Constellation Wines South Africa

The Lookout Village, situated above the Breakwater Parking Garage at the V&A Waterfront, is a rooftop-marquee venue with panoramic views of the Cape Town Stadium and Table Mountain. It is set to become the Mother City’s most sought-after venue for discerning fans of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Jennie Sawdon

The Lookout Village features three distinct venues: Eagle’s Nest, Lion’s Den and Nina’s Wine Bar. Nina’s Wine Bar, sponsored by Kumala, is where visitors can sample, sip and savour some of the country’s premium wines along with sushi and oysters. Flagstone Winery will have a tasting counter at Nina’s Wine Bar, where guests can sample wines and place orders for their favourite vintages.

Scheduled to perform at Nina’s Wine Bar is TJ Johnson, widely considered to be one of the UK’s finest jazz and blues singers. Sharing the stage with TJ is Jennie Sawdon, a trained opera singer and an excellent pianist.  She performs throughout the UK with her 6-piece soul-based cover band, the Rough Hill Band, and together they create a performance which is diverse and entertaining to audiences throughout the world.

The Lookout Village is open daily from 11am to 2am. Tickets can be bought at the door at R150 per person per day and entitles you to entry to the venue only. For more information, visit www.thelookoutvillage.com.

More information about Flagstone Winery and Kumala can be found on their respective websites at www.flagstonewines.co.za and www.kumala.co.za.

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Bruce Jack, Flagstone winemaker

Bruce Jack, cellar master of Flagstone Winery, crafted Word of Mouth Viognier 2008 from grapes grown in the cool ward of Elim and fermented 20% of the must in oak.  The result is an elegant, creamy wine that could stand shoulder to shoulder with a Condrieu, as we experienced at a recent tasting at Steenberg Vineyards.

Bruce, philosopher and writer, was on the path to becoming an academic when he recognised his passion and already extensive knowledge of South African wines and their producers. Happily for us local wine aficionados, he then worked several vintages offshore and completed a degree in oenology at the University of Adelaide in Australia before starting Flagstone Wines.

The first vintage was in 1999 and in 2008, Flagstone was bought by Constellation Wines, the world’s largest wine business, producing, marketing and selling a broad portfolio of wines. Bruce is the winemaker for the Flagstone, Fishhoek and Kumala labels. Kumula on its own produces 31.5 million bottles per year and is the biggest selling of all South African brands overseas.

Two Roads Chardonnay 2002, The Music Room Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, CWG Flagstone Love Handles 2004

His parents are an architect and a music teacher and their imprint on his life reflects in the lyrical, poetic descriptions of his wines and the thoughtful names he has given them. There is a story behind each one. The name Flagstone reflects the first broad-base tax levied by the French government after the revolution – a turning point for society. Word of Mouth is the only way to sell wine as apposed to adverts and award stickers on bottles, not that Flagstone wines are short of these.  This name underscores the power of social media marketing that more and more wine makers are embracing.  A favourite of mine is Two Roads Chardonnay 2002 named for Robert Frost’s thought provoking poem, The Road Not Taken.

His father’s influence also shows in the present home of Flagstone Winery which is in the original dynamite factory in Strand, Western Cape. On the site is a house designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

One of only 41 South African winemakers to belong to the prestigious Cape Winemakers’ Guild, Bruce has to craft two wines a year which are peer reviewed and qualified to be sold on the CWG Auction. The guild funds from this auction, social development investment for school children in the wineland areas and further education through the Protege Programme.

For all of the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show results click here.

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South African wines acheived the largest increase in UK market share in 2009 (10.4% of market to 12.3%, off-trade by volume)

South African category grew by 24% in value and 23% in volume for the same period

South Africa’s market share is only 0.1% behind France which is in decline

Exports to the UK were up 14% by volume, maintaining the UK’s position as the leading export market for the South African wine industry accounting for 32% of total global exports

Success from South Africa’s top brands helped to drive the category: First Cape, Kumala, Arniston Bay and KWV all grew significantly

There was an uplift of 15% by value above 5 pounds, a 27% increase above 7 pounds and a 43% increase above 10 pounds   

On the Wines of South Africa website, CEO Su Birch makes the observation that there had been a year on year global increase of 7% for South African packaged wine exports in 2009 compared with a drop of bulk sales of 18% . This is seen as positive trend and could an important stage in the evolution of the South African wine industry.

Wine corks

Strong growth in packaged South African wine exports last year were to Sweden (18%) and Canada (11%) as well as to Japan, Nigeria, Angola and China. The Netherlands, US and German markets had remained unchanged but Denmark had shown a decline of 5% which was partially offset by increased exports to Finland and Norway.

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