Wine Diva

What do you get if you pair red wine and Lindt chocolate? Girls that just want to have fun! And that is exactly what happened on 21 February 2009 at Stellekaya winery in Stellebosch. Women who love red wine (and Lindt chocolate) gathered from far and wide for the first Wine Diva Club ladies luncheon, sponsored and co-hosted by the lovely all ladies team at Stellekaya winery. Here is a picture of the two official hostesses, Stellekaya woman winemaker, Ntsiki Biyela and myself, Caroline Lowings:

Attendees were welcomed at the front entrance at 11.30am, which was quite a buzz with the usual Saturday morning market across the road, so our swish looking event was attracting much attention from passers-by. We had arranged for a clothing display by Inge Peacock of Lulu Tantan to be set up in the tasting room – so the ladies browsed through the clothing on display while enjoying their welcome drinks:

Ntsiki then led the group of women on a cellar tour and told us all about the interesting things that happen during harvest, which has just commenced at Stellekaya. Stellekaya,  home of the stars, is a specialist producer of red wine only. During harvest time a crane brings the berries up to the cellar, where the juice is extracted from the grapes using a wooden basket press. The punch down method and open fermentation are used for wine production. The wine is matured in French oak barriques for any period between 10 and 22 months depending on the style of wine being produced.

After the cellar tour, the ladies settled down at the luncheon table and Ntsiki led us through a wine and chocolate tasting, using Stellekaya wines and Lindt chocolate.

 Stellekaya Hercules (with Lindt Extra Creamy Milk)
The Hercules is a fruity blend of primarily Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a lighter style wine which can be enjoyed with tomato-based meals. The wine has a great balance of fruit and acidity (this is my favourite pairing).

Stellekaya Shiraz (with Lindt Extra Fine Dark)
The Shiraz is a full-bodied wine, deep red in colour, with lovely spice yet very well balanced fruit flavours. It’s lighter and elegantly different from the typical Shiraz.

Stellekaya Merlot (with Lindt Pear)
The Merlot is enjoyable and easy drinking. The wine is smooth with soft tannins and fruity
nuances of plums, chocolate and blackcurrant.

Even the ladies from Lindt couldn’t stand to miss out on the fun:

After the wine and chocolate pairing, there was a lucky draw for the early birds who signed up for the luncheon before 5 February 2009. Two lucky ladies won a bottle of Stellekaya wine each in a specially made box to hold the “matching” slab of Lindt chocolate. These gift packs will be a regular feature as of the end of March 2009 and available to purchase from the Stellekaya tasting room.

Stellekaya is owned by Dave and Jane Lello, and Jane is also the director and owner of the fine jewellery company, Rockprincess, also located in Stellenbosch. Jane generously sponsored 5 pieces of Armilla Jewellery (thanks Jane!) as prizes for the ladies attending the luncheon. Any ladies who had a Stellekaya cork in their goodie bag, won a piece of amazing jewellery. Wow, such treats.

Each lady attending the luncheon received a goody bag, containing Stellekaya soap made from their red wine, Lindt chocolates, a Wine Diva pen and note papers and some info about the Stellekaya winery. The table was beautifully decorated by the Stellekaya team, with the vine trunk on a bold orange cloth as a centre piece, and any woman’s dream setting with lots Lindt orange chocolates scattered all over and good helpings of red wine to be enjoyed with lunch, a generous and delicious combination of fresh salads and quiches – Lorraine, spinach and feta and biltong.

Everyone had a fabulous time, there was lots of chatting, catching up and making new friends.

 And when you gather so many good-looking ladies together in one room, there are bound to be some lunch crashers:

Thank you Stellekaya and all the ladies who attended for making the day an absolute success! For more info about joining the wine club, send an email to wineclub@winediva.co.za.

Take a look at this event’s pdf ebooklet

For more info on Stellekaya winery, go to www.stellekaya.co.za

www.stellekaya.co.za