Why do old vines matter? @MarykeRoberts explains why SA's historic old vines are becoming sought-after assets, yielding premium wines while preserving the country's rich viticultural heritage. news.wine.co.za/News.aspx?NE…

A humpback whale visited V&A Waterfront in Cape Town 🐋

WWF Conservation Champions celebrate a 20-year partnership that actively conserves 23 585 hectares of threatened Cape flora across the Cape winelands. news.wine.co.za/News.aspx?NE…

Amura at the Mount Nelson is rated among the world's most beautiful restaurants news24.com/life/food/news/th…

Chardonnay dominated, including a standout example from South Africa’s Bruce Jack Wines. So impressive was this wine that the judges felt it would merit a gold medal at twice, if not three times, its price. It was named Under £15 Masters Best in Class. thedrinksbusiness.com/2026/0…

If you are in the wine business or love wine, this is a must read. the-buyer.net/opinion/bruce-…

What an athlete! And what a lovely man.

The funniest maths in modern environmentalism. One almond requires 12 litres of irrigated water to produce. Peer-reviewed, ScienceDirect, 2017. A glass of almond milk contains roughly 50 of them. 600 litres of water before the carton is filled. The water comes from the San Joaquin Valley in California, which sits over one of the most over-extracted aquifers on earth. The valley floor has subsided by up to nine metres in places due to groundwater depletion. The carton is then refrigerated, sailed across the Atlantic, refrigerated again, lorried to a Manchester Tesco, and bought by someone who is concerned about the environmental impact of dairy. Meanwhile, in Cheshire. A British dairy cow drinks roughly 70 to 100 litres of water a day and produces around 28 litres of milk. That's about 3.5 litres of water per litre of milk. The water is rainwater that fell on her field or came from a local stream fed by the same rainwater. The rain was going to fall on the field whether the cow stood in it or not. 80% of her moisture intake comes from the grass itself, which is also rain. She converts the grass, free of charge, into a litre of milk containing seven times the protein and four times the calcium of almond milk, and shipped roughly 18 miles to the same Tesco. To recap. 600 litres of stolen aquifer, flown halfway round the world for nutritionally worthless beige water. Or 3.5 litres of rain that was already falling, converted by an animal you can pet, into actual food. The shopper picks the almond. She has been told this is the ethical position. The aquifer would like a word.

Congratulations to this fabulous, creative team!news24.com/southafrica/good-…

qz.com/most-beautiful-wine-d… The Cape wine lands are the only Southern Hemisphere wine lands in this list?

Take the time to *look* at these.

Travel scam alert … Trivago might also be affected cos they are sister Booking agents

Would you book a night’s stay on Robben Island? I had to read the headline twice because it felt too surreal to be real. Former prison guard houses may be turned into tourist accommodation. At first, it sounded like satire… but it’s not. A pilot project is already underway, and the idea is gaining traction. But this isn’t just another development opportunity. Robben Island is a place of deep historical weight. A site tied to pain, resistance, suffering and sacrifice. A place where history is not separate from the land… it is the land. And just like that, it’s being reframed as somewhere you can check in. Where do we draw the line between preservation and commercialisation? Read my full article below.

A special place where Danish and South African talents flourish wantedonline.co.za/travel/20…

Stellenbosch is your best bet thedrinksbusiness.com/2026/0…