Curated Cuvée

Curated content, curated travel, curated experiences... but as with most trendy things which are appropriated by media mavens and influencers, it can become overworked, tired and clichéd. Diminished by its ubiquity.

Curated is defined as being something that is "carefully chosen and thoughtfully organised".

The problem in our modern, social media driven world is that so much of what claims to be “curated” falls flat on its face because the precious folks doing the “curation” lack the expertise and knowledge to pull it off.

But then there are those moments when it IS pulled off – and an ostensibly simple event is elevated to sublime levels simply by its exquisite elegance and understated refinement. There’s very little that can compete with a Cape Town summer sunset, especially viewed from a rooftop deck with Table Mountain’s looming bulk towering behind. Oh – and a Michelin-starred chef personally circulating platters of delicately crafted canapés like Springbok biltong lamingtons, tiny pigeon and mushroom sosaties skewered on a rosemary sprig and braaibroodjie macarons.

That was the case with the launch of the most recent vintage of Graham Beck’s prestige bubbly, the Cuvée Clive 2014 at the Kloof Street premises of Michelin-starred chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen. Used as a test bed for what will be his second restaurant, Klein JAN, at Tswalu private game reserve in the Kalahari near Upington, the menu comprised local – and unusual – ingredients, such as the camel milk used in the first course of apple, spring vegetables, chorizo and white beans and haddock. Or the Franschhoek trout in rooibos broth with celery, cucumber, tomato and fennel and the whole quail stuffed with grains and Upington dried fruits, glazed with Kalahari truffle infused potstill brandy jus. 

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