Winter in the Western Cape is all about roaring fires and wine... lots and lots of wine. Magnum loads of the stuff. But when chatting to a Joburg-based colleague a little while ago about the expansion of the Sowetan Wine Festival to join the three-day event ranks of WineX Sandton, while WineX Cape Town has dropped a day to become a more quality-focused expo, it occurred to me that Capetonians are horribly spoiled for choice. From the Wacky Wine Weekend to the Bastille days, Stellenbosch to Franschhoek to Robertson fests - there are enough events to keep anyone swimming in fermented grape juice all year. Now forget the numerous wine festivals for a moment; the simple fact is that no matter where you live in the Cape metropole - from the northern suburbs to Cape Point - you're never more than 20 minutes from your nearest vineyard. So even if you missed the latest event, there's nothing to stop you from heading to your nearest estate to nose around the cellar for the afternoon. But is this 'wine anytime' offering actually hurting the Cape wine expos? Why bother bussing around with hundreds of others when you can get a more personal experience any other weekend? Is the market for Cape wine fests over-saturated? [poll]

Shan Radcliffe, Retail editor
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