.: 07/25/13

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Elgin Pinot Noir Tweet-Up Tasting

We were invited to participate in this event this morning. The venue was Caroline's Fine Wine Cellar in Strand Street.

We tasted 13 Pinots from Elgin.

Simultaneously, the same wines were tasted by the winemakers at Paul Cluver in Elgin and the tweets from both venues were posted on a screen

and a table of wine professionals and writers began to taste and tweet

Norman McFarlane conferring with Karen Glanfield, who convened the event

The first flight....

and the tweets demand concentration

in a corner of Caroline's extensive cellar with its huge selection of wines

A great selection of Pinots. See the tweets at #elginwine

Wine Merchants - Caroline Rillema and Mike Bampfield Duggan of Wine Concepts
Visit Caroline's Red Wine Review next Wednesday and Wine Concepts Sauvignon Celebration next month. See details in our Events Calendar

Bennett Street venue launch

A welcome glass of Rickety Bridge with a rare picture of the photographer at his craft – see in the mirror

Sean Skibbe, winemaker at South Hill, telling us about his wines

A guest with a blue lagoon

and the whisky tasting

Lots of takers for the World's Most Awarded Single Malt – Glenfiddich

Guests were function organisers, travel trade professionals, film and ad agency people, conference organisers and some media

Chris von Ulmenstein with one of the friendly Gold staff and a platter of sweet and spicy paper-wrapped prawns (filo actually)

The upstairs terrace where the smokers congregated

Everybody enjoying the event

TA DA! The opening ceremony of the Bennett Street function venue.

In the plastic bubble, an electronic violin player, next to a table set for a celebration dinner, as an example of what they offer

The Violinist was very, very good

Behind the table, a nice comfortable seating area with couches and comfortable chairs and, behind that, the long bar

Launching their venue, Kevin King and Jan van Huysteen

The bar, fully stocked

The dance floor, with seating all around, and it has an upstairs section as well

The view of the room from the upper level. Note all the interchangeable lighting

And in another area, a formal dining area

or space for smaller more intimate functions

The manager tells us what the venue has to offer

Cindy Muller tells us what Gold can add to your experience

We were treated to a drumming performance by the Gold staff

The Mali puppets

African singing and dances

Kevin King introduces us to their short film, which you need to see as it shows all the many different applications for which the venue has been and can be used