Anthony and Olive Hamilton Russell Launch Entertaining at Hamilton Russell Vineyards

 
The launch of Entertaining at the Hamilton Russell Vineyards by Olive Hamilton Russell, held at Life Grand Cafe in Hyde Park was a very prestigious event with the most delectable black mussels from Walker Bay and sushi that was being prepared fresh behind the central counter, accompanied by fantastic wines from the Hamilton Russell Vineyards.

It was the perfect venue in the mall court, just behind Life Grand Cafe, that was both elegant and provided some privacy from the everyday activity in Hyde Park. Amongst the guests were famous authors, the ex-premier of Gauteng, dress designers and other celebs. It was a lively, gregarious event that went on late into the evening with sophisticated music from the DJ.

Anthony Hamilton Russell told guests about his wife’s book, “It has elements of coffee table in it, beautiful pictures, lifestyle, wine farming, but most importantly it has aspects of foraging, taking from your immediate environment making it appropriate to your place, borrowing ideas from all over the world and developing something appropriate to the place and the time, so Olive’s book has recipes for every month of the year, something appropriate to the season, something appropriate to our property and our place. That can’t always be matched so what she has done is put in substitutes. What it hopes to achieve is to help the person who owns the book, develop their own philosophy for preparing food from where they live, appropriately for the particular point of time in the year. As we say, food that is appropriate to place and appropriate to time and well presented doesn’t only feed the stomach and the eye, it feeds the spirit as well and that is very important. Beyond that, the book tries to capture the sense of place on a wine farm, what happens in every month, in nature, in the cellar and in the vineyards.”

“Tonight we are also showing two Hamilton Russell wines that co-incidentally are our thirtieth vintages and we are releasing for showing for the first time a new wine from my property Ashford next to Hamilton Russell Vineyards. This year, Hamilton Russell Vineyards was winery of the year, white wine of the year and winemaker of the year, viticulturist of the year and this was not decided by an individual, but from forty-four national and international competitions that were reviewed over a three year period to create a composite score,” said Anthony.

The previous week the Hamilton Russells had been to Los Angeles, where they showed the book to a foodie who publishes and runs a gourmet club. Anthony related that she had said, “This is a seminal book, it encapsulates so many of the trends in cookbooks and does it really well.”

Maira Koutsoudakis, owner of the champagne and raw bar where the fresh sushi was prepared at the event, and a friend of the Hamilton Russells, said, “The Hamilton Russell brand is an outstanding wine making legacy that Olive and Anthony are creating together. This book shows their lifestyle, their children, their family, everything they have together.”

Olive Hamilton Russell thanked guests for honouring them with their presence on a Saturday night and went on with more personal thanks, including thanking her friends who inspired her by visiting the farm and giving her the opportunity to cook for them. She also thanked Random House Struik and finally Anthony Hamilton Russell.

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Book details

• Entertaining at Hamilton Russell Vineyards: A Year on a Cape Wine Estate by Olive Hamilton Russell
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  EAN: 9781431700929
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