Cape Classics Inc. launched the De Toren "Z" in the United States of America at Orlando 's Disney World. We were there for the support!

Few people know it but at the Epcot Centre and in the themed Disney hotels, fine dining is coming down to a fine art. So much so that at The Animal Kingdom's 5 Star JIKO Restaurant, only South African wines can be found on the wine list. Here Chef de Cuisine Anette Grecchi Gray performs miracles with South African styled dishes. She travels far and wide to source her ingredients and sources her finest curries from Durban, South Africa.

At Epcot Centre the "Party of the Senses" (which is booked out within an hour of the bookings opening) enthrals the consumer by top chef's from all over the United States pairing their signature dishes with the finest wines from all over the world.

At the "Exquisite Dining" evening (also at Epcot) the tables are decked out in pure crystal stemware. A different wine is poured for each course. They have an event co coordinator, wine educator (Steve Olson, renowned in USA) and the winemakers talking. The chefs talk about their food preparations and pairings, the winery owners give background on the wines.

Each wine is poured at the right tempterature, in a glass designed for the wine. The dishes are presented and the feast begins!

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The DDS Driefontein Shiraz (2004) - a joint venture between ourselves and Domain Bertagna from Burgundy was released during the Winex shows. The second and last vintage of our joint venture wine with Domaine Bertagne was received extremely well. Although it was shown only to invitees (the bottle was kept below the table) 54 of the available 350 cases were sold. The wine was also listed by the SAQ (Liquor Control Board of Quebec) and 120 cases will go there.

This wine turned out to be an absolute stunner and has already received a silver medal at the prestigious INTERNATIONAL WINE AND SPRITS COMPETITION IN LONDON and a silver medal at the Decanter International Wine Awards. We have a couple of cases left.
If you need a special for Xmas click here!

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What more can you give a wine lover. A Magnum of Fusion V and 2 Peter Steger "One for All" Wine glasses in a beautiful gift box.

Peter Steger is a top sommelier from Berlin and his brother a glass maker. Together they designed the best multipurpose wine glass that brings out the very best in a wine. The stemware is crystal and has been strengthened with titanium on all the stress points.

One hundred thousand washes in a dishwasher leaves the stemware intact and without a scratch! (Hotel groups report up to 30% less breakages) And at a cost of half of the finer branded stemware available on the market currently.

Click here to place your order.

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It is vitally important that grapes receive just the right amount of water so that the vines do not suffer from water stress. Water stress in a vine directs the plant to other sources within the plant to survive. In grapes the plant will turn to its fruit to obtain water. This effect sees water being withdrawn from the berry and often is accompanied by a change in flavours. These flavours are not necessarily required flavours.

In order for us to understand this process better we started trials with the University of Stellenbosch to measure the effect of various drip irrigation practises in our block of Merlot.

First of all probes that measure soil moisture tension up to 1,5 meter deep were sunk into the test areas. We tested: No irrigation, Double the normal irrigation, partial root drying and irrigating in the middle of the rows instead of on the ridges.

The University then harvested these allocated areas, kept them separate and micro-vinified the batches separately. The batches were tasted by the standard University tasting panel and by the Merlot Forum. Because these trials are affected by normal rainfall, we need to continue with these trials over a three year period before meaningful results will be found.

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Vinens Verden in Odense, Denmark presented their portfolio of wines to over 90 specially invited trade customers at their warehouse in Odense on September 17.

Guests travelled from allover Denmark to arrive in Odense at the same time. Here a bus was waiting to ferry them to the warehouse. They had the opportunity to taste through the portfolio and to place orders for the Xmas season.

This was the occasion where we presented "Z" to the Danish market. The first allocation was immediately sold out and a second order to double up was placed immediately.

At the lunch thereafter, prepared by Annesofie & Thomas Pasfall of Munkebo Kro Hotel, one of the top small hotels/restaurants in Keterminde, Denmark, De Toren Fusion V 2003 in magnum was served with the main dish.

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