An event to harvest grapes from the Lady Anne Barnard vineyard at the Vineyard Hotel & Spa in Newlands may have to be brought forward from early March into February, as the berries are showing precocious ripeness.  With each vine named after a local wine identity, as you’d expect, plant variation is terrific: the bunches of Mr. Min the Merciless hang heavy and low like his verbiage while Dear Angela’s vine seems to have been stolen, perhaps by an admirer.  

Still Roy Davies (ahove) is a happy GM as for the first time in over 150 years, wine will be made from Newlands grapes.  Given the magical spring of gratis Table Mountain mineral water which bubbles up in the suburb, Newlands has excellent feng shui to host Cape to Canton on Sunday.  The Confucius Institute at the University of Cape Town is coming and it’s shaping up to be a Chinese New Year to remember.