Upon arrival at the Dunstone A.R.T WINE Exhibition in Wellington you are greeted with a golf cart and a quick joyride from your car up to the start of the ‘Art Walk’. You will later realise that this was the highlight of your day.
At the drop-off point you are met by a friendly face who checks your name on the register, after which you proceed through the Dunstone restaurant, peering about quizzically – no one seems to know which direction to point you in. Not to mention they are all wearing plastic lei’s. You know the kind someone put around your neck at a party a million years ago? Exactly.
Eventually you locate the gallery and, after having a look around at some rather bizarre pieces, you tentatively make your way to the beach bar (bearing in mind you’re in the middle of the winelands). The beach bar consists of a distressed white bar structure and some cocktail tables perched precariously in what could have been, at some point, a child’s sandpit. At said ‘beach bar’ they have run out of the welcome drink, MCC. They send someone to the back to fetch another bottle which, ten minutes later, they proceed to serve to you. Warm. You decide the beach bar perhaps isn’t for you and head on, in search of a chilled drink.
So went much of the day at the Dunstone A.R.T WINE Exhibition, which had a per-person ticket price of R950 and was billed as a “renowned luxury-infused lifestyle event”.
There were a few lesser highlights – happening on friends from Jacaranda Winery being one of them. They were running a small stall, presenting and selling some of their wines. Meeting the ladies from Hildenbrand Estate was another. They showed an absolute wealth of knowledge on olives and olive oil, and we were convinced to purchase a few of their estate-made oils on the spot. No regrets.
Ultimately the day at Dunstone proved to be a disappointment not because of the warm MCC, but because we had an entirely different idea of what the day would entail. Marketed as a ‘renowned luxury-infused lifestyle event’, the reality was like whiplash, and an afternoon that was supposed to be about art and wine somehow ended up being about neither.
Luxury, whether it is an intangible feeling or a tangible commodity, is a blend of time, beauty, craft, knowledge and skills, that, by virtue of all these things, often comes at an expense. The sad reality of our times is the opposite. The expense comes first, and the detail, thought and aesthetic come second, if they even appear at all.
Note: The Dunstone A.R.T WINE Experience took place on 1 November. I was invited free of charge and these are my honest opinions.