Thursday, 3 October, 2002
Sarah Struys
The Ancient Greek tradition of celebrating spring by honouring Dionysos, the god of theatre, wine and vegetation is to be revived at Kirstenbosch from 1-24 November with a festival of theatre, wine tastings, classics lectures and garden walks.
Dionysos invented the wet drink of the grape, introduced it to mortals to stop their sorrow and pain, ‘whenever men are filled with the stream of the grape-vine they can sleep and forget the evils of the day.’
From: The Bacchae – Euripides
To celebrate Dionysos in style, Kirstenbosch & Wine.co.za have put together a festival of note during November 2002. Artscape will be presenting the Greek Play ‘The Bacchae’ (including two dawn performances in the true Greek style, complemented by Môreson Winery’s ‘Soleil du Matin’ Cap Classique).
The Opening night of the play (in the open-air theatre on 5th Nov) will be accompanied by J.C. le Roux Cap Classique. Various lectures on mythology will be presented, including two on the versatility of Pinotage. In the same grape vein, Wine.co.za has gathered a range of wines to tantalise the tastebuds, and will introduce you to South African wines from Old to New, from Classic to Ethnic, and from the Swartland to the valley of wine & roses - Robertson.
The Wine Tastings will be held on two weekends only:
Saturday, 9th and Sunday, 10th November 2002, and again on
Saturday, 16th and Sunday, 17th November 2002.
Time: 14h00 - 19h00
Venue: Old Mutual Conference Centre, Kirstenbosch Visitors Centre
Price: R35 per person (this includes the entrance fee to the garden)
Saturday, 9th and Sunday, 10th November 2002 -
Ashanti / Boland Kelder / Blaauwklippen / Citrusdal Cellars / Doolhof/Maze Valley Wines / Hoopenburg Wines / Kleine Zalze / Knorhoek Wines / Lanzerac / Linton Park Wines / Nederburg / Old Vines / Seidelberg Wine Estate / Simonsig / Slaley / Stellekaya / Swartland
Saturday, 16th and Sunday, 17th November 2002 -
Boland Kelder / Blaauwklippen / Citrusdal Cellars / Doolhof/Maze / Valley Wines / Kleine Zalze / La Couronne / Lanzerac / Linton Park Wines / Nederburg / Old Vines / Rooiberg / Simonsig / Slaley / Stellekaya & La Masseria / Swartland
These wonderful wines will be complemented by cheese & olive tastings from: The Constantia Cheesery; La Masseria Cheesery; The Olive Grove; Olives from Slaley
Pinotage lectures will be presented in the Old Mutual Conference Centre on Friday, 15th and Friday, 22nd November 2002 from 5.30 – 7.30pm. We intend to illustrate the versatility of Pinotage, e.g. a sparkling wine, a few rosé's, a few ‘Lifestyle’ wines and a few Top 10 wines.
For more information on the festival, contact Sarah Struys at Kirstenbosch.
Tel: +27 (0) 21 790-8775
Email: Struys@nbict.nbi.ac.za