to the occasional drinker across all age profiles over the four days of the festival by dedicating different events to different target markets. Wine workshops, a food demonstration kitchen and top notch entertainers ensured plenty of variety to suit all tastes.

“Our Connoisseur Evening on the Thursday created a relaxed environment for the wine enthusiast to interact with the winemakers at the festival, while families with children could enjoy the family oriented activities on the Sunday. Saturday was the most festive with a bumper attendance of over 7,000 people, largely representing the younger wine drinking culture,” said Jacobs.

“With such encouraging results, we believe we have met the objectives of the festival again this year by placing Stellenbosch firmly under the spotlight as a leading wine region.”

Wine sales at festival prices are still available until the end of August through the Vineyard Connection website, www.wineshop.co.za.