Chilling with the champers champs
So while you were probably schlepping through a dreary work afternoon, Ruinart champagne celebrated 250 years of their rosé by hosting a privileged handful at an afternoon of casual connoisseuring. Guests indulged in quail eggs and the brand’s finest bubbly, and were then treated to a viewing of a docufilm, SOMM, which follows the lives of four sommeliers as they prepare to join the elite ranks of Master Sommelier. There are currently only 214 of these highly evolved boozologists in the world. The film was screened at the private cinema in The Saxon Hotel, with guests munching away on fancy caramel-and-nut popcorn and R180-a-glass champagne. By the way, can you take a glug of wine and then isolate where the grapes used originate from? No? Well, guys like Gareth Ferreira can, and then some: he is South Africa’s most-qualified sommelier and is currently preparing for his Master Sommelier exam. It’s a helluva tough life, but somebody has to do it. —