La Barry Loboloa

Wonderful lunch yesterday at Narina Trogon (81 De Beer Street, Braamfontein) and a wonderful, if inadvertent, wine special. A 750ml bottle of Bartho Eksteen’s grassy Hermanuspietersfontein No. 3 Sauvignon Blanc costs a reasonable R125 but by the glass, it’s an even better deal – 500ml carafes of HP3 are only R50 and you don’t need a PhD in Mathematics to work out which is the better deal. No wonder the place looks like an up-market version of the Wits Staff Club.

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The previous evening saw the launch of another Sauvignon Blanc at Soulsa in Melville – this time La Barry 2008 made by Martin Meinert as lobola for his glamorous leggy wife Leigh Ann. For once a wine is launched in Gauteng before Cape Town. As Martin noted “it’s a no-brainer. Joburg finds homes for 70% of SA high-priced wine. If we even have a Cape Town launch, it will be a family and friends affair.” Which is bad news for the Mother City’s army of goodtime gals and guys ready to attend the opening of an envelope if there is free booze and take-aways.