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Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls
VICTORIA Falls hosted the first ever wine festival over the weekend in a development that will further attract more tourists into the country’s prime resort town.

Zimbabwe imports about 1,5 million litres of wine annually from South Africa while close to 20 million litres are exported from South Africa into the world.

The Wines of South Africa Grand Tasting Festival was held at the Victoria Falls Hotel on Friday and Saturday and attended by executives in the tourism and hospitality industry and their counterparts from Zambia.

On Saturday evening, different wine makers and distributors showcased their various brands with clients and guests tasting each and every bottle.

Earlier the winemakers had taken workers in the industry through some training to impart knowledge on wine tasting and handling among others.

Winemakers have so far trained more than 20 000 workers in the tourism and hospitality industry.

South Africa is the major wine producer in the region competing with countries such as Spain and France and has some of the best wines, which are sought after worldwide because of the climate in the Cape province.

Victoria Falls was chosen as the venue for the inaugural event which is set to be held annually because of its central location to other targeted markets in Botswana and Zambia.

Victoria Falls Hotel general manager Mr Farai Chimba said the idea came after the realisation that wine is key to tourism.

“We had representatives from Zambia Tourism Association and together we are trying to promote wine tourism,” he said.

Mr Chimba said the festival will be an annual event and is set to breathe a new lease of life into Victoria Falls.

Wines of South Africa marketing manager for Africa Mr Matome Mbatha said the festival had seen more than 40 wine brands being showcased by different winemakers and distributors.

“This inaugural event was well-organised considering the quality of people and trade that looms here. Now we need to look at innovative ways of improving and making it big and more accessible to consumers going forward. The intention is to ensure that we enhance wine tourism and increase sales and Zimbabwe is a perfect destination,” he said.

Mrs Wendy Noble, a Zimbabwean distributor for South Africa’s The Stable Winery said Harare and Victoria Falls have ready markets for wine because of tourism.

“Zimbabwe is a key market because of tourism and this is an exciting moment as we are getting to meet distributors and potential clients.

“It’s important to have our brands exposed to international tourists visiting Victoria Falls,” she said.
A winemaker from the Cape province in South Africa Mrs Virginia Povall of Botania Wines said:

“We came here to sample market and we are definitely coming back because Zimbabwe is untouched.”

— @ncubeleon