With a new record of 13 500 wine enthusiasts from far and wide, including many overseas visitors, the Stellenbosch Wine Festival claims to have established itself as South Africa's largest regional festival under one roof, showcasing the best of the Stellenbosch wine region. Despite the rain during the first two days, the festival attracted 1000 more visitors than in 2008.
The Connoisseur's evening, an intimate wine experience for the more serious wine lover, was a major success and the increased floor space from 3202m² to 5702 m² this year, allowed visitors to mingle more freely and interact with the 150 exhibitors and winemakers. This annual festival reaches the full spectrum of wine consumers, from the connoisseur to the occasional drinker, across all age profiles by dedicating different events to different target markets. Wine workshops, a food demonstration kitchen and top-notch entertainers ensured plenty of variety to suit all tastes.
“We are extremely proud of this year's festival. It is very reassuring to see the sales figures of the wine shop. The Stellenbosch brand is synonymous with quality and sells well, even in these hard times. We were blessed with wonderful sunny days, and saw a lot of families attending on Sunday in particular. It is also encouraging to see the influx of international tourists, mostly from the USA, the Netherlands and Germany. This means that our surrounding guest houses and restaurants were busy, in our quiet winter months,” said an elated Annareth Bolton, CEO of Stellenbosch American Express Wine Routes.
The shuttle services, introduced as part of the festival's responsible drinking policy, were well utilised from Cape Town, especially by foreign visitors. Shuttles in the central Stellenbosch area were running for the full four days, and the Buddy Bus on Saturday ensured that students got home safely.
The festival's responsible waste management policy to minimise its carbon footprint, resulted in the recycling of over 9000 wine bottles this year. Practically every scrap of waste was collected for recycling or for turning into compost with the help of the recycling company, Let's Talk Rubbish.
With the excellent turnover in wine sales, the Stellenbosch Wine Festival has become a successful business venture as well as promoting a wine culture amongst loyal festival visitors who represent a cross-section of consumers who are keen to learn more about wine.
“We have already started with the planning of next year's festival, which will be from 1 to 4 July 2010, to coincide with the FIFA World Cup semi-final in Cape Town,” Bolton added.
