Sixth Annual Wacky Wine Weekend Goes off Without a Hitch

Recession has very little impact on Wacky Wine Weekend

The 2009 Wacky Wine Weekend has once again ensured great fun for everyone with a love of wine and a zest for life.

With 16 076 visitors (compared to 16 049 visitors in 2008) streaming to the Robertson Wine Valley the Wacky Wine Weekend has maintained it’s position as the biggest regional wine festival in South Africa.

‘Seriously Wine Thursday’ formed part of the weekend for the first time this year and went down well. With this extra day, the wineries catered for guests requesting a more serious approach to wine tasting.

This went down extremely well with many of the master tastings and educational wine presentations fully booked in advance.

Another first at this year’s Wacky Wine Weekend – with the assistance of ARA (Association for Responsible Alcohol Use) – was the ‘Designated Driver Program’ which formed part of the Zero Tolerance policy.

This program requested people to register as designated drivers for the weekend if they were not going to drink, and as reward they were issued several vouchers for breakfast and non-alcoholic drinks, which could be redeemed at specific farms who sponsored the vouchers.

A total of 139 people registered as designated drivers.

Also forming part of the Zero Tolerance policy this year was the Buddy Bus service, which consisted of a chauffeur driven bus for the day for groups of 10 people or more. This service was used by 27 groups, with the total number of people using the service being 426.

Numerous groups hired busses privately to transport their groups, which shows that people are becoming more responsible regarding drinking and driving.

Festival-goers might have noticed the interesting artwork on the goodie bags this year. This was an initiative made possible by ABSA. Local artists were encouraged to submit a painting reflective of the valley to print on the bags.

The winning paintings, by Braam Coetsee and Johanna Kriel, were printed on the goodie bags and the paintings itself auctioned after the competition, with Van Loveren and Viljoensdrift placing the winning bids.

Robertson Wine Valley will match the funds generated from this auction and the total sum will be used to buy stationary and utensils needed for local crèches.

With Wacky Wine Weekend 2010 taking place from 3-6 June 2010 and the FIFA World Cup starting 7 June 2010, guest houses and hotels are already receiving their first bookings for next year.

According to Calvyn Gilfellan, Chief Executive Officer of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, Destination partner of the Wacky Wine Weekend, the success of this winter wine festival might be because of “the good quality, well-priced wines in the area, the various wine estates that you can visit, the celebratory atmosphere, the genuine plattelandse hospitality, the beautiful scenery or a combination of these”.

This is reiterated by newly appointed manager, Elizma Spangenberg, “The people fall in love with this valley once they’ve visited it and tasted our wines, and they just have to come back for more!”

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