Feedback on last week’s Cape Wine event at the Cape Town International Convention Center is looking very positive.

Reading through bloggers and journalists’ accounts of the week in the stormy Cape it seems they had just as much fun as we did.

According to Bizcommunity this year “was the show’s most successful expo to date with producer exhibitors up 15% and visitors reaching a record at just under 1500.”

Says chairman of Wines of South Africa (WOSA), Johann Krige: “Our industry has wowed the international wine community with an exciting and diverse range of quality wines and a fresh and inspiring approach that has demonstrated our world leadership in eco-sustainability and energy-efficiency among wine-producing nations. We showed very effectively that we are making better wines at all price points and that we are making wines, better.”

The Swartland Independent members all had a stall together in the back of the hall. Our funky stand attracted visitors constantly and seemed to be very popular.

“In the Swartland corner, it was exciting and very busy, especially with Adi Badenhorst there to make things happen” – John Ford, read more here.

Emile on Winegoggle simply says “dig the Swartland Grand Funk stand. Mohammed Ali poster and other non-vino artefacts. Cool dudes. I order some chickens from Callie Louw, Porseleinberg. Talk boxing with a chick from the Sandveld, goes by the name of Katrien.”

Rebecca Gibbs reports: “The Swartland has also been turning heads in the past five years and quality of the wines can’t be denied. The Rhone-like blends produced from old bush vines in this Mediterranean climate are original and interesting.”

“It was a jolly good wine show,” says Melvyn Minnaar, “Unlike other crowded wine shows where the ‘commercial’ aspects always seem to linger in the background (‘have you tasted this?, wanna buy some?), and tasters sometimes feel trapped by the expected eyes of the pourer, this show seemed to operate to a different vibe. A friendly fraternity.”

We had lots of fun living it up in the big city of Cape Town for a week. With the farm bakkie in rush hour traffic (once in sunshine with Helena, Eben and American buyer John on the back and once in pouring rain with no windscreen wipers…), dinners at Fork and Dias Tavern (just to keep it diverse) and lots of laughs with old and new friends.