WINE lovers descended on the most popular mall in Gugulethu, Cape Town, at the weekend for the inaugural wine festival

The two-day event was attended by more than 2000 people from across the country, including politicians and celebrities. A throng of journalists from all over the country were also in attendance.

The Gugulethu Wine Festival, held at Gugulethu Mall, was attended by Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, who was the guest speaker.

There were also wine-tasting sessions attended by members of the public. Several wine brands, including Groot Constantia, were on display.

There were also Asara Wines, Four Cousins, Mzoli's Wines and Creations on display.

Many people showed great interest and asked for information about the various wine brands.

In opening the festival, Zille said it was important for people to take part in wine festivals so that they could enhance tourism in the townships.

She praised popular businessman Mzoli Ngcawuzele and his team for building Gugulethu Mall, saying it was a world-class facility.

"Ngcawuzele is famous in the country and abroad. He is using his fame to the benefit of the people and townships."

Zille also said Ngcawuzele, who is the owner of Mzoli's Meat in Gugulethu, also played a key role in the development and promotion of township tourism and had brought different cultures together.

Speaking to Sowetan on Friday, Ngcawuzele, said the event was the beginning of many things to come.

There were more than 200 wine brands at the festival.

The businessman aimed to grow the local wine market and to enhance Gugulethu as a tourist destination.

"We also want to create awareness about wine and to provide a favourable lifestyle environment for wineries and sponsors to position their brands and network with one another," Ngcawuzele said.

He said they were inspired and motivated by the launch and the success of the Soweto Wine Festival and decided to launch their own.

"We want people from different cultures to come together and consume wine with good food."

Ngcawuzele said wine consumption was becoming popular among many black people.

"For many years black people have been consuming beer, brandy or whiskey, but that is changing."

Tariro Masayiti, winemaker at Nederburg Winery in Paarl, had a series of creative pairings as he teamed with Nederburg red, white and dessert wines with a variety of unexpected flavours, moods and food.

After the sessions many people had some good ideas of how to go about selecting a specific dish and were able to partner wines and food with much more savvy and understanding.

"I told people that certain wines mix well with certain food," he said.

Masayiti said he had attended many similar events in Western Cape where he found very few black people taking part. He called on organisers to organise more wine festivals in black townships and also suggested that black people should visit wineries to learn more about wine brands.