Teaching wine tasting here in Kenya, albeit on a modest scale, I find that new students are often put off or even intimidated by the flowery language sometimes associated with the wine world. You know the sort of thing I mean when wine tasting gets sent up for all it’s, “hints of mocha-chocolate overlain by cassis and cigar box and perhaps a soupcon of mint”. It is enough to make even the most enthusiastic of wine lovers wince let alone the new wine student. I recently acquired a copy of, ‘Wine Tasting a professional Handbook’ by Ronald S Jackson and its almost 500 pages are to this self-confessed wine geek incredible if not mind boggling. The book to an extent is based on the assumption that it is possible through the adoption of a systematic approach to objectively assess the quality of any given wine. In other words, the preference of the taster whether she or he likes or dislikes the wine has got little if not nothing to do with it.
One of the tools wine tasting has developed in pursuit of assessment of quality are what are called tasting wheels. They vary in their complexity from the highly detailed such as the ones credited to the University of California at Davis to the less complex such as the Keep it Simple Tasting Wheel commonly abbreviated to KIST. These tasting wheels all endevour to provide a template to enable the taster to link the smell and taste of a wine with standardised associations for any given grape variety. For example, the red grape Cabernet Sauvignon is described as possessing a black-currant aroma and the white grape Sauvignon Blanc is often described as having elements of green peppers. So-far-so-good and as one works ones way through the eight or nine classic grape varieties it is possible to build up a lexicon of language to describe smells and tastes.
In Kenya two things spring to mind related to the development of students wine tasting language. The first is common throughout the world, which is that it is always surprising how many new students are quick to claim that they have, “no sense of smell”. When you dig a little deeper what I normally discover is that either they mean they have an undeveloped sense of smell, at least for the purposes of wine tasting, or, more commonly, they simply lack confidence. Once it has been explained that physiologically it is extremely uncommon for any given person to have a complete permanent lack of a sense of smell and that practice, normally a word what wine tasters love to hear, will quickly improve their ability to describe what they smell then progress is quickly made.
The second thing I notice relates to what I think is a cultural difference. There are many countries throughout the world that obviously do not have a culture or history of wine drinking and Kenya is not unusual in this sense. More unusual is that the wine language based upon associations of fruit and vegetables is often a challenge for Kenyan wine students. This is not because the fruit and vegetables used in most wine aromas wheels are not found in Kenya, in fact Kenya is blessed with pretty well growing anything you might care to mention. The difference maybe that for the average Kenyan they simply have seldom come across what may be considered to be everyday fruits and vegetables. Sniffing and tasting of all sorts of things in our Kenyan wine tasting classes has become a highlight and great fun. Do not be surprised next time you happen to be in a Nairobi market to see a huddle of Kenyans comparing the smells and tastes of the many different mango varieties we get here. Oh yes I have had more than one student tell me that the smell of a fruity South African Chenin Blanc is not the apple mango, but the mangoes one gets from the coast.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
A trip to Scotland with an African Twist
Departing briefly from the Kenyan theme of this blog, but still retaining an African twist here is a story about a recent visit to Scotland. The purpose of the visit was a family celebration of the parent-in-laws sixtieth wedding anniversary. The location was beautiful Loch Tay, Perthshire, and a revisit to the Ardeonaig Hotel. I say revisit because over the last 40 years or more the family has made occasional visits to this idyllic spot. For much of its life the Ardeonaig Hotel was largely a small fishing lodge with pub attached very unassuming and catered for the needs of the fisherman and hill walker. The hotel fell on bad times during the 1990’s and by the early 2000’s was boarded-up and just about derelict.
As coincidence would have it a South African chef based in London at the time and with a keen interest in salmon fishing visited Ardeonaig. To cut a long story short, Pete Gottgens the South Africa chef decided that there was much potential in Ardeonaig and bought the hotel. From 2002 Pete has embarked upon establishing the Ardeonaig Hotel as one of Scotland’s best small hotels a task I can report he and his staff are well on the way to achieving.
The African connections are two fold. First Pete has from the onset encouraged a steady stream of Africans including from Kenya to work at the hotel. In the beginning this was partly prudence as encouraging qualified Scots to locate to this relatively remote spot proved challenging. Also as a proud African himself, Pete very much wanted to encourage and provide opportunities to his comrades from the continent. Pete was born in Durban, but led an exotic childhood with family living in various southern and east African countries as his parents worked in the field of wildlife and conservation. The African connections and themes are very much part of the hotels character enhanced by Pete’s childhood African photographs and pieces of African objet d’art.
The other connection with Africa is Ardeonaig’s extensive collection of South African wines. Pete first developed his love and extensive knowledge of South African wines while based in the Cape and now claims that Ardeonaig has Europe’s largest collection of South African wines. Having watched the collection grow over the last few years I have no reason to disagree with this claim. I for one have never seen so many cases of Sadie Family Wines, voted Winery of the Year in South Africa’s wine “bible” the Platter Guide 2010, in one place, both the iconic red blend Columella and the white blend Palladius, and I have visited the Sadie Family cellar in Swatland! The connection with the Sadie family is a product of the fact that Pete and Eben Sadie, who with his brother Niko make the family wines, are good friends. Pete has now gone further and commissioned Eben to produce for the Ardeonaig Hotel a special cuvee of the, “the best wine he can make” from the Spanish vineyard enterprise Eben has been working on for the last six years. Perhaps even more off-the-wall, Pete has recently planted an experimental patch of vines in the hotel grounds to see whether he can introduce wine making to a part of Scotland not known for oenology. Either Pete is confident of the effects of global warming, or, is just a wee bit optimistic.
As this is a wine blog, I should report on the South African wines we tried during our stay at Ardeonaig. Really good (as ever) was the Villiera Monro Brut a stylish Method Cape Classic made with half Pinot Noir and half Chardonnay. To link with a semi-Scottish theme, we also drank the Iona Sauvignon Blanc partly because it is one of my favourites, but also the estate is owned and run by the Gunn family, who with such a name you will not be surprised to learn have a Scottish ancestry and thus the name of the estate. The other standout was a magnum of Pinot Noir from the Cape Chamonix Wine Farm. There are some that argue that the verdict is still out on whether the Cape produces really world-class Pinot Noir. While I agree Pinot Noir from the Cape is by definition not Burgundian, some including the Chamonix are really fabulous and in general the Cape’s Pinot Noir’s improve with every vintage.
As coincidence would have it a South African chef based in London at the time and with a keen interest in salmon fishing visited Ardeonaig. To cut a long story short, Pete Gottgens the South Africa chef decided that there was much potential in Ardeonaig and bought the hotel. From 2002 Pete has embarked upon establishing the Ardeonaig Hotel as one of Scotland’s best small hotels a task I can report he and his staff are well on the way to achieving.
The African connections are two fold. First Pete has from the onset encouraged a steady stream of Africans including from Kenya to work at the hotel. In the beginning this was partly prudence as encouraging qualified Scots to locate to this relatively remote spot proved challenging. Also as a proud African himself, Pete very much wanted to encourage and provide opportunities to his comrades from the continent. Pete was born in Durban, but led an exotic childhood with family living in various southern and east African countries as his parents worked in the field of wildlife and conservation. The African connections and themes are very much part of the hotels character enhanced by Pete’s childhood African photographs and pieces of African objet d’art.
The other connection with Africa is Ardeonaig’s extensive collection of South African wines. Pete first developed his love and extensive knowledge of South African wines while based in the Cape and now claims that Ardeonaig has Europe’s largest collection of South African wines. Having watched the collection grow over the last few years I have no reason to disagree with this claim. I for one have never seen so many cases of Sadie Family Wines, voted Winery of the Year in South Africa’s wine “bible” the Platter Guide 2010, in one place, both the iconic red blend Columella and the white blend Palladius, and I have visited the Sadie Family cellar in Swatland! The connection with the Sadie family is a product of the fact that Pete and Eben Sadie, who with his brother Niko make the family wines, are good friends. Pete has now gone further and commissioned Eben to produce for the Ardeonaig Hotel a special cuvee of the, “the best wine he can make” from the Spanish vineyard enterprise Eben has been working on for the last six years. Perhaps even more off-the-wall, Pete has recently planted an experimental patch of vines in the hotel grounds to see whether he can introduce wine making to a part of Scotland not known for oenology. Either Pete is confident of the effects of global warming, or, is just a wee bit optimistic.
As this is a wine blog, I should report on the South African wines we tried during our stay at Ardeonaig. Really good (as ever) was the Villiera Monro Brut a stylish Method Cape Classic made with half Pinot Noir and half Chardonnay. To link with a semi-Scottish theme, we also drank the Iona Sauvignon Blanc partly because it is one of my favourites, but also the estate is owned and run by the Gunn family, who with such a name you will not be surprised to learn have a Scottish ancestry and thus the name of the estate. The other standout was a magnum of Pinot Noir from the Cape Chamonix Wine Farm. There are some that argue that the verdict is still out on whether the Cape produces really world-class Pinot Noir. While I agree Pinot Noir from the Cape is by definition not Burgundian, some including the Chamonix are really fabulous and in general the Cape’s Pinot Noir’s improve with every vintage.
Wine in Nairobi: What’s in the Supermarkets?
Kenya is world famous for its wildlife, magnificent scenery, and diverse cultural mix, but not surprisingly given its relative poverty not wine. Wine consumption within a very poor country is as to be expected confined to a tiny minority largely the emerging urban middle classes or tourists. Consequently, Kenya is towards the bottom of the world’s league table for wine consumption, but for those with the wherewithal and bitten by the wine bug there is a surprising range of wine on offer through the country’s main supermarkets.
There are three main supermarket chains that dominate in Kenya: Nakumatt, Uchumi, and smaller, but still significant for wine Chandarana. These three supermarkets dominate and constitute by far the vast majority of retail wine sales in Kenya. Wine can be found as with all African countries in Kenya’s thousands of small shops and markets, which is separate story in itself. A difference between Kenya and Europe and South Africa is that none of the supermarkets import wines directly. Instead, they are supplied by six or seven main wine importing companies, which again is a separate subject.
As you would expect for an African country, South Africa still dominates in terms of volume of wine imported into Kenya at approximately 2.3 million litres of wine a year (see www.sawis.co for more statistics). This places Kenya sixteenth on the world-wide table of natural wine exports from South Africa with only Angola among African countries importing more wines (albeit 5 times the amount imported by Kenya). All the major South African brands can be found on the Kenyan supermarket shelves. These range from the “A’s such as A Few Good Men, Alto, Arniston Bay, and Avondale, through the ‘L’s, La Bri, Land’s End, Leopard’s Leap, and Long Mountain, and onto the ‘Z’s represented by the ubiquitous Zonnebloem, and of course everything else in between.
At the good quality end of South African wines value can be found from the bigger producers such as Nederburg where their Winemaster’s Reserve range of whites from Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and Riesling can be bought at around Ksh(Kenyan Shillings)750 to Ksh900 (approximately $10 to $12) a bottle. For the Nederburg Winemaster’s Reserve reds Shiraz, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and the blend Baronne can be bought for around Ksh1,200 to Ksh1,500 ($16 to $20) a bottle.
At a similar price range to the Nederburg range Bellingham, part of the relative giant Douglas Green Bellingham company, enjoys approximately 10% of the Kenyan market for South African wines. Bellingham’s Fusion range such as Cabernet Sauvignon with a splash of Cabernet Franc, or, Shiraz with a splash of Viognier again offers good value. They also offer the clever marketing twist of a single grape varietal with a “splash” to lure the more adventurous wine apprentice to dip their toes into the world of blends. Particularly good value is Bellingham’s multi-award winner Fair Maiden white blend (Roussanne, Chenin, Verdelho, Grenache Blanc, Viognier) and the very good 2008 vintage can be found at selected supermarket in Nairobi for about KSH1,200 to KSH1,400 ($16 to $19) a bottle.
These prices may seem somewhat heavy viewed from the home of these wines in South Africa. However, if you considered the transportation costs and not least the very high tax and duties on wines in Kenya (more about this in a future blog) these retail prices are low particularly given the relative quality. Also from South Africa, but with a Kenyan flavour is the well marketed Mara wine. This wine a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon is made in South Africa and marketed as Mara Nyekundu (meaning red in the Swahili language) and comes resplendent with a beaded amulet around the bottle neck and attractive label. It is soft and fruity and with a price at around Ksh850 (approximately $11) a bottle and is particular popular with tourist who want an “African” flavour to their wine.
After South Africa and very much coming up on the rails so to speak in volume terms of wine sold in Kenya’s is Chile. The story of the Chilean wine production explosion over the last ten years is well known and is now the world’s ninth largest wine producer. Seven out of every ten bottles produced in Chile is exported and these wines can be found taking up every increasing amounts of shelf space in Kenya’s supermarkets. Gato Negro is claimed by some to be the largest selling bottled brand of wine in Kenya and can be bought for around Ksh500 to Ksh550 (approximately $6.50 to $7.50) a bottle. Its popularity is based much on its price, but its easily accessible and fruity style goes down well with Kenyan consumers. Good quality and value can be found through the wines produced by the dominant Chilean wine company Concha y Toro through its brand Casillero del Diablo. There are the full range of these wines on the supermarket shelves from the whites Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay, Viognier, Riesling, through the reds Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and what has become Chile’s national grape Carmenère. The whites are in the price range of Ksh800 to Ksh900 ($10.50 to $11.00) a bottle and the reds from Ksh1, 250 to Ksh1, 500 ($16.50 to $20) a bottle and in the price-to-quality ratio are the biggest competitors to the better South African wines.
While the New World wine countries dominate in Kenya, there is a broad representation from the Old World wine producers. The big French wine companies and brands are represented through J.P. Chenet complete with bendy-shaped bottles. J. P. Chenet is a wine made by the producer Grands Chais de France, a privately owned French business that is the largest wine exporter in the France. It is marketed almost exclusively abroad, with 64 million bottles sold yearly. The range of J.P. Chenet wines both reds (Merlot and a Cabernet-Syrah blend) and whites (Blanc de Blanc and a Semi-sweet wine) can all be found for between Ksh800 and Ksh850 ($10.50 to $11.50) a bottle. Also from France the Vin de Pays from Piat D’or (a brand from the largest wine company in the world Diageo) most famous in the UK wine retail market, can also be found in Kenya at a slightly cheaper price than the offerings from J.P. Chenet,
Italian wines other than the bulk producers are not that common although Nairobi does have a vibrant Italian community and there is one or two private families that import really high quality and hand selected Italian wines direct (more in a later blog). Spanish wine is less available although Torres Cornas can be found at Ksh1, 275 (about $16) a bottle. Moving back to the New World Australia is well represented through the ever popular Hardy’s brand range of wines and compete at a similar price range to the quality South African and Chilean offerings. Finally, also to be found are Californian wines although these are mostly represented in the form of three and five litre bag offering and what the American’s tend to call “jug” wines. There is nothing wrong with these wines offering good value per litre as they do, but perhaps better as a party or barbeque offering.
There is then an increasingly broad offering of wines through Kenya’s supermarkets. Inevitably the wines on offer are not necessarily the finest examples of the wines available from the respective countries. In general they are part of the worldwide ocean of bulk wines, albeit of sound technical quality, that dominate throughout the world. For the Kenyan consumer the general feeling is one of appreciation that these wines are on offer at all. For the more discerning wine aficionados there are fine wines available from a handful of specialist outlets, which will be the subject of a subsequent blog.
There are three main supermarket chains that dominate in Kenya: Nakumatt, Uchumi, and smaller, but still significant for wine Chandarana. These three supermarkets dominate and constitute by far the vast majority of retail wine sales in Kenya. Wine can be found as with all African countries in Kenya’s thousands of small shops and markets, which is separate story in itself. A difference between Kenya and Europe and South Africa is that none of the supermarkets import wines directly. Instead, they are supplied by six or seven main wine importing companies, which again is a separate subject.
As you would expect for an African country, South Africa still dominates in terms of volume of wine imported into Kenya at approximately 2.3 million litres of wine a year (see www.sawis.co for more statistics). This places Kenya sixteenth on the world-wide table of natural wine exports from South Africa with only Angola among African countries importing more wines (albeit 5 times the amount imported by Kenya). All the major South African brands can be found on the Kenyan supermarket shelves. These range from the “A’s such as A Few Good Men, Alto, Arniston Bay, and Avondale, through the ‘L’s, La Bri, Land’s End, Leopard’s Leap, and Long Mountain, and onto the ‘Z’s represented by the ubiquitous Zonnebloem, and of course everything else in between.
At the good quality end of South African wines value can be found from the bigger producers such as Nederburg where their Winemaster’s Reserve range of whites from Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and Riesling can be bought at around Ksh(Kenyan Shillings)750 to Ksh900 (approximately $10 to $12) a bottle. For the Nederburg Winemaster’s Reserve reds Shiraz, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and the blend Baronne can be bought for around Ksh1,200 to Ksh1,500 ($16 to $20) a bottle.
At a similar price range to the Nederburg range Bellingham, part of the relative giant Douglas Green Bellingham company, enjoys approximately 10% of the Kenyan market for South African wines. Bellingham’s Fusion range such as Cabernet Sauvignon with a splash of Cabernet Franc, or, Shiraz with a splash of Viognier again offers good value. They also offer the clever marketing twist of a single grape varietal with a “splash” to lure the more adventurous wine apprentice to dip their toes into the world of blends. Particularly good value is Bellingham’s multi-award winner Fair Maiden white blend (Roussanne, Chenin, Verdelho, Grenache Blanc, Viognier) and the very good 2008 vintage can be found at selected supermarket in Nairobi for about KSH1,200 to KSH1,400 ($16 to $19) a bottle.
These prices may seem somewhat heavy viewed from the home of these wines in South Africa. However, if you considered the transportation costs and not least the very high tax and duties on wines in Kenya (more about this in a future blog) these retail prices are low particularly given the relative quality. Also from South Africa, but with a Kenyan flavour is the well marketed Mara wine. This wine a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon is made in South Africa and marketed as Mara Nyekundu (meaning red in the Swahili language) and comes resplendent with a beaded amulet around the bottle neck and attractive label. It is soft and fruity and with a price at around Ksh850 (approximately $11) a bottle and is particular popular with tourist who want an “African” flavour to their wine.
After South Africa and very much coming up on the rails so to speak in volume terms of wine sold in Kenya’s is Chile. The story of the Chilean wine production explosion over the last ten years is well known and is now the world’s ninth largest wine producer. Seven out of every ten bottles produced in Chile is exported and these wines can be found taking up every increasing amounts of shelf space in Kenya’s supermarkets. Gato Negro is claimed by some to be the largest selling bottled brand of wine in Kenya and can be bought for around Ksh500 to Ksh550 (approximately $6.50 to $7.50) a bottle. Its popularity is based much on its price, but its easily accessible and fruity style goes down well with Kenyan consumers. Good quality and value can be found through the wines produced by the dominant Chilean wine company Concha y Toro through its brand Casillero del Diablo. There are the full range of these wines on the supermarket shelves from the whites Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay, Viognier, Riesling, through the reds Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and what has become Chile’s national grape Carmenère. The whites are in the price range of Ksh800 to Ksh900 ($10.50 to $11.00) a bottle and the reds from Ksh1, 250 to Ksh1, 500 ($16.50 to $20) a bottle and in the price-to-quality ratio are the biggest competitors to the better South African wines.
While the New World wine countries dominate in Kenya, there is a broad representation from the Old World wine producers. The big French wine companies and brands are represented through J.P. Chenet complete with bendy-shaped bottles. J. P. Chenet is a wine made by the producer Grands Chais de France, a privately owned French business that is the largest wine exporter in the France. It is marketed almost exclusively abroad, with 64 million bottles sold yearly. The range of J.P. Chenet wines both reds (Merlot and a Cabernet-Syrah blend) and whites (Blanc de Blanc and a Semi-sweet wine) can all be found for between Ksh800 and Ksh850 ($10.50 to $11.50) a bottle. Also from France the Vin de Pays from Piat D’or (a brand from the largest wine company in the world Diageo) most famous in the UK wine retail market, can also be found in Kenya at a slightly cheaper price than the offerings from J.P. Chenet,
Italian wines other than the bulk producers are not that common although Nairobi does have a vibrant Italian community and there is one or two private families that import really high quality and hand selected Italian wines direct (more in a later blog). Spanish wine is less available although Torres Cornas can be found at Ksh1, 275 (about $16) a bottle. Moving back to the New World Australia is well represented through the ever popular Hardy’s brand range of wines and compete at a similar price range to the quality South African and Chilean offerings. Finally, also to be found are Californian wines although these are mostly represented in the form of three and five litre bag offering and what the American’s tend to call “jug” wines. There is nothing wrong with these wines offering good value per litre as they do, but perhaps better as a party or barbeque offering.
There is then an increasingly broad offering of wines through Kenya’s supermarkets. Inevitably the wines on offer are not necessarily the finest examples of the wines available from the respective countries. In general they are part of the worldwide ocean of bulk wines, albeit of sound technical quality, that dominate throughout the world. For the Kenyan consumer the general feeling is one of appreciation that these wines are on offer at all. For the more discerning wine aficionados there are fine wines available from a handful of specialist outlets, which will be the subject of a subsequent blog.
Monday, June 21, 2010
New sniffing and swirling in Nairobi
A group of seven students here in Nairobi have recently completed two exams for the Certificate course of the Cape Wine Academy. The Certificate course is no synch covering as it does viticulture, wine making, knowledge of grape varieties, South African wine producing areas, Brandy, fortified, and sparkling and sweet wines (see http://www.capewineacademy.co.za/ for more information). The course culminates in two exams a written paper covering theory and a tasting exam.
The students in Nairobi had already completed an introductory course, but with the Certificate course this was the first time a tasting exam had been tackled. Teaching the course has been really interesting not least because watching the students gain knowledge and confidence as they go along has given me a real kick. Wine education is sometimes criticised for at best being subjective and at worst full of waffle and flowery language. Analytical wine tasting does not necessarily claim to be an exact science. It can though demonstrate that the quality of any given wine can be assessed and verified over a large group of people. The Kenyan Certificate students have travelled a long road very quickly and at the risk of sounding patronizing to my scholars they have moved from wine consumers to tasters. All the students have worked hard and put far more effort into the course than they probably anticipated at the beginning. The students results are not in yet, but I anticipate they will all pass with flying colours. One final observation relates to this new cadre of wine aficionados. It is great fun watching them out in Nairobi restaurants, which are not necessairly known for their extensive wine knowledge (more about this subject in a forthcoming blog). Sniffing and swirling usually gives the waiters a fright and the subsequent discussion at the table as to the wines qualities leave them further dumfounded. Not exactly a wine revolution yet in Nairobi, but as it is said even the longest journey starts with a single step.
The students in Nairobi had already completed an introductory course, but with the Certificate course this was the first time a tasting exam had been tackled. Teaching the course has been really interesting not least because watching the students gain knowledge and confidence as they go along has given me a real kick. Wine education is sometimes criticised for at best being subjective and at worst full of waffle and flowery language. Analytical wine tasting does not necessarily claim to be an exact science. It can though demonstrate that the quality of any given wine can be assessed and verified over a large group of people. The Kenyan Certificate students have travelled a long road very quickly and at the risk of sounding patronizing to my scholars they have moved from wine consumers to tasters. All the students have worked hard and put far more effort into the course than they probably anticipated at the beginning. The students results are not in yet, but I anticipate they will all pass with flying colours. One final observation relates to this new cadre of wine aficionados. It is great fun watching them out in Nairobi restaurants, which are not necessairly known for their extensive wine knowledge (more about this subject in a forthcoming blog). Sniffing and swirling usually gives the waiters a fright and the subsequent discussion at the table as to the wines qualities leave them further dumfounded. Not exactly a wine revolution yet in Nairobi, but as it is said even the longest journey starts with a single step.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Welcome to the world of wine in Kenya
The purpose of my blog is to inform and entertain the reader with regard to the world of wine in Nairobi Kenya. I have been based in Kenya for eighteen months and work within the environmental and development sector. My other passion is wine and I have no affiliation with any wine company or organisation. I am however a Cape Wine Academy student and having completed my Certificate and Diploma qualifications I am currently working my way towards becoming a Cape Wine Master. I teach wine classes here in Nairobi and I hope to report on some aspects of wine education in Kenya as we go along. I will provide information as to what is available within Kenya with regard to the main retail outlets. Wine consumption in Kenya is very much confined to a minority, but within the major urban centres there is a growing Kenyan middle class that are interested in and increasingly consuming wine. Kenya’s tourist industry through hotels and lodges is the major consumer of imported wines. What maybe interesting and perhaps even surprising to the reader, is that Kenya has its own wine producers and I will report on these pioneers of wine. I hope to provide a twist in that although I am not Kenyan I am intrigue and fascinated by different perceptions of wine tastes and styles that my Kenyan hosts provide.
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