If there’s a trend that has grown to dominate the world of high-end travel over the past decade, it’s that experience is everything. Put simply, it’s no longer good enough to merely show travellers a destination, pointing out the scenery as it whips past the chauffeur-driven window. Travellers want to experience a destination: to feel, touch and smell it. They want to shake local hands and break local bread. And particularly when it comes to luxury travel, you can add the word ‘bespoke’ in front of ‘experience’. High-end travel is about unique encounters, enjoying access to sights and sounds your average traveller – their noses pressed metaphorically up against the glass – can only dream of. So it was no surprise that when the hammer fell on the final bids of the inaugural AfrAsia Bank Cape Wine Auction, it was experiential travel that had garnered the highest bids.
The Auction is a unique event in that it is the only major gathering on the local calendar that sees a disparate collection of winemakers and estates come together to raise money for charity; in this case, to develop education among Winelands communities. Uniquely too, it harnessed the networks of influence that exist in the region, with ‘ambassadors’ tasked with creating and curating the one-of-a-kind lots up for auction. ‘It was about accessing the little black book of people in the Winelands,’ explains Mike Ratcliffe, Managing Director of Warwick Estate. Ratcliffe was a driving force behind the Auction and, along with other industry heavyweights Michael Jordaan, Ken Kinsey-Quick, Wendy Appelbaum and Siobhan Thompson, is one of its founding trustees. ‘We asked people to come to the party with experiences,’ he says. ‘We wanted things that money can’t buy.’
And the 250 attendees at the exclusive R3 000-per-head lunchtime auction held at Delaire Graff Estate outside Stellenbosch in March were not disappointed.
Take Lot #38 for instance, the Glenelly Lot that sold for R450 000. It included a tasting hosted by Lady May de Lencquesaing in her private Glenelly Manor House with cellar master Luke O’Cuinneagain. Apart from a tasting of incredible historical vintages from the family-owned Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in Bordeaux, the lot included a collection of vintage Bordeaux magnums – ’55, ’59, ’61 and ’89, to name a few – along with some of the finest Glenelly magnums ever produced.
Personalities certainly loomed large during the auction: Lot #1 included a fine dining experience at Franschhoek’s Pierneef à La Motte hosted by rugby legend Francois Pienaar and estate chief executive Hein Koegelenberg, along with six bottles of the rare flagship 2007 Hanneli R, signed by Hanneli Rupert- Koegelenberg herself.
For something with an international flavour there was the remarkable lot #39: The Mulderbosch Vineyards/Fable Mountain Vineyards American Dream Lot that offered a week-long Californian experience for two couples. It included Business Class flights; dinner with Charles Banks, the winelands-investor and former owner of Napa Valley icon Screaming Eagle; golf at Pebble Beach Golf Links and meals at California’s most celebrated restaurants. It went for a staggering R700 000.
It was a remarkable day in the Winelands that raised more than R7-million for charity, and all eyes are on what the 2015 Auction has in store. ‘It will be about continuing with experiences; we’d like to see deeper partnerships between the hospitality and the wine industry,’ says Ratcliffe. ‘The auction will move every year, with the idea to move the opportunity around the Winelands.’
While just 40 fortunate bidders walked away with the once-in-a-lifetime lots on offer at the 2014 auction, there’s good news for wine-loving travellers. The South African Winelands is increasingly being fêted as one of the finest wine tourism destinations on the planet. ‘The wine experiences that are possible in South Africa are, without any doubt, on a par with the very best of France, the USA and Australia,’ says UK-based Master of Wine Nancy Gilchrist, who runs bespoke tours of the South African Winelands. ‘The combination of the extraordinarily beautiful vineyard regions, the idyllic climate, almost no time-difference for Europeans, and world-class food and wine is extremely attractive. Add to that the very favourable exchange rate right now and it makes South Africa possibly the best value in terms of foreign holiday destinations: an almost irresistible package.’
It’s a package that is attracting an ever greater number of high-end travellers to South Africa’s vineyards and cellars; travellers on the hunt for experiences that are individual, made-to-order and exclusive. The kind of experiences offered by a host of boutique concierge travel services, including Opulent Living Travel, where the focus is firmly on exploring in a manner that is personal, experiential and bespoke. They are all key touch-points when it comes to luxury travel through South Africa’s remarkable Winelands. ‘What many clients appreciate is the lack of obvious commercialism at our wine estates,’ adds François Rautenbach, Wine Director and Head Sommelier for luxury safari operator Singita. ‘They offer an authentic experience; they are farms, not just brands.’ That especially applies to guests who’ve been to California and the Napa Valley, he adds: ‘The obvious example there is Mondavi, which has a very slick operation that is very good on the one hand, but the opportunity to chat to the person actually making the wine and getting their hands dirty in the cellar is simply not available.’ Precisely the opposite applies in South Africa, says Rautenbach: ‘I recently accompanied a couple, guests who have been coming to one of our lodges for the past decade, for four nights in the Cape. We were the first-ever private group to have lunch in the Hartenberg Manor House in Stellenbosch, and the cellar master Carl Schultz gave us a private tasting followed by a vineyard tour.’ Rautenbach also recalls a couple who loved art, cars and wine, so a visit to Franschhoek ticked all the boxes: ‘We arranged a personalised tour of the artworks at La Motte and the Franschhoek Motor Museum at L’Ormarins, followed by a private lunch in the manor house.’ Expert advice is especially sought-after when it comes to the high-profile events that dominate the society calendar.
The prestigious ‘Chefs who Share – the ART of giving’ is an annual black-tie charity dinner that approaches the South African wine experience from a different angle. At first glance, it seems all about the culinary delights prepared by a brigade of the best chefs in the country, but these are served with top local wines, expertly paired with the exquisite food by world-class sommeliers. The 2013 event saw no less than 28 of the country’s best wines on the menu, a tasting experience that’s hard to beat. The 2014 dinner, scheduled for September, will take this food-and-wine pairing to a new level, with seven Michelin-starred chefs joining the local kitchen stars and wine experts. Organised by Opulent Living, it’s an invitation-only event, although well-heeled connoisseurs can sometimes be lucky enough to secure tickets. All the money raised from the R3 000-per-head ticket sales and the accompanying auction goes to local charities. ‘It’s a fabulous opportunity not just to experience exceptional food and wine but also to give back,’ says Barbara Lenhard, who came up with the innovative idea.
Outside of glamorous evening gala events, it’s auctions that define the Winelands calendar. Despite dramatically cutting the amount of wine offered for auction over the past two years, the Nederburg Auction remains one of the largest. The focus here is firmly on the business of wine, but private buyers are able to apply for the handful of sought-after tickets. Under the auctioneer’s hammer is a stringently selected range of the country’s finest, most exclusive wines. These include not only current vintages but also a wide selection of older wines as well as some rare bottles, selected from special collections or wine libraries, that are not available on the open market. The gathering of the who’s who of the South African wine industry is legendary – and it’s not all business. On the last day, especially, the social aspect comes to the fore and there’s the opportunity for local and international connoisseurs to rub shoulders with industry leaders, and exchange opinions on specific wines, vintages and varietals.
It’s slightly easier for wine lovers to attend the Cape Winemakers Guild (CWG) Auction, traditionally held on the first Saturday of October. The exceptional wines on offer here are crafted exclusively for the Auction by members of the Guild – an elite invitation-only association of South Africa’s best winemakers – and consistently raise the bar for what can be achieved in South African winemaking. Open to the general public, the annual Auction is a highlight for many, with a host of events allowing unfettered access to a number of Winelands personalities. Private cellar dinners, a golf day, boules tournament and showcase tastings offer a fun, informal environment in which to meet and interact with some of the country’s top winemakers. Even for those who don’t buy wine, it’s considered well worth a visit. For others, though, it’s private access that is the benchmark for bespoke Winelands touring. As one of just 312 Masters of Wine in the world, Nancy Gilchrist is well positioned to lead discerning tourists searching for a more intimate experience than what’s available at the tasting counter. Speak to the right people, and (cellar) doors open. ‘I know many of the winemakers personally and can gain privileged access to many wine cellars that are inaccessible to the average tourist,’ says Gilchrist. ‘At Vergelegen, possibly the Western Cape’s most spectacular winery, we can join winemaker André van Rensburg for a private rooftop meal and vertical tasting of Vergelegen Bordeaux blends, plus wines from André’s private cellar.’ Other exclusive opportunities include a private tasting with JP Colmant of Colmant Cap Classique – ‘consistently one of the very best sparkling wines in South Africa, even the world,’ says Gilchrist – and a comparative tasting of South Africa’s iconic pinotage varietal led by De Wet Viljoen, vice-president of the Pinotage Association and cellar master of the Neethlingshof Estate outside Stellenbosch.
It’s not just the wine that draws visitors to the Cape’s top cellars, either. Many design lovers come for the outstanding architecture. Alongside fine examples of the traditional Cape Dutch style, there’s the chance for them to see some truly modern masterpieces. These include the cutting-edge cellar at Vergelegen, where three of the four levels are buried under the ground in a tower configuration that allows for gravitational flow and gentle handling. The Dornier cellar is another landmark, famed for its undulating roof (featured on its wine label) and the reflective pool on top of the maturation cellar, which provides an eco-friendly way of keeping the space cool. Top of the list for designophiles, however, has to be Waterkloof’s award-winning ‘Cellar in the Sky’. Encased in a contemporary glass and concrete sphere, it maximises the estate’s setting on the slopes above Somerset West, combining magnificent views with state-of-the-art wine-making facilities. For travellers who want to learn more, Gerard de Villiers is the man to meet. The South African has designed wineries and distilling facilities around the world for the past 30 years, and is the expert when it comes to efficient, high-quality production in an elegant shell.
As with so many facets of life, enjoying the best of the region often comes down to who you know; a knowledgeable insider to point you in the right direction and shake hands with the right people. With the right introductions, travellers are fast realising that South Africa stands head and shoulders above wine tourism destinations worldwide.
Richard Holmes
If there’s a trend that has grown to dominate the world of high-end travel over the past decade, it’s that experience is everything. Put simply, it’s no longer good enough to merely show travellers a destination, pointing out the scenery as it whips past the chauffeur-driven window. Travellers want to experience a destination: to feel, touch and smell it. They want to shake local hands and break local bread. And particularly when it comes to luxury travel, you can add the word ‘bespoke’ in front of ‘experience’. High-end travel is about unique encounters, enjoying access to sights and sounds your average traveller – their noses pressed metaphorically up against the glass – can only dream of. So it was no surprise that when the hammer fell on the final bids of the inaugural AfrAsia Bank Cape Wine Auction, it was experiential travel that had garnered the highest bids.
The Auction is a unique event in that it is the only major gathering on the local calendar that sees a disparate collection of winemakers and estates come together to raise money for charity; in this case, to develop education among Winelands communities. Uniquely too, it harnessed the networks of influence that exist in the region, with ‘ambassadors’ tasked with creating and curating the one-of-a-kind lots up for auction. ‘It was about accessing the little black book of people in the Winelands,’ explains Mike Ratcliffe, Managing Director of Warwick Estate. Ratcliffe was a driving force behind the Auction and, along with other industry heavyweights Michael Jordaan, Ken Kinsey-Quick, Wendy Appelbaum and Siobhan Thompson, is one of its founding trustees. ‘We asked people to come to the party with experiences,’ he says. ‘We wanted things that money can’t buy.’
And the 250 attendees at the exclusive R3 000-per-head lunchtime auction held at Delaire Graff Estate outside Stellenbosch in March were not disappointed.
Take Lot #38 for instance, the Glenelly Lot that sold for R450 000. It included a tasting hosted by Lady May de Lencquesaing in her private Glenelly Manor House with cellar master Luke O’Cuinneagain. Apart from a tasting of incredible historical vintages from the family-owned Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in Bordeaux, the lot included a collection of vintage Bordeaux magnums – ’55, ’59, ’61 and ’89, to name a few – along with some of the finest Glenelly magnums ever produced.
Personalities certainly loomed large during the auction: Lot #1 included a fine dining experience at Franschhoek’s Pierneef à La Motte hosted by rugby legend Francois Pienaar and estate chief executive Hein Koegelenberg, along with six bottles of the rare flagship 2007 Hanneli R, signed by Hanneli Rupert- Koegelenberg herself.
For something with an international flavour there was the remarkable lot #39: The Mulderbosch Vineyards/Fable Mountain Vineyards American Dream Lot that offered a week-long Californian experience for two couples. It included Business Class flights; dinner with Charles Banks, the winelands-investor and former owner of Napa Valley icon Screaming Eagle; golf at Pebble Beach Golf Links and meals at California’s most celebrated restaurants. It went for a staggering R700 000.
It was a remarkable day in the Winelands that raised more than R7-million for charity, and all eyes are on what the 2015 Auction has in store. ‘It will be about continuing with experiences; we’d like to see deeper partnerships between the hospitality and the wine industry,’ says Ratcliffe. ‘The auction will move every year, with the idea to move the opportunity around the Winelands.’
While just 40 fortunate bidders walked away with the once-in-a-lifetime lots on offer at the 2014 auction, there’s good news for wine-loving travellers. The South African Winelands is increasingly being fêted as one of the finest wine tourism destinations on the planet. ‘The wine experiences that are possible in South Africa are, without any doubt, on a par with the very best of France, the USA and Australia,’ says UK-based Master of Wine Nancy Gilchrist, who runs bespoke tours of the South African Winelands. ‘The combination of the extraordinarily beautiful vineyard regions, the idyllic climate, almost no time-difference for Europeans, and world-class food and wine is extremely attractive. Add to that the very favourable exchange rate right now and it makes South Africa possibly the best value in terms of foreign holiday destinations: an almost irresistible package.’
It’s a package that is attracting an ever greater number of high-end travellers to South Africa’s vineyards and cellars; travellers on the hunt for experiences that are individual, made-to-order and exclusive. The kind of experiences offered by a host of boutique concierge travel services, including Opulent Living Travel, where the focus is firmly on exploring in a manner that is personal, experiential and bespoke. They are all key touch-points when it comes to luxury travel through South Africa’s remarkable Winelands. ‘What many clients appreciate is the lack of obvious commercialism at our wine estates,’ adds François Rautenbach, Wine Director and Head Sommelier for luxury safari operator Singita. ‘They offer an authentic experience; they are farms, not just brands.’ That especially applies to guests who’ve been to California and the Napa Valley, he adds: ‘The obvious example there is Mondavi, which has a very slick operation that is very good on the one hand, but the opportunity to chat to the person actually making the wine and getting their hands dirty in the cellar is simply not available.’ Precisely the opposite applies in South Africa, says Rautenbach: ‘I recently accompanied a couple, guests who have been coming to one of our lodges for the past decade, for four nights in the Cape. We were the first-ever private group to have lunch in the Hartenberg Manor House in Stellenbosch, and the cellar master Carl Schultz gave us a private tasting followed by a vineyard tour.’ Rautenbach also recalls a couple who loved art, cars and wine, so a visit to Franschhoek ticked all the boxes: ‘We arranged a personalised tour of the artworks at La Motte and the Franschhoek Motor Museum at L’Ormarins, followed by a private lunch in the manor house.’ Expert advice is especially sought-after when it comes to the high-profile events that dominate the society calendar.
The prestigious ‘Chefs who Share – the ART of giving’ is an annual black-tie charity dinner that approaches the South African wine experience from a different angle. At first glance, it seems all about the culinary delights prepared by a brigade of the best chefs in the country, but these are served with top local wines, expertly paired with the exquisite food by world-class sommeliers. The 2013 event saw no less than 28 of the country’s best wines on the menu, a tasting experience that’s hard to beat. The 2014 dinner, scheduled for September, will take this food-and-wine pairing to a new level, with seven Michelin-starred chefs joining the local kitchen stars and wine experts. Organised by Opulent Living, it’s an invitation-only event, although well-heeled connoisseurs can sometimes be lucky enough to secure tickets. All the money raised from the R3 000-per-head ticket sales and the accompanying auction goes to local charities. ‘It’s a fabulous opportunity not just to experience exceptional food and wine but also to give back,’ says Barbara Lenhard, who came up with the innovative idea.
Outside of glamorous evening gala events, it’s auctions that define the Winelands calendar. Despite dramatically cutting the amount of wine offered for auction over the past two years, the Nederburg Auction remains one of the largest. The focus here is firmly on the business of wine, but private buyers are able to apply for the handful of sought-after tickets. Under the auctioneer’s hammer is a stringently selected range of the country’s finest, most exclusive wines. These include not only current vintages but also a wide selection of older wines as well as some rare bottles, selected from special collections or wine libraries, that are not available on the open market. The gathering of the who’s who of the South African wine industry is legendary – and it’s not all business. On the last day, especially, the social aspect comes to the fore and there’s the opportunity for local and international connoisseurs to rub shoulders with industry leaders, and exchange opinions on specific wines, vintages and varietals.
It’s slightly easier for wine lovers to attend the Cape Winemakers Guild (CWG) Auction, traditionally held on the first Saturday of October. The exceptional wines on offer here are crafted exclusively for the Auction by members of the Guild – an elite invitation-only association of South Africa’s best winemakers – and consistently raise the bar for what can be achieved in South African winemaking. Open to the general public, the annual Auction is a highlight for many, with a host of events allowing unfettered access to a number of Winelands personalities. Private cellar dinners, a golf day, boules tournament and showcase tastings offer a fun, informal environment in which to meet and interact with some of the country’s top winemakers. Even for those who don’t buy wine, it’s considered well worth a visit. For others, though, it’s private access that is the benchmark for bespoke Winelands touring. As one of just 312 Masters of Wine in the world, Nancy Gilchrist is well positioned to lead discerning tourists searching for a more intimate experience than what’s available at the tasting counter. Speak to the right people, and (cellar) doors open. ‘I know many of the winemakers personally and can gain privileged access to many wine cellars that are inaccessible to the average tourist,’ says Gilchrist. ‘At Vergelegen, possibly the Western Cape’s most spectacular winery, we can join winemaker André van Rensburg for a private rooftop meal and vertical tasting of Vergelegen Bordeaux blends, plus wines from André’s private cellar.’ Other exclusive opportunities include a private tasting with JP Colmant of Colmant Cap Classique – ‘consistently one of the very best sparkling wines in South Africa, even the world,’ says Gilchrist – and a comparative tasting of South Africa’s iconic pinotage varietal led by De Wet Viljoen, vice-president of the Pinotage Association and cellar master of the Neethlingshof Estate outside Stellenbosch.
It’s not just the wine that draws visitors to the Cape’s top cellars, either. Many design lovers come for the outstanding architecture. Alongside fine examples of the traditional Cape Dutch style, there’s the chance for them to see some truly modern masterpieces. These include the cutting-edge cellar at Vergelegen, where three of the four levels are buried under the ground in a tower configuration that allows for gravitational flow and gentle handling. The Dornier cellar is another landmark, famed for its undulating roof (featured on its wine label) and the reflective pool on top of the maturation cellar, which provides an eco-friendly way of keeping the space cool. Top of the list for designophiles, however, has to be Waterkloof’s award-winning ‘Cellar in the Sky’. Encased in a contemporary glass and concrete sphere, it maximises the estate’s setting on the slopes above Somerset West, combining magnificent views with state-of-the-art wine-making facilities. For travellers who want to learn more, Gerard de Villiers is the man to meet. The South African has designed wineries and distilling facilities around the world for the past 30 years, and is the expert when it comes to efficient, high-quality production in an elegant shell.
As with so many facets of life, enjoying the best of the region often comes down to who you know; a knowledgeable insider to point you in the right direction and shake hands with the right people. With the right introductions, travellers are fast realising that South Africa stands head and shoulders above wine tourism destinations worldwide.
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