It's a cheese and wine weekend

SA Cheese festival

This family affair offers the Checkers Cheese Emporium, the Checkers Food Theatre or the Cooking Pot entertainment. The organisers are committed to the ‘greening' of the event and the contracted stand builders are strongly associated with the green movement in their industry and annually recycle their products. Furthermore, a group from previously disadvantaged community in Franschhoek will sort and recycle all waste from the festival and then benefit from the profits derived from the effort.

Laugh, taste, stock up

Let Sarie and Sarie Kos's food fundis Herman Lensing and Barbara Joubert, who was recently lauded as the Galliova Food Writer of the Year, share with you what's hot in creating with cheese. Beyers Truter and Johan Badenhorst, presenter of the travel TV programme Voetspore, team up for an outdoor food and Pinotage demonstration. A combination of quirks and canapés brings RSG presenter Johan Rademan, TV presenter and comedian Nico Nel and chef Alet Erasmus together. Aperitivo dishes, paired with Peroni will be the speciality of chef Craig Hounsman. For comedy, choose between Nataniël's razor-sharp wit or the uproariously funny Soli Philander.

The new SA Olive Experience in The Mall will allow olive enthusiasts to enjoy this ancient fruit in surprisingly innovative ways - taste the purest olive oils and gleaming black and green table olives, tapenades and even olive jams. Some ten olive producers from as far as Beaufort West, Montagu and Porterville bring you their delicacies, by one producer described as the wonderful gifts of good earth and captured sunshine.

Wine is of course the other constant companion of cheese - taste your way through the many cultivars and then stock your home cellar with your favourites. Make sure you buy enough goodies including nuts, homemade preserves, bread and pestos to cater for the rest of your autumn picnics or for chilly winter evenings.

There are kid's activities and a cheese making market. A limited number of tickets are available from Computicket or Checkers stores (no tickets at the gate) at R110 for Saturday and Sunday and R90 for Monday and Tuesday. Senior citizens pay R70 and children 12 years and younger enter free. Go to www.cheesefestival.co.za for more.

Wine weekend at Warwick

Each day, the acclaimed estate will be offering wine enthusiasts the unique opportunity to sample its 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 privilege 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, educating you on the five key varietals making up Bordeaux-style blends. This excursion up the mountainside 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, with complete peace of mind that your children are safe and entertained, as they clamber up one of the jungle gyms or bounce on the jumping castle.