Wine Society

Western Cape Wine Tour

The Rocksure Club are delighted to announce the success of their Wine Tour to The Western Cape in November 2019, hosted by celebrared author and notable wine authority Remington Norman, which is due to be replicated in 2021.

The Constantia Valley boasts a centuries-old-wine-making history. Stay at Cellars Hohenort for 3 nights, set in 9 acres of exquisite gardens.

Franschhoek is the food and wine heartland of South Africa, where splendid wines are grown. Stay at the boutique hotel & winery Leeu Estates for 2 nights, set between the mountains and river.

The wine estates in the Hemel-en-Aarde region are famous for world-class Chardonnay & Pinot Noir. Stay at The Marine Hotel for 2 nights, perched on the cliffs overlooking the breathtaking Walker Bay.

Bringing Local Wine to your Table

There's really only one perennial problem with wine and that is choice! We all romanticise that wherever we wander there are fine wine-makers to be found cultivating an Arcadian terroir, proud to be offering something well-conceived and deliciously palatable… but knowing is the key. Making the right choices in unfamiliar regions is always a challenge. 

We set David Banford, our friend and 'Head of Wine' for the club, a challenge -  to ensure that wherever our Members travel in the world, we have a carefully chosen selection of local wine to suggest to them. David believes that price does not denote quality and our wine selections all come with tasting notes and divide into three sections: 'Every Day Drinking', 'Wines of Distinction' and 'Wines for Celebrations'. We have made it possible to pre-order your wine so that it awaits you at your villa, re-order in situ and even have sent home afterwards if you wish to. 

Rocksure Club Wine Events

Our Wine Events are designed by David Banford, for whom wine has been a joyful entrapment over a lifetime in which he has enjoyed, studied and collected some of the great wines of the world. En route he has accumulated a wealth of friends and connections across the continents. They provide privileged access to some of the great, and some of the lesser known estates of the world - all in the company of owners, winemakers and other kindred spirits, providing an opportunity to explore some of the great wines of the world, and also to meet fellow Members who share similar passions. 

Our first event took place in St. Emilion - a charming and totally unspoilt medieval town surrounded by a roll-call of chateaux, names normally only seen on wine lists, with privileged access to a hand-picked selection of world-class estates where guests were received as VIP's. Due to its success, this Club Event will be offered again in 2020.

A World of Wine

We can travel to wine regions in some of the most idyllic parts of the world - but a fine glass of Provençal rosé at home never tastes quite as good as it does on the Luberon terrace where you cannot take your eyes off the view.

There's a world of wine that we love and another that we never see, or taste. It might be lovingly cultivated in lushly ordered Cape Vineyards providing nectar locals alone, organic Malvasia from the slopes of Salina that does not take to the skies, or grapes enjoyed by Spanish Conquistadors but few others in the intervening centuries. The Rocksure Club opens up this world of wine and travel that can be tailored to your particular interests and passions.

'She gets to keep the chalet and the Rolls, I want the Montrachet.' - Anonymous, Forbes Magazine, May 6, 1996.

Chêne Bleu Extreme Wine

Conceived by the founder and host of the Chêne Bleu Extreme Wine course on the meticulously restored Domaine de La Verrière estate in Provence 'Extreme Wine' - a course designed to be more than a typical wine course. You will join a small and exclusive group of international wine lovers for five days of total immersion: lectures, workshops, tastings of exceptional wines, hands-on activities in the winery and vineyard, and wonderful wine games. The Chêne Bleu course emphasizes quality and method of instruction to ensure life long learnings. Complete the course with globally recognised Intermediate Certification by the prestigious WSET, as well as the proprietary Chêne Bleu Extreme Wine Certification.

'How is champagne made? By sheer genius, sir, sheer genius!' – Conversation at White’s Club, London,

Private Properties

From blushing rosés in the Luberon to bold and beautiful Brunello's in the Val d'Orcia many of the Rocksure Club's finest properties grace the estates and broader countryside of the world's best known wine regions.

Whether you want an epicrean adventure steeped in the wine and gastronomy of a sensorial region, or you are simply looking for the right property for you and your family to enjoy a week in a lovely part of the world - our team will be able to advise you. 

'With good friends …. And good food on the board, and good wine in the pitcher, we may well ask: When shall we live if not now?'
– M.F.K Fisher, The Art of Living, quoted in Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations, James B. Simpson, 1997.