While local sales of SA bubbly may have plateaued for the minute, it’s left to MCC festivals like yesterday’s Summer Elegance at Twee Jonge Gezellen in Tulbagh to shift stock.  Right on cue, Mother Nature played along and sent the mercury soaring to stimulate demand.  Below is a trinity of SA wine identities (Jan from Spit or Swallow, Jonathan recently returned to SA with a wine business MBA in his capacious white pockets and Joaquim from Amorim) who were forced into a convenient cold water feature, to cool down.

The 500 odd guests came from near and far with four doctors landing in the parking lot in a helicopter when they were expected at the homestead.  Sam and Steven landed at Cape Town International at 11am on the direct Virgin flight from London where it was -2 degrees.  Tulbagh was jam packed full with eleganciers last night and they were lucky to find accommodation at Montpellier de Tulbagh which has the unusual nickname “mond vol piele” which hopefully remained untranslated for the two friends who, being from the UK, are easily shocked.  In fact Steven even sounds like Daisy the downstairs maid in Downton Abbey, as someone pointed out at dinner.  A late impromptu braai thrown by Summer Elegance kingpin Luke Krone with frolicking in water features again a feature.

We stayed in Ryk Tulbagh’s room (above), built in 1813, at the magnificent Tulbagh Hotel in the main road which looks like a set of a Wim Wender’s movie or a series of paintings by Edward Hopper or Walter Meyer, laid out side-by-side in an al fresco art exhibition.  In fact nature (shown below) was so perfect yesterday afternoon, it was starting to look kitsch.  The hotel is owned by a Virgin Airlines captain to propritiate the gods of coincidence and is one of the most comfortable and reasonable billets in the Winelands.  Well worth a visit.