World's first fine water tasting room opens in South Africa

Forget wine tasting, South Africans can now taste fine water!

WATER FOR WATER TASTING

Instagram/ Nico Pieterse

We are all familiar with the usual wine, beer, whisky, brandy, and basically any type of alcohol tasting across South Africa and the world.

Tastings have grown in popularity, and in recent years, tasting rooms have expanded beyond alcohol to include different drinks, desserts, and other interesting foods.

The Tasting Room in Fourways and Pretoria, Gauteng, for example, offers dessert tastings like macarons, brownies, and even marshmallows.

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But now an all-new, almost bizarre type of tasting has made its way onto the scene.

The Library: Fine Water Tasting Room at Lanzerac Wine Estate in Stellenbosch, Cape Town is the world’s first fine water tasting experience, and it is right here in South Africa.

Visitors at the Fine Water Tasting Room can experience a 45-minute water tasting experience at R295 per person.

Guided by water sommelier Nico Pieterse, the tasting lets visitors sip, evaluate, and compare waters from pristine natural springs, exotic watersheds, and even good old urban tap water.

Part of the experience is learning how mineral content, filtration methods, and the origin of the water can influence the taste of the water.

“Water tastings are more than an event, they are an invitation to rethink water’s role in our lives. By celebrating its complexity, these experiences elevate water from an everyday necessity to a luxurious, sensory delight,” said the Fine Water Company.

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Through a water tasting, guests can discover the hidden flavours of water, educate themselves about water, and even elevate their palates for the flavour and quality of water.

The tasting includes waters from across the globe:

d’ORO (Romania) StillMarzia (Italy) Still / SparklingVeen (Bhutan) StillHaage Silver (Estonia) StillNevas (Germany) SparklingThree Bays (Australia) Still / SparklingGaisberg (Austria) StillHaanja (Estonia) SparklingSant Aniol Pink (Spain) SparklingBodh (Bhutan) StillLa Sasse (France) StillOrezza (France) Naturally CarbonatedVichy Catalan (Spain) Naturally CarbonatedKuohu (Finland) Still / SparklingRoi (Slovenia) SparklingSolán de Cabras (Spain) Still / SparklingWossa (Austria) StillFromin (Czech Republic) StillGaisberg Sparkling (Austria) SparklingHaage White (Estonia) SparklingZaku (Latvia) Still / SparklingPure One (New Zealand) StillSant Aniol Blue (Spain) StillSembrancher (Switzerland) Still / SparklingLofoten (Norway) Still / SparklingTatranska Chamois (Slovakia) Naturally Carbonated

“It is great and it is really cool to be the first in anything in the world. But it is a big, big privilege. I have got Dr Michael Mascha here, all the way from Texas, who is the… I want to call him the authority on worldwide water, if I may. He is the founder of the Fine Water Society and we have been going at it in shoots and in presentations and things over the past week,” said Pieterse.

The company says attendees are encouraged to observe and describe:

Appearance: Clarity, colour, and presentation.Aroma: Subtle scents influenced by the minerals in the water.Taste: Ranging from neutral to distinct, influenced by factors like calcium, magnesium, and sodium levels.Mouthfeel: Texture or body of the water, such as light, smooth, or full-bodied.

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Images: Instagram/ Nico Pieterse