The Cape Wine Academy is the organiser of the TOPS Soweto Wine Festival. As leaders of Wine Education in South Africa, it is important to introduce wine to an audience wider than the Western Cape.
And Soweto is the right place to do it. Regarded as the birthplace of new trends, it is the perfect host to this annual wine festival. The focus is on bringing South Africa’s finest wines to Soweto and combining African culture with the wine lifestyle.
Visitors to the festival this weekend (6-8 September) can taste 950 wine styles and cultivars and enjoy a meal in a food court showcasing Sowetan restaurants. They can also visit the Cape Wine Academy stand and learn how to kick-start a career in wine, or start a wine club. Courses include wine and hospitality training, social wine courses and tasting events.
In its eighth year, the festival is going strong – a positive sign for the wine industry. According to a survey held during the 2011 Soweto Wine Festival, 67% of the participants enjoy wine once or more a week and 44% have been drinking wine for the last five years. Wine drinkers are quite young with 35% of participants between the age of 30 and 34 and only 7% older than 49. Spending patterns indicate that 44% purchase wine between R50 and R100 per bottle.