KWV Wine Emporium

Didn’t get a great feel here … tasting room seemed too commercialized together with a long list of wines. Staff keen to market quirky wine gadgets while we were tasting, which put me off.

so many wines you don’t know what to taste! Although I’m not a brandy drinker the Brandy tasting was very interesting.

Huge list of wines and some spirits, nice tasting experiences available with biltong and nuts paired with wine, chocolate paired with brandy and other tastings as well. You can also buy our favourite Champagne Piper Heidsiek for a bargain here – at least R50 less than anywhere else.

I love the selection of wines here. We got to try about 18 wines, which included sparkling wines, white wines, red wines, brandy, and fortified wines. One of my favourites was the Cafe Culture Pinotage. I also liked the KWV Cape Ruby and sparking wines. You can see my full review on my wie blog: http://westerncapewineries.blogspot.com/2011/03/kwv-paarl.html

Very informative cellar tours available without too much fuss but the wine tasting and purchasing a bit supermarketish for me. Very efficient and friendly service though.

Pulled in here in the late afternoon after spending the whole day at home affairs. 1st thing that puts you off is the wine selection and the options. Just too much to handle too many wines and the brandies are just too much as well. Eventually settled on the snack and wine tasting and had a bit of brandy later.
The tasting is very straight forward and the wines are just the way they should be at a place like this. Worth the 1st visit but not the 2nd

Located in the middle of an industrial mega-city, KWV, the conglomerate matriarch of wine distribution and huge market stronghold, looked unassuming from the outside. Almost like a school or a factory you would find in Milnerton. We were greeted by a very friendly ADT/G4A (?) security guard and wondered into the pimped out interior. A maze and labyrinth of tourist delights awaited us; from a coffee shop, kiddies corner, printed shirts and aprons, beaded curios, and everything else you’d expect at an African wine-craft market. After we all drifted off into various paths of exploring, we eventually joined up at our tasting table, where, as in a processing line, our tasting sheets were delivered. O, R15 for a flight of five beverages off a list which contains 43 different wines, sherries, ports, brandies and Liquers. With so much to choose from, we doubled up, paid another R15 each and selected 8-10 different products (some of them count for two off your tasting passport). It was like going to Gold Reef City (Game Park); so many rides to choose from and only so many tickets …

I’m not going to review any of the items that we tested as they all clearly adhered to exact recipes designed to appeal to a broad market. And there is nothing wrong with that. I have to highlight the Cathedral Merlot 2006 which was a sure winner.

Just don’t waste your time to drive here because the actual experience left me with nothing. The two ladies that helped with the tastings messed up service of the white wines and we had to remind them to bring the liqueurs ordered on the sheet. Oegh, and then the minute tasting glasses and horrible tasting trays … it wasn’t even Tupperware.

There was no one to tell us about how they operated or even offered to give us more information about anything. As with any factory it’s all about numbers and getting those feet through the door. Come in, pay, sit down, select, serve, taste, thank you and goodbye.

Corporate tasting room with curio’s that consist out of “wine time” t-shirts, KWV fleece jackets and expensive/overpriced bead works. Target market: Foreigners.

On arrival we bought our tasting tickets, R15 for five wines and the lady said that we can sit at any table and decide on the wines that we wanted to taste. Most of the wines we wanted to taste required 2 stamps, so we decided to buy an addition tasting ticket each. The lady came to fetch our sheets and they brought out our wine later on the ugliest plastic trays ever! They looked like something out of the R10 Store. A big #fail!

She explained which wines were which and left. I opted for reds only and a brandy, but my 2 partners both picked the Reserve Chardonnay which appear very different from each other. We called the lady over and question it. She first agreed that it definitely 2 different wines but then when they showed her that they both ordered the Chardonnay she changed her mind and said that it’s the same wine. She argued until we eventually said to her that she must taste it , which she did and finally agreed that they made a mistake. A bit unnecessary and a waste of time I think. A tip for Mellisan: never argue with customers, smile and replace the wine.

I started of with the Merlot 2008. Tabasco on the nose, spicy and average. The 2007 Reserve Shiraz was nice and affordable at R65. The Reserve Cab was nice on the nose and easy to drink and the Cathedral Cellar Triptych was very nice. The Petit Verdot was good but I’ll still go with the Morkel Petite Verdot at Bellevue for half the price. The Mentors Shiraz was excellent with smoked Beef Simba chips on the nose and extreme smooth on the palate. Did I break my R150 rule and bought it? No. I felt that it was good but a bit over priced. If it was R150 I would have bought one. The Mentors Orchestra was great as well, but again the R195 price tag was a bit much.

I’m very into brandy these days after my Van Ryn experience so I tried their 20 year old Brandy which is absolutely delicious!!!! Will definitely get one of those when I have some extra $. A good investment at R425 a bottle.

I felt that they lady that helped us could have shared a bit of info, but I guess that’s what the cellar tour is for. We had a good time nevertheless and enjoyed each others company while we worked through our wines.

Very nice visit, went here yesterday, redwines are average, they they have a nice easy drinking white wine, roodeberg white, and gthe brandy tasting was also great. I loved the 20year old, except for the R380 price tag

Very nic isit, very informative, nice wine

Unfortunately I was the driver, so had to spit! Very friendly staff. Did lots of wines and all their brandies! Had to buy a bottle of their Imoya brandy – just loved the bottle and the brandy was very good too!

well worth another visit!!! one of the best experiences this time, we had so much fun that we overspend our budget!!! learned alot from the staff which was very friendly, knowledgeable and full of fun. deinately try the 15, 20 y/old and then the other liquers…. man o man!!!