In response to my previous post about the South African wine industry in Hong Kong, Helena wrote to inform us that Nederburg is the official wine for the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup and that the limited edition Twenty Ten range includes a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Sauvignon Blanc and a Dry Rose.

So far Howzit-HongKong.com has seen TwentyTen in Park ‘n Shop stores.

If consumers are not well-versed with Nederburg wines, they can use their internet-enabled cell phones to log onto the mobi-website printed on the bottle’s label to go directly to the mobi.nederburg.co.za website to learn more about the different varieties, right there in the store.  For obvious reasons, you have to enter your date-of-birth but once you’re in there, click on the FIFA-tab to learn more about the TwentyTen varietals.  Howzit-HongKong.com did it and voila:

I don’t know if Danny Jordaan (CEO of the 2010 LOC) had a chat with his SARU counterpart when the Confederations Cup (Soccer) and British & Irish Lions test (Rugby) were put together, but it’s all working out rosy insofar as testing the SA infrastructure is concerned.  The SA daily newspapers are headlining 2 important issues for FIFA:

(1) does South Africa have enough beds to accommodate the expected 100′s of 1000′s of soccer fans next year and

(2) do the country’s plethora of pubs have the capacity to deliver enough beer to cool the 100′s of 1000′s of hot and thirsty soccer fans next year (bearing in mind that it will indeed be WINTER in the Southern Hemisphere.)

As far as the latter is concerned, apparently not.

The following report appeared in The Argus (a Cape Town daily) today:

Lions supporters drink pubs dry

Emergency beer supplies had to be trucked in to pubs in Durban and Umhlanga to cope with the demand from Lions rugby fans

And one venue ran out of beer not once, but twice on the same day.

“It was completely wild and I had to deliver emergency supplies to venues all over town on Saturday morning,” said SA Breweries sales manager Paul Bartmann.

Some venues had to hire trucks to pick up extra supplies.

Seven hundred extra cases of beer had to be rushed to the Suncoast Casino and Entertainment World where restaurants were said to be “a sea of red”.

In Umhlanga, there were so many partying Lions supporters that they were 15-deep in one pub at one stage, with another venue running queues to get inside.

“It was absolutely unbelievable. We were just not prepared for the onslaught,” said a delighted Eleanor Gillies, manager of The George Tapas and Wine Bar.

“The Lions twice drank us dry on Friday and I had to close the doors at midnight as we had run out after getting a resupply at lunchtime,” she said.

Over at the Cotton Fields restaurant, owner and partner Gordon Jestin said the Lions fans had got through about 6 000 beers. He had also had to call for a resupply. Jestin said he did not normally open on a Sunday but had done so to put on a braai for fans.

Would you rather see rugby pics like this or listen to Naas Botha’s comments? No really? Would you?