Komfort Boerekos at Hemelhuijs

Hemelhuijs on Waterkant Street in Cape Town is the opposite of a Vinimark restaurant. The food is authentic and small wine brands like Usana flourish in the oxygen provided by Jacques Erasmus. Here is lunch: corned beef with Pinot Gris – a perfect match for autumn. Ripe flavours and a hint of earth.

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A restaurant with gees in an ocean of cynical mediocrity. Like the management decision at Vinimark that had bottle-fermented bubbly imitated at Robertson Co-op with an industrial soda syphon-like process. Compare and contrast to the Laborie Blanc de Blanc MCC. Three years on the lees and a retail price of R100. As KWV marketers admitted this week, the Vinimark Fizz Scandal will make the task of selling SAA fizz overseas so much more difficult. If not impossible. Will WOSA react?

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Will the Cap Classique Association eject Tim Rands and his brands from their association? Don’t be silly as Vinimark distributes the brands of their members to the upcountry restaurant trade. Time for a US-style separation of production and importation, distribution and retail, methinks.