Dear Mark

I hope you don't mind me being so casual, but you don't strike me as a formal sort of bloke. I just wanted to say thanks for an amazing "jol" on Saturday.

I have been to a few harvest festivals lately and can honestly say yours stood out. I was under the impression that South African wine farms were highly mechanized, as I am yet to see anybody other than farm management at these so called harvest festivals. Your obviously do things differently. Either way it was great to meet the people that do all the hard and sometimes dirty work. Your team certainly seemed like a happy bunch, dancing, laughing and celebrating life. I actually learnt a few new dance moves, to be honest I never new any before Saturday. I also got a few marriage proposals so I may just be moving onto the farm, but looking at your staff housing it certainly would be a great move as your digs are way better than mine.

I know that it was an Oesfees, but being a wine farm I was surprised to find that there wasn't a more formal wine element to festivities. No spittoons, no swirling, sipping, smelling? Shock horror. I even noticed people putting ice into plastic wine glasses, surely a first for a wine festival? I must say I took a liking to your Cape Jazz Shiraz, I wasn't the only one, it seemed to add a more rhythmical step to most dance moves. Heck you could be on to something: wine and music pairing...I even tried some of the lovely traditional Cape food, boboties, samoosas and a lekker breyani. If there is any left, could I pop around for leftovers?

Your line up of bands, dancers, singers, rappers and graphitti artists certainly proved better value than the R1000 I paid for my U2 ticket. I may not be ready for the ArtScape just yet, but I certainly learnt a few things and found my rich South African heritage on the daans floor of Solms Delta. I believe there is this group called WOSA, they market SA wine overseas or something like that. They like to promote SA as the floral capital of the world, and somehow tie this in with wine...maybe you should invite them to next years Oesfees.

The best thing about the Oesfees? I have 365 days to practice my riel dans.

Cheers!

xxxxxxxxxxx

Dear Dionysus

I hope you don't mind me writing straight back like this but you don't strike me like a formal sort of god. Hang, you and I even share a few vices. I am truly delighted to hear that you attended our Oesfees, especially in view of the fact that it was not really laid on for Gods, as you noticed. Yes, I have heard that WOSA markets the Cape's biodiversity overseas. Please do feel free to bring them along next year. I would love to introduce them to another aspect of our diversity. On Saturday the thought even occurred to me that this human aspect might be more important than the floral one, but I was a little tipsy at the time and can become sentimental. I guess international consumers(like many of your fellow Gods) have never heard of South African farm workers. Anyway, thanks for your kind remarks, sorry about the ice, and good luck with the Riel dancing.

With all good wishes,

Mark

Solms Delta