The grape escape – in the name of wine and fashion

A WEEK that started on a high aroma of cheese and hints of gooseberry and matured in a barrel for 13 months, Skinnerbek was having a grape escape.

Yes, I am talking about a food and wine pairing evening. Set in a quaint and airy venue, For the Love of Wine restaurant, it was the launch of the Rotary PE West wine auction event, to be held in March to raise funds for the Rotary West's philanthropic activity.

Attended by sponsors of the event and some of my media mates, we sampled wines from the Cape vineyards and tasted food prepared by Vovo Telo.

Lindi Gillespie explained the event's objective, supported by friends, pole vault champion Okkert and Jane Brits.

The pregnancy seems to agree with Jane, she has that glow. Maybe your Gossip Girl missed the memo of wearing white to the event as she was also in white ski pants and a maternity top .

If you are like me, you like Dora stylishly presented and your food to be appetising.

Congratulations to our Beggar-in- Chief, Steven Lancaster, who married recently. Next time, I will tell you how romantic these two are – the man is positively smitten.

Cheers to you, Steven, may you both have a prosperous marriage. Aaagh, all the good ones are taken!

From one stylish event, to the launch of the trendy Hoiden Boutique at the chic Brioche, where the shop is based. I donned my cutest outfit.

Este van der Merwe and Marjorie Erasmus pulled a genie out of the packet with sumptuous colours and iconic styles for the fashion show.

If I was a few kilos lighter, I would have bought a whole lot more than I did. Some of the models could have done with better shoes – these wedge heels are sometimes so ugly they should be burnt in the hot fire pits of fashion. They do nothing for your legs or outfit – they just serve to detract.

The food served from the restaurant was, I must say, reasonably priced, considering we paid nothing to get to the do.

Fellow fashionista Jane Nakazwe and Adelina Mbijama-Gatham were a bit disappointed with the show, compared to last year's event. I had a tiff with the pop-up bar that ran out of Dora within the first hour, seriously. With a perfect summer's evening, a cold glass of wine would have been perfect.

As the old saying goes "you always suffer for beauty". However, kudos to the designers!

Till next time, Ciao.