Before attended the Soweto Wine & Lifestyle Festival ,I used to have a perception that wine lovers are snobs and they turn to use the posh voice, fancy vocabulary and act poncey. I used to have gender stereotype on wines, assuming that there wine that men or women shouldn’t be drinking i had own insecurities about knowing enough or being out of depth when the conversation turn to wine.whenever I was around wine lovers I had Oenophobia, the fear of wine. I did not understand that wine is is not a laarnie by nature but it was and still continues to be (most of the world) the alcoholic beverage of people .
While sitting down in an elegant private tasting room for personalized tasting of various wine blends,styles and vintage, with group of people from all walks of lives, It hit me ! Wine is like food. Initial taste a wine starts with your eyes. It is all about personal taste and there is no right or wrong in one’s taste. Each one of us in a room were presented with four different glasses of wines to taste and compare . While giving feedback I noticed that each individuals had their preferences and favorites. I enjoyed sweet while others preferred dry wine.
I always knew that before drinking a wine one had to smell, swirl and taste but I wasn’t aware that the color of a wine can tell a lot about the wine. One professional advise is, when looking at a wine, hold out the glass and tilt it a bit.
“Try to hold the wine over a white surface like a white table cloth, plain white plate, napkin or other blank surface. You will need to notice the depth of color from the rim to the center of the glass. To fully understand the ramifications of the color, in this case, it helps to have a minor understanding of how a wine should look for its grape varietal, age and growing season.”
He also taught us about the visual evaluation of the wine is the legs or tears on the side of the glass.
He explain that the size of the tears or legs and the length of time they remain in the glass give a glimpse into the wines potential alcohol level and sweetness, as well as the viscosity of the wine. Thin legs that dissipate quickly are usually found in lighter, less concentrated wines. While fatter, or should I say more athletic legs that remain on the glass foretell of a rich, concentrated wine with lots of fruit, sweetness and length. Again, it’s important to note, the legs and tears of wine are related to the grape variety and the country the wine was made in.
The Soweto Wine Festival, proudly and unapologetically African, is designed to bring Cape wines into Johannesburg’s largest suburb, Soweto, known for its unique styles and artists, to revolutionise old wine etiquettes and cultures and make them African in every way. This festival has become the most wonderfully integrated event in Johannesburg, where the only colours anyone sees are red, white and rosé.
This is one of the best social event that releases stress and best for networking and best for making business deals
The festival was designed to bring the Western Cape’s most acclaimed wines into Gauteng, and more specifically into Johannesburg’s biggest township, to expose the Soweto population to the country’s prestigious wine-drinking cultures. The festival has expanded over the years to incorporate various lifestyle elements, including food and travel, although of course, the emphasis is primarily on the wines.
And if that’s not enough, we were on the dance floor,dancing like nobody is watching, with an amazing lineup of local musos who took to the stage. We also took selfie with the who’s who such as Mandla from BigBorther Africa, actors from isibaya…
If you missed out this year,make sure that next year you avoid FOMO
