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While many breweries have recently seen sales fall, the demand for non-alcoholic beers are conversely on the rise. The 0.0% beer category is potentially the biggest trend in beer since the introduction of the Lite category several years back.
ALSO READ: We tasted de-alcoholised wine, and tbh it’s not amazing
That surge in popularity is believed to be led by the worldwide trend towards health and wellness, driven especially by Millennials. As a result, there’s been a movement away from fast food, sugary sodas and alcohol-laden beverages.
Living a healthy lifestyle has never before been so trendy – vegan, low-carb, gluten-free and non-dairy lifestyles have become mainstream; gym and yoga memberships are at an all-time high; and, according to a Nielson report, 20 percent of us are actively trying to drink less alcohol. Cue the 0.0% beer!
SA restaurant named number 44 in World’s 50 Best
ape Town – The countdown for the 2019 World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards took place in Singapore on 25 June and one South African restaurant made the list!
The Test Kitchen in Cape Town was named number 44, after being named number 50 last year. on South Africa’s biggest and most trusted restaurant site,
What it takes to produce wine on one of SA’s leading estates
120km from Cape Town lies a glorious valley in Walker Bay, Hermanus. The Hemel-en-Aarde valley has been monikered by its celestial name for over 200 years. In this picturesque part of the world, rolling vineyards meet a thunderous ocean. Nothing could be more apt than the moniker ‘Heaven-and-Earth’.
Peter Finlayson, Founder of the Hemel-en-Aarde’s Bouchard Finlayson Winery has an innate knowledge of the history and viticulture of the valley. Widely regarded as a pioneer of South African Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Peter Finlayson and business partner Michael Clark founded Bouchard Finlayson in partnership with Frenchman, Paul Bouchard in 1989. In 2000, the Tollman family purchased the wine farm with the proviso that Peter would remain at the helm of the farm as winemaker and General Manager.
Peter, mentored a successor in winemaker, Chris Albrecht, as he spread his seasoned wings. With extensive experience in New Zealand and France, and impressive accolades at a winery in Franschhoek, Chris heeded the call to head to the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. Although Chris started his career at Bouchard Finlayson in 2010, he was promoted to head of production from the 2017 harvest.
ALSO READ: SA wine farms are abuzz: Scenes from the 2019 harvest
At Bouchard Finlayson, over 185 000 bottles of premium wine are produced annually. 25 hectares of the 125-hectare property are under vine. Apart from winemakers, few people are more intimately au fait with the vines than the vineyard workers who rise early to pick grapes during harvest season.
“You are constantly on your knees and getting up, it’s hard on your back,” Mortimer Lee, Estate Manager explains the backbreaking process of picking grapes.
Generally, the vines are trellised in three perpendicular rows along wires. The grapes grow along the bottom trellising wire, which means that the pickers either squat or kneel to hand-pick grapes, then rise to their feet to lift picking bins filled with grapes. According to Mortimer, throughout the year, there are 25 permanent workers on the farm who are specialist workers, like supervisors, tractor drivers and cellar hands. However, during harvest season temporary workers are sourced as additional pickers during the roughly 6-week-long harvest season.
The process of picking grapes is incredibly orderly and intimidating. Mortimer says, “you come here on day one of harvest and all you see is row upon row of an unpicked vine and it is daunting. ”With 33 pickers who face the daunting vines daily, every grape must be picked or discarded before harvest is complete.
Over an hour and a half of harvest, 3 tons or over 0.35 hectares of vines are picked by 33 pickers who gently remind one another to, “watch your fingers.”