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The
Stables Wine Estate scoops top Tourism KwaZulu-Natal Award
Nottingham Road – At the end of a heady week of international acclaim, The
Stables Wine Estate winemakers Tiny and Judy Van Niekerk won one of the two
prestigious Tourism KwaZulu-Natal Special Recognition Awards at the ICC in
Durban on Tuesday night.
The pair had jetted back into Durban just hours before they received the
award, returning from Monaco where Judy Van Niekerk received the Women and
Wines of the World winemakers award last Thursday.
The two TKZN Special Recognition awards were presented to The Stables Wine
Estate and the acapella musical group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, for their
exceptional contributions in marketing and profiling KwaZulu-Natal both
domestically and internationally. Last year The Stables Wine Estate was
awarded the Most Innovative Tourism Project award at the TKZN awards.
The jet-lagged pair was also thrilled to learn on their return that they had
been listed as semi-finalists in the SA Tourism Welcome awards.
“We’re blown away by all this good news,” said Judy Van Niekerk. “We made so
many wonderful friends and contacts over the past ten days that we were in
Europe for the Women and Wines of the World Awards, and then to get such
special recognition in our own province makes us feel really proud.”
With export orders for their KwaZulu-Natal wines now stacking up, the pair
will waste little time getting back to their estate outside Nottingham Road
to keep up with the demand for their wines.
“It’s all a bit overwhelming,” admitted Judy Van Niekerk, who also heads up
the KwaZulu-Natal Winegrowers Association. “The establishment of the wine
industry in this province has such vast potential, from a tourism and an
economic perspective, that it is wonderful to see the province supporting
and profiling the emerging wine industry.”
“It is important to harness these opportunities to assist the many other
keen winemakers, and those that want to help establish a fully fledged wine
route in KwaZulu-Natal, to share knowledge, resources and expertise,” Van
Niekerk added.
Van Niekerk was honoured by the Women and Wines of the World society for her
efforts in establishing KwaZulu-Natal as a certified wine growing region,
and driving the recognition of their estate, and their range of wine grown
and made in KwaZulu-Natal by the SA Wine Information Service.
For more information please contact
Judy on 033 266 6781 or by email on
info@stableswine.co.za
ENDS
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