Dombeya wines at the ‘other’ Royal Wedding

by Patrick Sandeman

This week-end sees another Royal Wedding, this one between Monaco’s Prince Albert and Zimbabwean born Charlene Lynette Wittstock. The weather is set fair and the Monegasque people are promised a ‘genuine communion’ with the royals as they join in the celebrations. It is unlikely to be such a grand spectacle as our own royal wedding earlier this year; after all nobody does pageantry quite as well as the British, and I cannot imagine they can top Pippa Middleton as perfect bridesmaid.
What they will have however, is an amazing dinner for 500 prepared by Alain Ducasse (and a team of 350 chefs) accompanied by three specially selected South African wines from the Dombeya Stellenbosch vineyard: Dombeya Chardonnay 2010, Dombeya Boulder Road Shiraz 2006 and the Dombeya Samara (Cabernet/Merlot) 2005.
While not all the family have been invited (Albert’s ex wife, and his ex air-hostess girlfriend are not on the invitation list) it does make for a very happy event which Dombeya’s winemaker, Rianie Strydom, is rightly proud to be a part of.