Tag Archives: Graham Beck Wines

Twitterati party vibes with the fine folks at La Mouette

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DSC07540Last Fri eve I visited one of my Cape Town favourites, La Mouette (over in Sea Point) for their bi-annual Twitterati party.

Having followed the action of previous Twitterati parties on Twitter and suffering from serious FOMO, I had decided that this time round I would beg, borrow and steal (if I had to), to secure one of the sought after spots for their latest bash…  Did I have to?  Well my lips are sealed…  All I’m sayin’ is, I made it there, OK. ;)

Basically the idea behind these events is to get some of their Twitter fans together for a night of mingling, eating, drinking and general awesomeness.  A usual highlight is trying to consume your own body weight of their legendary truffle and cheese croquettes – something which I can tell you, once you’ve tasted, will haunt your soul continuously until you get your next fix.  It’s that #amazing.

Armed with my name tag reflecting my Twitter handle – @CTmylove – I was ready to roll.  I must say, it was really cool to put real faces to those Twitter handles I’ve seen many a times, maybe interacted with, befriended even, but had never actually met. Our social interactions are getting crazier and crazier, that’s for sure…lamouetteparty1

Very important to note is that this Twitterati party also coincided with La Mouette’s 3rd birthday party.  That meant we had an extra special reason to celebrate.  It also meant we had the perfect opportunity to indulge in extra special birthday red velvet cupcakes (another favourite of mine) amongst the other tasty canapes on the lineup for the evening.  Here’s just a little sample of what we had:

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Top left: those famous crocquettes; Top right: some yummy butternut soup; Bottom left: salt & pepper prawns; Bottom right:  Happy birthday!

To wash down all that goodness, we had flowing Graham Beck wines to enjoy, making it a little tougher as the evening progressed to ensure that those tweets of yours still made sense…

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There was also a lucky draw with some great prizes up for grabs.  Things like a pro Tax Return, a dinner for two at La Mouette, a Graham Beck Brut NV Magnum, Ernst Gouws & Co wines, and more.

Now I was sitting next to my friend Darryn, who we refer to as a “Professional Winner”.  Seriously, this guy wins e-ve-ry-thing.  So I had made peace with the fact that I’d have to put on a fake happy face as he went up to snatch up whatever incredible prize the universe had in store for him.  BUT THEN… just like that… I won that Magnum! (oh and Darryn won a standard size bottle of bubbly, but it was hard to notice that next to my MAGNUM)

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That is the face of victory folks…

Now just to really emphasise how big my magnum is, here it is compare to a regular bottle:

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The perfect single serving, don’t you think?  Shame, I kinda feel bad for that other bottle…

And things didn’t stop there folks.  Oh no.  We all left with goodie bags… not the type filled with pamphlets, lanyards & other stuff I’m never ever gonna care about, but the kind that is true to the term “goodie”, filled with things I’d actually use & love.

Each bag contained an infinity scarf from August1983.com (which is launching online sometime in May just so you know) as well a mini bottle of Graham Beck bubbly:

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I’m embarrased to admit that I’ve pretty much worn that scarf every day since. It’s just so soft dammit… and my mini bottle of bubbly is going to make for an awesome updated version of the traditional hip flask.  Hell yeah.

Want to be part of the next Twitterati party?  Of course you do.  Just make sure you follow La Mouette on Twitter @teamlamouette and keep those eyes peeled.  The next one should be happening closer to summer, which means chillin’ in their beautiful courtyard as well, so you won’t want to miss out.  Expect to pay around R200 pp, but as you can see, it’s totally worth every cent.  Oh and spots are limited, so you’ll have to act fast.

A HUGE thanks to Chef Henry, Mari and Gerrit for yet another memorable evening at their beautiful restaurant.  They have a life long fan in this lady…

You can check out the La Mouette Facebook page over here for all the official pics from the party.

xxx

Gorgeous by Graham Beck is exactly as the name says…

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When my dear friend Clouds had a birthday last week but decided to be all “oh I don’t really worry about birthday celebrations”, I just had to intervene.  I mean did she not know that a birthday is the perfect excuse for the girls to get together for a good drink & skinner session? ;)   I was like, right lady, we are celebrating this whether you like it or not…  And not only that, we’re going to do it in style dammit!

Because Clouds is a girl who really loves her bubbly, I figured the relatively new (it’s been open for about 7 months) Gorgeous by Graham Beck bubbly bar on the Steenberg Wine Estate would be the perfect spot.  I had read about it on Eat Out and have been dying to check it out for a while.  So I was really glad that I finally had a solid reason for getting my butt over there.

Now Gorgeous is just soooo beautiful.  You can either sit at the bar or slump back onto a comfy couch in one of the semi-private booths, which is what we opted for.

To drink, you can order either by the glass of per bottle.  They have both non-vintage & vintage bubbles to choose from.  In their non-vintage selection your options are the Graham Beck Brut NV, Brute Rose NV & Bliss NV.  All R40 per glass or R200 for a bottle.  In their vintage selection your options are the Brut Zero 2005, Blanc de Blanc 2008 & Brut Rose 2008.  All of these are slightly pricier at R65 per glass or R325 for a bottle.  Or you can really splash out and opt for their Cuvee Clive ’05 which they refer to as a “Icon tier” Methode Cap Classique.  With this baby you’ll be paying R100 a glass or R500 for a bottle.

Don’t like bubbly and don’t want to feel outta place?  No stress, you can also select from 2 Graham Beck white wines as well as 2 reds.  We were feeling in a bit of a pink drink mood, so we opted for the Brut Rose NV:

Cheers ladies! Leigh, me, the birthday girl, Carmen & Elona.

To avoid getting so tipsy that you have to take a little unfabulous nap on the couch, I suggest trying some canapes as well.  The snacks are made by the Catharina’s restaurant next door and you can shoose between things like Saldanha Bay Oysters, Thai Ostrich Tartare, Sugar Cured Grilled Salmon Trout and Vanilla Panna Cotta, all ranging from around R18 – R30 per portion.

We went for the cheese board (R55) as well as the Watercress & Goats Cheese Risotto Croquettes (R25):

Even the food is beautiful… and very tasty.

Now I don’t normally run around taking pictures of bathrooms.  But the ladies room here was just so stunning I actually had to go back to my seat to get my camera.  This is what I want my bathroom to look like one day:

That’s seriously nice, right?

We were having such a great time, just chillin’ and chatting, we ended up staying until dinner time.  So we decided some more food was in order.  It was then we discovered they do a weekly food & bubbly pairing special and this week’s was spicy seafood soup paired with a glass of Bliss NV for R55:

Firstly I had never tried the Bliss variety MCC before and it was so good I bought a bottle to take home (then you get it at cellar prices, so I only paid R105). And then I don’t normally even eat seafood soup, but after having a little taste of Leigh’s, there was no way I was missing out. It was absolute perfection.

This was such a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  I would say this is not a “ja, maybe go check this out sometime” kinda place, this is a “go now because your soul needs it” kinda place.  Seriously, go now! :)

En route back to the car we stopped for a while to take in some of the beauty of the Steenberg Estate.  It really feels like you’re far far out of town, in the middle of nowhere, with just vineyards as far as the eye can see, but really you’re only in Tokai and not that far from the bustling city centre.  So it makes this such an easy outing…

Important things to know:

  • Gorgeous is open 7 days a week from 11am to 10pm
  • They don’t accept bookings.  So you just rock up.
  • You can contact them on: 021 713 7177 or info@gorgeousbygrahambeck.co.za

xxx

Arno Carstens shows us another creative side @ I ♥ My Laundry

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I’m becoming quite a regular at I ♥ My Laundry.  Last wed eve I attended another “Laundry party”, this time to check out some art by legendary SA musician, Arno Carstens while sipping on some Graham Beck wines.  Wed eve perfection right there…

Now I’ve been a fan of Arno since my student days when he used to rock those tight leather pants on stage as the front man of the Springbok Nude Girls.  You see, I have a huge thing for muso types.  Put a guy on stage, let him rock his heart out and instantly his appeal quadrupels in my sad “groupie” eyes.  Then again, I’m sure I’m not the only girl in that boat, right? ;)

Arno’s always been a great musician.  I’ve followed his music career post the Nude Girls and have continued to enjoy his musical stylings.  But Arno as an artist?  I wont lie, I was a bit sceptical…

Little did I know that Arno has always had a love for painting.  In fact, as a kid he dreamt of one day becoming a full time artist and even went on to study graphic art back in 1992.  But all that changed in 1994 when he met Theo Crous, Anro Blumer, Francious Kruger and Adriaan Brand and the band, Springbok Nude Girls, was born.  Music took centre stage so to speak and continued to do so for the next 18 years.

In 2010, after a successful 3 year stint overseas, he decided it was time to pick up that brush again.  And a 2 year creative journey has now culmitated in his Arno Plus exhibition.

I’m not going to act like I know anything about art, cause I don’t.  But what I can tell you is that I know what I like.  I’m not really drawn to things which I think will look nice in my apartment.  I’m also not one for anything related to the big 5 or nature scenes.  I usually like paintings which are slightly weird, dreamlike or even a little dark.

Luckily for me, Anno’s style turned out to be exactly that.  A technical fact you’d probably want to know:  he paints with oils on canvas. :)

My absolute favourite was this one called “Swan Love”:

It immediately made me smile.

And then I liked the dark mood of this one titled “Beast”:

And also ”Self Portrait”:

And the total craziness and bright colours of “Face of deception”:

And “Lothario”:

Prices for these pieces range from about R25,000 to R50,000 and you can check out the full exhibition catalogue here.

I momentarily got side-tracked by a cookie.  Yes, that’s right – a cookie:

I thought to myself… Now this is the easiest way to get that perfect bikini bum!  Well that is until is disappears into your tummy…

As much as I appreciate good art, I also really appreciate good wine.  We kicked off the evening with some Graham Beck Brut NV MCC, which is always a winner, and then we moved on to some of their reds:

On the left - a 2009 Syrah; And on the right – a 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon

This was the first time I tried their red wines and I really enjoyed both.  Heading out to their estate in Franschhoek for the full Graham Beck experience is still on my list of “to do items” and then they also have a new “bubbly bar” called Gorgeous out on the Steenberg Estate in Constantia which I hear is a must see.  I certainly don’t need any excuse to go and indulge in some sparkly daahling. ;)

Me with the man himself. Oh and congrats to Arno on becoming a first time dad recently!

This exhibition is part of the I ♥ My Art club.  For more info or if you’re someone who’s interested in exhibiting as well, contact Susan Botha on myartilove@gmail.com or 084 358 4119.

Thanks to Arno, the fabulous guys & girls of I ♥ My Laundry & I ♥ My Art and of course Graham Beck wines for letting me crash the party.  Loved every minute.

xxx