Eben Bezuidenhoud, a.k.a eben.the.sommelier, has deep roots in the wine industry with a background as winemaker turned sommelier heading up the wine team at Grootbos Private Nature Reserve. His series of lockdown wine tastings are informative and cover broader themes such as sparkling wines in South Africa so you don't need the same bottle that he's using for his tasting
See his latest tasting on rosé below and follow him on Instagram for his future tastings
BLACC Masterclass
A weekly highlight has been the Black Cellar Club's (BLACC) masterclass study sessions via Zoom and Facebook Live.
They've had Joseph Dhafana from Mosi Wines, Andrea Mullineux from Mullineux Wines, Alistair Rimmer from Kleine Zalze and many more sessions with special guest speakers to come, running every Tuesday and Thursday at noon.
To join, simply send them a message here
Michael Fridjhon Burgundy Tasting
For the real wine geeks, take a little virtual trip to Burgundy with Wine Wizard, Michael Fridjhon and Reciprocal Wine Company with a live wine tasting on Tuesday, 21 April at 17h30 on Reciprocal's Instagram page. The tasting will give an overview of Chablis to Beaujolais via the Côte d'Or.
De Grendel
De Grendel's #TogetherWithWine series with Cellarmaster, Charles Hopkins, has made us miss this Durbanville winery even more. Charles has a gentle way of sharing knowledge, making it an easy and relaxed virtual tasting to learn a thing or two and realise that you probably don't have enough De Grendel wines to see you through this lockdown.
These tastings take place on Thursdays at 18h30. If you want to look at one of the previous tastings, you can catch the De Grendel Shiraz tasting below:
#SAWineLockdown
Wine bloggers, Wine Girl Cape Town, Through My Wine Glass and Witty Wine Woman, planned a packed schedule for the initial 21 days of lockdown and many joined in on their #SAWineLockdown initiative. The live tastings with many winemakers and wine personalities have been informative and fun and the initiative gave wine lovers the opportunity to show and start conversations about their favourite wines, following the daily theme. With the extended lockdown, they have updated the schedule and there are still some topics you can join in on:
Oldenburg 2020 Works in Progress
If you're running low on wine or have run out of Oldenburg wines, this tasting is still one to get excited about as winemaker Nic van Aarde will be giving viewers a look into the future, tasting the 2020 Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay (both still in barrel), and chat about what he did differently this year and what these wines are shaping up to look like.
Join in here on Wednesday, 22 April at 18h00
Survivor Cabernet Sauvignon with Ben Snyman
Surviving April with a diminishing wine stash has been tough. Join Survivor winemaker Ben Snyman on Facebook LIVE this Wednesday between 12h00 and 13h00 to learn more about the Survivor Cabernet Sauvignon. If you still have a bottle squirreled away, pour yourself a glass and spend your lunch hour with a relaxed online tasting.
Find Ben here on Wednesday
Waterford Premium Wines
Get ready to sip, chat and further your education as Waterford Estate Cellarmaster, Kevin Arnold, Sommelier Juan Ignacio Cambil and Wine Consultant, Victoria Mulu-Munywoki guide you through Waterford's premium wine range and answer your questions LIVE on Tuesday, 21 April at 19h00.
Click here to join the live tasting
Fairview LIVE CAM of their beloved goats
Ending off with something completely different but quite relevant, is Fairview's understanding that by now, we're all missing their famous goats.
So, if you just need some goat therapy and a feeling of being back at Fairview, pour yourself a nice glass of wine and tune in to the live stream of the Goat Tower that's available every day from 07h00 to 19h00
We love how quickly the wine industry have stayed connected with their audience through virtual tastings, keeping up a positive atmosphere during a gloomy time. We've found the article by Amber LeBeau (SpitBucket) 'How we can make Virtual Tastings less sucky' quite insightful with a few good tips on how to really connect with the people rather than connecting over the wine.