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Are SA wine marketers homophobic or simply asleep? For while Cape Town may pose as the Gay and Wine Capital of SA, it takes an American vitamin water company called Glacéau to sponsor Love Sundays, a cocktail party that brought down the curtain on Gay Pride weekend at Societi Bistro. Van Loveren missed a great opportunity to launch their 2012 Sauvignon Blanc, which was only bottled last week.
Lovely luvvies @ Love Sunday
While farmers in Chateauneuf-du-Pape had to ban flying saucers from landing in their vineyards in 1954, similar landing restrictions are being considered for helicopters in Franschhoek after Ukrainian mining moguls took liberties at lunchtime earlier this month. Attendees at the annual Mining Indaba in Cape Town, their private jets clogged up Cape Town International worse than Arab Sheiks at the soccer World Cup in Durban in 2010.
Strange to report that with 6,500 big rollers in town and even more well-heeled camp followers in tow, the wine industry pretty much ignored the event. WOSA, the quango paid R35 bar a year to promote SA wines, were probably too busy planning their million rand bash to open Cape Wine 2012 in September. A self-indulgent show-and-tell for industry bureaucrats and media sacred cows that would ban mining megastars, anyway. So along with local mining magnifico Andy Rompel, I accompanied a bunch of miners on a one-day vineyard crawl through Stellenbosch. Here is Andy’s report.
The Mining Indaba kicks off tomorrow in Cape Town and the array of private jets at CPT International makes Davos look like Dinwiddie, Germiston. With 6,500 delegates at $2000 a pop, someone is making serious loot out of this event. That Nobu at the One&Only is opening for lunch this week, confirms that hard-pressed Cape Town hoteliers are cashing in on the mining boom, big time. For camp followers will swell the 6,500 tally to well over 10K. Last night, Nobu was turning over tables three times as the big boys maintain the sushi quality is the same as London, but at a fraction of the price.
It certainly looks like it, as the Top Four in Abi’s national Top Ten eateries are all built environment: greenHOUSE, testKITCHEN, tastingROOM and roundHOUSE. She may come over all Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and claim that 2011 is the year of the egg and the wild sorrel, but bricks and mortar are a better call. And she’s not the only one.
The Fleur du Cap Top Ten Cape Town dining destinations of little Irish devil Clare Mack includes the foodBARN and hemelHUIJS, confirming that Clare is with the foodie architectural zeitgeist. Real Belly of an Architect stuff by Peter Greenaway which explains why Abi’s #1 eatery is the greenHOUSE! No surprise she chose TABLE@demeye as the best country style kombuis, either.
The inaugural edition of the Fleur du Cap Top 100 Places to Eat in Cape Town 2011 has blown the lid off the pressure cooker of SA food awards. Receiving his scroll for Top Ten Place to Eat in Cape Town and the Peninsular, the Cape’s first celebrity chef Franck Dangereux, from the Food Barn in Noordhoek, declared himself well pleased that more voices had been added to the Cape’s chorus of restaurant critics, to enthusiastic applause from some of the Cape’s most famous chefs. Here are three of them: Giorgio Nava, Harald Bresselschmidt and Franck.
Giorgio, Harald, Franck and a heavenly halo
It is not necessary to drive all the way out to Uitkyk on the Simonsberg of Stellenbosch to experience a Georgian Flat Roof Manor as Societi Bistro in Orange Street, Gardens (Cape Town) is a mini-Uitkyk. The roof is as flat as Table Mountain that rears above the establishment like the prancing horse on a Ferrari bonnet badge. And what better complement to darkly moody Kyle’s grilled giant pork chop on the Touring Italy menu this week than Flat Roof Manor Sauvignon Blanc Light 2011? For Societi Bistro has the same initials as Sauvignon Blanc: SB. Freaky, hey?
Flat Roof Manor on Orange Street
Things were a little more surreal than usual this Sunday at Truth! David Donde’s cross between an Apple hi-tech show room, lycra cycling pants catwalk, after party for Narcotics Anonymous, ossuary and coffee bar serving the best Joe in Cape Town in the Prestwich Memorial corner of Buitengracht and Somerset Road.
Quite where all the psychic energy comes from is an open question, but it’s built up worse than static on a nylon carpet. Perhaps it’s the proximity to a Victorian Greek temple now trading as St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church; intersecting Ley Lines; popper pollution from the leather bars in De Waterkant or a calcium overdose from all those slave bones interned somewhere in the building.
Popular Coffee Pinotage in the USA
The celebrity perp walk at next month’s Nederburg Auction could be taken to the next level if Mothers2Mothers co-founder, gynecologist with salt and pepper hair Mitch Besser, brings his lady friend Scottish songstress Annie Lennox along to Paarl. The Aids NGO M2M was a beneficiary of the Nederburg Charity Auction in 2008 and 2009 and this year a 10 year vertical of Eben Sadie’s iconic Columella red blend will feature in the annual charity auction.
Annie for Nederburg?
“Sisters, are doing it for themselves” sings Annie Lennox in Sea Point as she steps out with her new beau, Cape Town gynecologist Mitch Besser. Confirming that the homogametic sex, who control over $20 trillion in consumer spending (about 70% of the global total) are quite capable of choosing their own tipples. This was the thinking behind the revolutionary new wine competition 100 Women, 100 Wines that will bring 100 women from around the country to the luxury V&A Hotel on the Waterfront in late August to choose 100 wines.
If you’re web development career is slacking or your ostrich tandoori biltong sales are slow and you fancy earning six grand a day, contact André Morgenthal at WOSA for tourism quango Vindaba is looking for a project manager.
