Stephen's Articles

It's wine time again and this month D' Vine Wine Club introduced us to Glen Carlou from the Paarl region at Oblivion Wine Bar in Harfield Village. Johan Erasmus, Glen Carlou's general manager, was there to guide our noses and palates into the subtleties of their wines.

After a wonderfully relaxing and playful holiday, away from everything in the Little Karroo, I was suprised to find myself overwhelmed and exhausted on returning to face the reality of the year. Sure, big changes are taking place and new adventures being created, but I'd prefer to be facing everything, meeting and matching the energy of my fear and pain, with fullness and openness.

So I've been working on my fitness levels, swimming and jogging a little every other day, and already I feel more energised and organised. I've also set my sights on running the Two Oceans half marathon on the 3rd of April and have decided to join and run with the Endurance Challenge Charity Trust (ECCT), raising funds for orphaned and affected child victims of South Africa's HIV/AIDS pandemic.

My partner and I attended D' Vine Wine Club's Doolhof Estate wine tasting and, thanks to my pedantic tasting notes, won a bottle of Renaissance, a Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend. The owner of the estate, Mr Kerrison, who was there adding an amusing side commentary to the tasting, said such delicious things about this wine I couldn't let it pass me by.

Go and see artist Kali van der Merwe's photographic exhibition, out of the blue, celebrating the female form, it’s eroticism and sensuality, as an expression of spirituality and the deepest self. It was opened 10 December by Dr Marlene Wasserman (Dr Eve) to the gentle background sounds of mbira player and singer Dingiswayo Juma at Misael on Bree Street in Cape Town.