Wacky Wine Weekend News

2009-03-31

Thursday, March 26, 2009 by Robertson Wine Valley

The winter months are a great time to escape from life in the city and spend time with family and friends. If you have not finalised your winter weekend away join us for the Robertson Wine Valley's 6th annual Wacky Wine Weekend, taking place 4 - 7 June 2009!

As always the festival will take place at participating wineries who will host a whole range of additional activities to wine tasting, incl sport, adventure, music, food and plenty for the kids. We've just finalised our program which you can find online on www.wackywineweekend.com. Should you have any trouble accessing the pdf-file, let us know and we'll e-mail it in another format.

There are some changes to the festival this year, all of which is designed to offer you more of the greatest wine experiences:

Website
Check out our brand new website, which now has special sections for 1st-time visitors, exhibitors wanting to take part, last-minute forum (last-minute accommodation options will be placed here closer to time), space for your reviews and pictures, and a chance to vote for your favourite winery to name but a few. You can now also narrow down your activity-search to kids activities, live music, dinner options and a number of other fields.

Seriously Wine on Thursday (an EXTRA day of Wacky!!!)
Great news is that we've extended the weekend by a day to start on Thursday with the focus on Master Tastings, Discovery of Wine, Food and Wine Matching and Educationals. If you prefer things more interactive and 1-on-1, then this day is just for you!

Designated Driver Program
As part of our commitment to bring you a safe festival, a zero tolerance policy will be upheld with regards to drinking & driving. So please assign a designated driver or make use of the Buddy Bus as our traffic department will act where necessary.

As part of this initiative, we are very excited to announce the launch of our WWW Designated Driver (DD) Program. Drivers who register at our Festival Office (or one of our tourism offices) will be rewarded with coupons that can be redeemed at participating wineries. These rewards include FREE coffee, tea, water, soft drinks etc and is our way of thanking you for assisting us in this important campaign.

Buddy Bus
"Using the Buddy Bus is absolutely the way to do the trip. Johan was fantastic and we will definitely be using them again next year." - Gerry Pienaar. The popular 'Buddy Bus' - enabling visitors to rent a taxi for the day for a minimum of 10 people - is once again available. The service is available from 08h00 - 22h00 and you will be picked up, and dropped again at your accommodation. The service, however, must be booked in advance. Please contact our office should you need more information.

The cost is as follows:
From Bonnievale, Montagu, Robertson:
10 people (minimum) - R150pp
11-15 people - R 140pp
16-20 - R 130pp
21-25 - R 125pp
26-30 - R 120pp

From McGregor:
10 people (minimum) - R175pp
11-15 people - R 150pp
16-20 - R 140pp
21-25 - R 135pp
26-30 - R 125pp

Passport
All visitors, apart from our registered Designated Drivers, need to purchase a passport (R60) at their first port of call. This includes a stylish tasting glass, WWW goodie bag, festival program and a bottle of water to pace yourself with.

How does the passport works? The passport entitles you to free tasting (25ml-samples) of our wines for the duration of the festival. However, it is not a ticket to unlimited drinking and should you like more of a particular wine, you're welcome to either buy a glass, or share a bottle amongst friends. Other activities offered work on a pay-as-you-go basis with some activities free of charge.

Bookings
Many of the activities need to be booked in advance (directly with the wineries) and we strongly advise you to do so sooner rather than later as they tend to be booked out rather quickly.

Fab Wine
Above all the weekend is about sharing and learning more about the Robertson Wine Valley's special wines and we invite you to take the opportunity and stock up, and look out for the many great deals on offer.

Accomodation
Accommodation in some of our towns are already fully booked, so you really need to act quickly to make your booking. Visit our webbased brochure www.rwvbrochure.com for options or contact our local tourism associations to assist you:

Bonnievale Tourism
info@bonnievaletourism.com
+27 (23) 616-3753

McGregor Tourism
info@tourismmcgregor.co.za
+27 (23) 625-1954

Montagu/Ashton Tourism
info@montagu-ashton.info
+27 (23) 614-2471

Robertson Tourism
info@robertson.org.za
+27 (23) 626-4437

PLEASE NOTE: We've received complaints in the past of accommodation bookings being cancelled and visitors then unable to find anything else. The WWW is 'high-season' and establishments require a deposit - in lieu of receiving it within the required time they will consider the booking cancelled. Many local residents have come to offer their homes as informal accommodation options during the WWW. When making a booking at such an establishment, please do inquire about the facilities (e.g. how many people the geaser can cope with) and what is included.

Also note our Last-Minute Forum that will go live a month before the festival, where last-minute options will be listed.

Bus-In
A2B Tours offer one day and overnight bus-in packages. Departing from Waterfront, Tygervalley, Stellenbosch, Somerset West and Paarl to Robertson with "Buddy Bus" between wineries. Group bookings of between eight and fourty, prices for day-trips at R450pp incl passport and Buddy Bus between the wineries, and overnight packages available from R890pps. For bookings or more information please contact Jacques on 083 258 4769 / info@a2btours.co.za.

Fly-In Packages
For our friends from further afield, Beyond Reach has once again put together great packages that includes flights, car rental and accommodation.

2 nights from R2,775 (S/C) and R2,950 (B&B)
3 nights from R3,325 (S/C) and R3,590 (B&B)
4 nights from R3,985 (S/C) and R4,270 (B&B)

All packages are per person sharing and subject to availability, the earlier you book - the cheaper it will be. For bookings/more info please contact +27 (23) 614-3937 / info@beyondreachafrica.co.za.

For more information contact the Robertson Wine Valley +27 (23) 6263167, e-mail: manager@robertsonwinevalley.com or visit www.wackywineweekend.com.