GOODNESS this was a rough one – a weeklong trip to Joburg - the BIG SMOKE! Unfortunately I cannot write a detailed week report this time round due to meetings with the management of new highly confidential ventures I am involved with.
ANYHOW, Woolworths invited me to join them at their stall at the Johannesburg WINEX as one of the representatives to their new wine section called HANDS ON WINE (which BLANKbottle forms part of). Attending the WINEX is one of those things that I said I’ll never do, as I saw no benefit in me hanging with the competition. I would much rather spend time with the consumer. I subsequently avoided all wine shows. But you can’t hide forever. I arrived Tuesday and headed for Sandton Convention Centre. After a long night I arrived back at my Brother-in-law’s place, where I stayed. At 5 am the next morning, Nika, their 3 year old woke me up and asked me to read her some books! At 7 am I headed out to Sandton for breakfast with the Woolworths and Hands on Wine team. We then went to Sandton City Woolworths to meet up with management and to learn a bit on how the retail trade works. I left at 11 am and headed to a location in Sandton to present my business to a large initiative. Finished at 3 pm and rushed off to Melrose Arch to meet up with the team at Melrose Arch Woolworths. Then back to the convention centre for the WINEX. The next morning I had to be in Sandton at 8:30. I did another confidential presentation till 11 am and then another one from 12 to 3pm. Thereafter I went to another location where I presented a wine tasting – food and wine pairing at a restaurant in Sandton. We had 50 people, a 4 course meal and plenty of wine. I sold more than 600 bottles of wine on the night. Can you believe it! The most successful wine tasting I’ve ever presented!
Got in bed late that evening and back to Sandton at 8:30 the next morning for another confidential presentation till 10am. Then an extremely interesting meeting from 11 to 12 and then the last confidential presentation from 12 to 3pm. Had lunch with the team and then off to the last WINEX evening... Celebrated my birthday after the WINEX and woke up at 5 the next morning, headed for the Silver bird back to Cape Town after an immense intense super exciting trip to the BIG SMOKE. What a week!
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March 2010 - Traversing the vineyards (2010-03-30)
Although you haven't heard much from me in the last few weeks, my life has been anything but quiet! ... |
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February 2010 - Weekly report - harvest and new wines (2010-02-23)
As you well know, this time of the year is very busy for everyone involved with wine! I'm no excepti ... |
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January 2010 - Bottling 3 new wines, vineyard tours, rock stars etc... (2010-02-10)
2010 started with a bang. Week 1 of the year went as follows:
Monday a friend of mine, Albert, and ... |
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The cost of making wine (2010-01-26)
One of the hottest discussion topics around wine is pricing. Everyone normally has the same question ... |
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I didnt decide the price, you did!! (2009-12-08)
Thanks to all who helped me put a price to my new wine, the BATAVIA. It is a Cape blend of Cabernet ... |
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Week Report - The new "Moment of Silence", new Chenin, Great White tasting and Parlotones white blend... (2009-11-23)
Monday 9 November 2009: Early morning off to Wellington. I am busy working on my new white blend: &l ... |
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Weekly Report - WINEX, a trip to Joburg... (2009-11-10)
GOODNESS this was a rough one – a weeklong trip to Joburg - the BIG SMOKE! Unfortunately I can ... |
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Week report - Nominated for Marketing and branding business of the year... (2009-11-05)
Monday 12 October: This week started off with an 2 hour interview with the Chamber of Commerce. BLAN ... |
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Weekly report - Almost got locked up... (2009-11-04)
Monday 5 Oct: I needed a Woolworths trolley for a BLANKbottle photo shoot, but almost got locked up ... |
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My new wine: You decide the price, AGAIN! (2009-10-26)
Would you like to help me decide the price of my new wine? It's called BATAVIA - The first Cape blen ... |
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Wine as a Corporate gift, my take on the subject... (2009-10-19)
I receive plenty of queries when it comes to wine as a corporate gift. And my answer is almost alway ... |
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The Hit Man is on the move: The making of 2 short films as well as the new 60 sec add. (2009-10-14)
My brother, Xaver, lives in Switzerland. Whenever he is here in South Africa my life is not my own. ... |
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HISTORY OF GIANT MISTAKE - The wine for The Parlotones (2009-10-06)
A lifelong dream to create a boutique wine, a group of talented people and a will to succeed, has en ... |
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Weekly report - The woolies launch and more... (2009-10-05)
As my brother got on the plane back to Switzerland, things slowly returned to semi-normal.
Monday 2 ... |
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Feedback from my clients (2009-10-03)
After telling my clients about the Woolies deal, I received massive feedback. See below:
WHY NOT HE ... |
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A GIANT MISTAKE, Neil Pendock, movies and more.... (2009-09-30)
I started the week off on a high note. A Sunday lunch with “The Dangerous One”, Allan Mu ... |
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Breaking news: BLANKbottle in WOOLWORTHS (2009-09-29)
“Would you like to have your wines in Woolworths?” This simple sentence rocked the world ... |
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Why do I cycle? Interview by TREAD magazine... (2009-09-22)
Many of my clients wants to know why I cycle in some of my short wine films. Recently TREAD magazine ... |
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Planning 3 new short films, blending the “Moment of Silence”, “DOWN UNDER” and DE KAT wine tasting... (2009-09-14)
After a great ADMIN day at the office on Monday we headed off to the Swartland on Tuesday. “Th ... |
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Designing labels, 4 new wines, The Dangerous One and plenty of wine tastings... (2009-09-07)
I am busy putting together a specialized vineyard and wine tour. On Monday I had a meeting with a gu ... |
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I bottled my first Cape Blend, travelled to the Swartland and visited flawless vineyards in Stellenbosch... (2009-08-31)
Monday was a long and rewarding day. After months of planning we bottled BLANKbottle BATAVIA, my fir ... |
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Blending my new wine, revealing the spaniard and moving offices.... (2009-08-23)
Monday, after months of careful planning, I finally made up my new blend. I will call it BLANKbottle ... |
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The Annual Vintners Surf Classic (2009-08-21)
I spent the week with the family at one of my “satellite offices” in L’Agulhas (So ... |
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ADMIN, the BIG blend and 5 new wines for BLANKbottle (2009-08-08)
WEEK ENDING: 8 August 2009.
Most of my week last week was taken up by ADMIN - a lot of payments had ... |
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The BIG BLEND, released The Spaniard and THE SEARCH. (2009-07-31)
This week started off with the big blend. It is a very special wine we are working on. The finer int ... |
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My new wine: Guess the Cultivars (2009-07-31)
I'm releasing my new wine: "The Spaniard". This wine intrigues me. It's expensive to make, ... |
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