Harry talks to Cosmo about his ideal woman. “Life is not one long porno movie” is probably the best quote out of this. Enjoy.
Went to Franschhoek for the Bastille Day festival. We drank lots of bubbly. Ate steak rolls. And generally had a good time. It was a little crowded. Definitely not the quaint champagne fest you may have in your mind. Think more… Maynardville.
Deborah and I perfected our Awkward Leans (below). Click to see whether we capture the vibe. Think we did a good job.
Kate insisted we get berets. It was a good call. Feel inspired to ‘give up my life and join the French Foreign Legion’. Just kidding. I like my life just fine.
Schuyler was the chicest of them all.
If you’re gonna go next year, you gotta do 3 things: 1. Book accommodation early for both Friday and Saturday so you can enjoy your day. We stayed in this gorgeous place – I highly recommend. 2. Pace yourself with the white wine. Dunno what it is about white people and their white wine but it makes them ‘lose their sh*t’. 3. Pretend you’re in France. Swanning about spewing Standard 8 French is perfectly acceptable at Bastille. Viva la France, etc.
Watch CTG learning the art of sabrage as taught by her patient wine expert (can be heard in the video). For those of you who don’t know how to do this, it’s actually quite simple.
Step 1: Line up your knife’s blade with the seam of the bottle.
Step 2: Push the knife along the system in one straight smooth movement.
Step 3: You follow the seam of the bottle with the knife, and let your momentum just tap off the top of the bottle.
Knowing this, it is the only way champagne will be drunk around here from now on.
Shades CTG wears in the video are Chanel, from Sunglass Hut.
Went to the rugby on Friday night. It was my first live game ever, and it was incredible. Might be right up there one of the best nights of my life. Felt very proud of the Stormers, especially of Bash Grant who practically won the match single-handedly. What an amazing night! Gees overload!
Went away to stay with CTG’s official Wine Expert @HarryReginald at Backsberg Estate for the rest of the weekend. Lots of this (below). Having a Tom Tom GPS system has totally changed my life in one regard – I am no longer scared to travel into the countryside, so can visit my many friends who live there. AND I can just enjoy the drive.
Drank a lot of bubbly.
even learnt the art of sabrage from Harry. And have video to prove it!
Went for a 5km run on the farm on Sunday morning. Running on wine farms is my new thing. There’s just nothing quite like it.
We’ve been looking forward to the Constantia Fresh Festival for some weeks now, and as the weekend approaches I’ve been given a pair of tickets for the Saturday 26 February Food & Sauvignon Blanc Pairing Exhibition to share to some wine-loving readers. To win yourself the tickets, all you need to do is watch the very funny video below (it really is, and this is a groundbreakingly hilarious first for the wine industry, I am fairly sure of it) and answer the question: What is the sumo wrestler attacked by when he is standing in the background while Adam speaks about why he believes Klein Constantia has been so successful?
Yes, if the question doesn’t make you want to watch the video, I don’t know what will. Leave a comment with your answer in it, or mail me editor@capetowngirl.com with the subject line: Constantia Fresh Festival.
The winner will be announced on Thursday afternoon. Best you book yourself a ticket to be sure - they are limited since this is not your average wine festival. See you (and CTG’s Official Wine Expert & MC for the Day) there!
So we are looking MOST forward to attending the Sauvignon Blanc Blend & Food Pairing at Buitenverwachting Wine Estate on Saturday 26 February. It’s a while away but we are extremely excited to be attending since CTG’s Official Wine Expert will be MCing the event! That’s right, we do not mess around here at CTG.
An extract from the programme reads:
A selection of the best South African producers have been invited to attend this year’s event where they will exhibit their wines alongside the pre-eminent Peter Tempelhof (The Greenhouse of Cellars-Hohenort), Bertus Basson (Overture), Clayton Bell (Constantia Uitsig), Roland Gorgosilich (Grande Roche’s Bosman’s) and Edgar Osojnik (Buitenverwachting). All participating producers will be paired with these chefs so that guests will be able to select and taste both the wines and the canapés crafted especially for the wines.
It sounds just marvellous! Here is a full list of the wines. Click here for the full programme and to buy a ticket. They are R400 each and include all wine and food thereafter, but they are limited, since this is not your average ‘wine festival masquerading as student drinking brawl’. This is a classy affair chaps. See you there.
Read CTG’s Wine Expert’s Blog here (it’s a bag of laffs, really it is).
Good day all girls of Cape Town and other miscellaneous readers, I trust you are all well.
I apologise for my long absence. You see I was travelling Europe meeting beautiful people just like you (think Milano_Girl: long legged and immaculately dressed; Amsterdam_Girl: hair let down, relaxed, has a whip in the closet; Napoli_Girl: loud, forthright, proud; etc) and finding out what wine they drink so I could come back and offer you some of their vinous preferences.
But before I get into any of that we must get our own house in order. You see Cape Town girl opened a bottle of wine this weekend that I had given her for her birthday a while back. (I know, it should have been Champagne – I still can’t look her in the eyes). The wine, Miles Mossop’s Saskia 2007, is a robust blend of Chenin Blanc and Viognier. The end result is a wine that has rich flavour, think honey suckle, apricots and mangoes, with an alcohol of 14.5%. It is a wine that is delicious on its own, but a slightly spicy dish would compliment it tremendously.
When I asked Cape Town Girl if she ate anything alongside the wine she responded:
This is completely understandable. As the days grow longer and the temperatures rise clothes are naturally shed. And as much as a healthy portion of foie gras or pork belly would have been a delightful pairing with the Saskia, they do nothing for the waistline.
wines that need neither sauce nor soup, rib-eye nor relish; wines whose most important character is drinkability and calling card is freshness. The most obvious white wine to sip on in summer without having to chew on anything is Sauvignon Blanc. So obvious it hardly needs writing about, so obvious that I feel compelled to suggest you try something new this summer. But if you must here are two Steenberg make a variety of Sauvignon Blancs that all offer something a little different. I’d go for the standard offering for summer. It’s crisp and clean with some tropical fruit flavours as well as a little grassy action. A class act. Buy a bottle of Iona to impress your Sauvignon fanatic friends. From the cooler region of Elgin this is easily one of my favourite Sauvignon Blancs. It is always elegant with gooseberries, herbaceousness and some flinty bits. To personify: It turns heads without its tits hanging out.
Harry (left) taking in some foreign culture (by hugging some foreign people)
Another crowd pleaser is Chardonnay. One of the aspects most loved about chardonnay is its buttery creaminess. While this is delicious, it can get out of hand and you end up with a wine that is goupy, oaky and sweet; in other words FAT. So to avoid this here are two wooded Chardonnays that give the butteriness but are lean, angular and refreshing. I freaking love Paul Cluver’s Chardonnay. It’s full of lemon and zingy lime with that toastiness that you all love. The refreshing acidity means that you can drink glass after glass without your palate getting tired. OK, this is a pricey one, but should you require a treat this summer or have someone to impress who likes Chardonnay, then this is the one. Ataraxia’s Chardonnay is pure, creamy, bright with pear and almonds and oh god oh god I want one now.
Harry practising his 'snifting' skills
The last suggestion of food-free-friendly white varieties is Chenin Blanc. Chenin Blanc is starting to be drunk more but tends to be forgotten, finding itself in a supporting role to the more illustrious Sauvignon Blanc, and showy Chardonnay. So which Chenins are good for a summer without food? I’d go for those with as little wood influence as possible. Two to try would be Beaumont’s Chenin and the Raats Original. These are both excellent Chenin Blancs at good prices. Offering freshness, complexity and richness without you having to sell a kidney for a good bottle. I don’t really care which ones you drink, but start drinking Chenin. There is one for every type of palate. Don’t believe me? Mail me what you normally like and I’ll find a Chenin for you. – harryhaddon@gmail.com. Another option is white blends. My white blend of the moment is Hermit on the Hill’s Sauvignier – a spunky blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. It’s a wine with pigtails; joyous and relaxed. I will be drinking cases of this during summer.
Next up… food-free reds, but that is a tale for another day. Read more from Harry on his blog Wine&I here.
You know, you live in a city for however many years and you end up going pleasedeargodnotanothersmokeyclub, notanotherbrandedpartyexperience , notanotherfreakingartymoviescreening, notanotherclosedoffstreetmusicfestival and notanotherstreetpartywhereeveryone’sspraypaintingshit. Which is why when someone says,
‘Oh, how about a small, intimate 40-people gathering at someone’s apartment with a roaring fire and gluwein and Farryl Purkiss on guitar and a sampler thingie’ you go ‘Oooooooh? That sounds interesting.’
Farryl takes the stage. Which is in the lounge.
And it was as cosy as it promised to be. We all sat on couches, everyone had a seat, everyone had some gluwein and there was a friendly cat doing the lap rounds. What a great way to enjoy live music. Sure, there’s a place for the madness, but I like really really this place. I’m new to Farryl’s music , but that was okay because what’s not to like? The song I have on repeat at the moment is called ‘No One To Blame’ and you’ll find it on the facebook page.
Click here to find out more about these intimate little gigs. Next up is Ardt Matthews from Just Jinjer, which should be a treat too. Thanks to Patrick for having us over.
You all got Frances Sauvage’s take on Dinner for 7 million. Believe it or not, the purpose of Dinner For 6 is actually to try and set up some sort of wine pairing adventure. The trick to this is to not open the wine before the guests come, take my word for it. Also try not to drink up most of the wine while the dinner is being prepared. That would be the second trick. So anyway, we did the best with what we had left and I hand over to to CTG’s Wine Expert and No 1 Independent Wine Blogger in SA, Harry Reginald, to spew forth his opinion on the evening…
Firstly, let me tell you what was on the menu, bearing in mind the theme was celebrity:
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Starter: Antonio ‘Gazpacho’ Banderas
Mains: Milla ‘Chicken Kiev’ Jovovich
Dessert: Queen Elizabeth ‘Strawberry Drop Scone’ the Second
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Writes Harry: “There was a challenge to my pairing with KWV’s 2009 Mentors Sauvignon Blanc Semillon blend whose attractive grassiness – it was suggested – could be a good partner to the fresh green soup. Alas, the wine was like a big fat kid sitting on the skinny computer nerd in the class. The soup was smothered by the almost aggressive acidity and green flavours of the KWV wine. Without the soup it was a very pleasant wine, with the Sauvignon Blanc leading the blend whilst the Semillon adds to texture and mouth feel more than anything else.
The KWV Mentor Range
The KWV Orchestra – a blend of Cab Sauv, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Cab Franc and Shiraz - after having been decanted, was supposed to go with the main course but its freshness and sheer drinkability made all of us keep going back for more. We savoured the tobacco, spice, and bright raspberry fruits, until it was all gone (about 10 minutes). So without the Orchestra we turned to the bigger boned KWV Mentors Shiraz for some help. Not quite as clean and fresh as the orchestra, it flexed its muscle with some serious oak, deep dense fruits with dash of black pepper, and a decently elongated finish. This however didn’t pair so well with the wine trampling all over Frances’s more delicate chicken Kiev.
The newly launched Fairview La Capra range
We also tried a bunch of Fairview’s new brand La Capra. A fun range whose labels show more concern for how many horn blowers can you balance on top of a cheese at the end of a fork supported by a cello resting on an atlas atop of some barrels that are being carried by a goat, than how many angels you can balance on the head of a pin. Very wise. The wines were all easy going. A fresh and fruity Chenin, that should be consumed in the sun whilst sitting on a hay bale with a sexy gypsy. The Chardonnay is gently oaked with a crisp lemon and lime finish. The Viognier impressed as it offered a fragrant nose of orange peel and furry peach skin, with a vibrant acidity that keeps the wine from being goupy. This wine balanced well with the chicken Kiev, light enough not to overpower the dish, but with enough fruit and oak and acidity to stand up to some of the bigger flavours like the bacon and parmesan. The dessert, strawberry drop scones with jam and cream, while delicious was not able to be paired with anything very successfully. If we hadn’t quaffed all the Genie that might have worked.
A closer look at the fabulous La Capra labels
So with the food gone all that was left to do was drink. And drink we did. We gave the KWV Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 a go. It was typical, easy going and full of cassis and blackberry with relaxed tannins. Good, but not exciting. The KWV rose was, well . . . . we also tasted the La Capra reds. Their Shiraz is a safe bet to take to parties – anything with a balancing goat is good for parties. Quite plump fruit with a softish palate spiced up by some peppery notes. The Merlot was fair, with stewed prune vibe and plush texture. Good for having with your gypsy in front of the fire when you are done with the Chenin and hay bale. I think I also drank some sauvignon Blanc, some Pinotage perhaps, and then with nothing left turned back to the KWV rose and it was, well ….. We finished with a splash of 30yr Famous Grouse, which was peaty, and quite dainty, like a peaty fragrant doily.” – Harry
The end-of-the-night Salti-Crax
Just a note: biggest thanks must go to Frances Sauvage, who opened her home, her kitchen and her cats to us, as well as Harry Reginald for being so on top of the wine. An even bigger thanks to our sponsors, KWV and La Capra, for kindly supplying us with their wine for review. We’ll be doing more of Dinner for 6, but we’re going to modify it slightly to make it easier on the host, preferably by making it Wine Farm Adventure For 6, or something similar. Drop me a mail if you love wine and would like to be invited to the ‘dinners’.
Bloody hell.
Darlings, in many of our conversations I talk about what we MUST do.
“Do this darlings, bloody do this and that and don’t forget this and what about that other thing, here darlings smoke this and drink that and oh look there’s a cat on your back” and on and on bloody ad bloody infinitum. But darlings, this past week I have been thinking very little about the myriad of things that we bloody must NEVER do my darlings, never! And what brought on this meaningless drivel most interesting insight? Why the monumentally poor decision of honour of hosting the first Dinner for Six of course!
Mummy with her breasts and her James. Yes darlings.
Let’s start at the very middle darlings, the very beginning makes me nervous, reminds me of my real age vast experience and in any case I’ve run out of sedatives energy. You MUST NOT call the party Dinner for 6, set the table for six, arrange glasses for six, cook Gazpacho and Cheddar Paprika Cheese Straws for starters, Chicken Kiev on Asparagus and Tomato Jus for mains and Strawberry Drop Scones and Cream for dessert for six, and then invite seven. You MUST NOT leave preparations to the last minute. You MUST NOT meet your guests at the door with a toilet brush behind one ear, a hand up a chicken’s bum and a wild look of terror on your face, drunk.
The La Capra selection of wine for the evening. The real guests of this whole Dinner Debarcle. The ones who caused all the nonsense.
You MUST NOT at, any point, consider inviting anyone even mildly interesting or remotely attractive. Specifically if you were too drunk busy to prep most of the courses the night before. The reason being my darlings, is that the funnier, smarter or sexier they are, the more time you’re going to spend sitting outside smoking a piece of your own hair, bouncing on someone’s knee with a bottle of KWV Orchestra pressed to your bosom like your first born.
CTG and S1mz, being smart, funny, interesting and attractive, causing Frances to smoke her hair outside.
The KWV Mentors range. They brought dignity to the gathering. And they took ours.
You MUST NOT pretend that anything is serious. You MUST NOT have real, meaningful conversations. You MUST NOT engage with anyone on any kind of authentic level. This real waste of time will only result in quiet, sophisticated exchanges and delicate phrasing and things like people’s needs and feelings and consideration and other boring fuckwittage rewarding experiences that may or may not cause the host of Dinner for 75 to pass out face forward into the wine spittoon.
Frances puts on a brave face for you darlings while CTG demonstrates how she 'has Frances's back'.
You MUST NOT ever let a man through the front door carrying a bottle of 30 year old Famous Grouse. This is non-negotiable. Regardless of how innocent this man looks, if he is in the company of the Grouse you must barricade yourself inside and switch off all the lights so that he cannot see you are at home. But should you make the fatal error of allowing him entrance, do not be surprised if you find yourself, a good EIGHT HOURS LATER, propped up at the dining room table like the cadaver in all the Weekend at Bernie’s films, both elbows in a puddle of Gazpacho, rolling tea bags for cigarettes and speaking like Groucho Marx.
Mains: Milla 'Chicken Kiev' Jovovich on asparagus, darlings.
You MUST NEVER do anything that involves any of the above on a weeknight. HAH! You think you know that? You think, “Frances is a bloody fool darling for having Dinner for Six Hundred Thousand on a Thursday night, I on the other hand darling would never do such a thing darling me? Never. Me? Never. Me? Never. Me….” Sorry darlings, got a little carried away – but you’re thinking it aren’t you? You bastards clever little things.
Do you like mummy's knife darling's?
Well even if you aren’t, what you MUST NOT DO is make all of the above mistakes, because if you do, I can guarantee you will find yourself walking the streets of Cape Town in the orange smoggy light of dawn like a lone survivor of the Rage Virus, bare, bloodied feet stumbling, Ferragamo dress stained red with La Capra and feathered with tobacco, confused, scared and alone, plaintively asking for directions back to Tamborskloof and normality, all the while a lone Cheddar and Paprika straw clings to the back of your 100% wool Gerard Darel pea coat – a tacit reminder of a once civilized world.
It sounds like a GREAT deal of fun doesn’t it? But after the merriment of trawling the streets like a gin-soaked loony has passed, you have to come home and …
WASH UP.
Tonight darlings, I ask you all very graciously to fuck off and leave me alone.
I’m doing Wine for One.
A shadow of the foodie formerly known as Frances
xxx
