The much loved annual Lesotho Wine Festival is back for round number eight, and it promises yet another exhilarating experience as it gets to tickle the wine connoisseur’s taste buds once again from October 11-12.
Renowned for its distinct je ne sais quoi, the Lesotho wine festival is a brainchild of Paulo de Freitas who, along with his mellow wine loving amigos, could not help but decide Lesotho was worthy of an opportunity to have its own festival with a unique local flair and touch.
De Freitas says this year’s festival will be held at Maseru Club and they are expecting no less than a thousand people to be in attendance.
“Our VIP section is almost sold out, so those that have not yet bought tickets should hurry. This year we are going big because we are going to have about 35 wine producers, a big step up from last year when we had only 20,” he said.
Officially an aficionado himself, De Freitas has never been one to shy away from a challenge and, when he first started the festival, he just knew it was going to be a major hit because he already operated a successful beverage store.
De Freitas said that the festival is an opportunity for people to taste premium wines that they wouldn’t normally have an opportunity to taste because they are either priced out of their reach or are simply too rare.
“We are going to have about 12 international wines this year from countries as far afield as Italy and France. We are also going to have products from Lesotho’s very own Sani Wines among the crème de la crème of wines on show at the festival.
“Going forward, we would like to see the event attracting as much local participation as possible. I’m talking about people like food vendors and the like. This would ensure that benefits accruing from the wine festival impact on everyone in the country,” De Freitas concluded.
