Carla van der Merwe, 12 April
Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate is proud to announce its involvement in this year’s Hermanus FynArts Festival. The Hermanus FynArts, currently in its fourth year, is an initiative of Hermanus Tourism and is organised by a dedicated management team. Benguela Cove has been involved in FynArts for the past two years and has an even bigger calendar of events planned for this, their third year.
The 2016 Hermanus FynArts Festival takes place from the 10th to the 19th of June and promises to delight all visitors. The list of events at Benguela Cove includes an art exhibition, pop-up champagne bar, gala dinner, cooking demonstration, French cheese and wine pairing and the results of their national art and design competition.
In keeping with this year’s French theme, Benguela Cove and Bruno Paillard Champagne present a pop-up champagne bar at the Manor House between 10am and 7pm daily for the entire duration of the festival. Visitors can enjoy premium French champagne by the glass and delicious oysters as they marvel at the various fine art exhibitions on show.
The highlight of this year’s events calendar at Benguela Cove is the joint exhibition by Jimmy Law and Janko de Beer, Breaking Imagination: Deconstructing Countenance. Jimmy Law has always been fascinated with the human face, features and what lies behind a person’s eyes. He focuses on creating larger than life, energetic and engaging portraits and his current works have a somewhat darker and more mysterious undertone that raises questions regarding identity. Janko de Beer’s work is inspired by the natural shapes and textures of dried-out bull kelp collected from various beaches around South Africa. His sculptures are a unique mastery of motion, form and texture influenced by the precepts of contemporary futurism in sculpting.
In addition to the exhibition by Jimmy Law and Janko de Beer, there will also be an exhibition of the top 10 entries received in the Benguela Cove Tissue Paper Design Competition. The competition runs from 23 March to 27 May with participants receiving a brief relating to the French flair and glamour of this year’s festival.
Further, to the impressive art exhibitions Benguela Cove’s Somerset West-based restaurant, Benguela on Main, will also be involved in two food and wine-related events. These include a cooking demonstration on Monday, 13 June at 11am with Benguela on Main’s Executive Chef, Jean Delport where he’ll present an ice-cream sandwich pastry demonstration as well as a fine dining dish and an at-home alternative.
Benguela on Main’s French Master Sommelier, Denis Garret will make your taste buds tingle as he takes you on a virtual tour of France with a French cheese and wine tutored tasting on Saturday, 18 June. Passionate and unpredictable, this French Sommelier's approach is fun and relaxed and will leave you with a deeply enhanced appreciation of cheese, wine, and the French culture.
The opening gala dinner for the Hermanus FynArts Festival takes place at the Manor House at Benguela Cove on Monday, 13 June where the winner of the art and design competition will be announced. The gala event promises to impress as the four-course menu will be based on recipes from the newly launched book by festival artist Louis Jansen van Vuuren and Hardy Olivier: The Story of a House: Fables and Feasts from la Creuzette.
Visit www.benguelacove.co.za for additional information on the festival events and information on booking.