After Constantia, the crucible of SA wine, was loudly ignored by the deeply flawed First National Blanc Top Ten Sauvignon Bank Competition last year, Constantia producers are not letting the grass grow under their feet. Our wildly successful Ultra Mussels in May Competition sponsored by Ultra Liquors which pitted Durbanville against Darling over 1 Kg of mussels at Den Anker, is coming round again and Constantia will take on Elgin. It will be even bigger and we’re hiring a tent to accommodate record crowds.

Constantia producers took a leaf out of our marketing book and have set their sights even further south and are taking on Marlborough, the famous New Zealand SB appellation, at the end of May. To avoid a clash, we’ve moved to 25 July and have doubled the number of tickets available from 200 to 400. That dynamic duo of Luke Krone and Kalinka Lombard are planning the event so a stunna is assured. Tickets cost R190 each.

Meanwhile the details of the Steenberg tasting are:

Date: 30 May 2015
Location: Catharina’s Restaurant at Steenberg Farm
Time: 12H30
Tickets: R650 pp
Contact or RSVP: Chanel Bradley 021 713 3211
or email [email protected]

For general reservation enquiries at the Steenberg Farm call +27 (21) 713 2222 or email [email protected].

Garth Almazan, a character straight out of Harry Potter, is doing the food while JD Pretorius from Steenberg is the reigning Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year. If I wasn’t on a sushi safari to Tokyo, I’d even shell out the R650 for Garth’s grub and JD’s juice. And I can’t say fairer than that, typing as a wino offered fabulous freebees on a monthly basis.