This week at the Cooked HQ was a quiet one and for anyone that's ever been to visit us - that is as rare as hen's teeth. The reason for this was that our entire office was up in the Northern half of the country orchestrating the filming of a set of TV commercials. It's the first time that Cooked has embarked on producing TV ads and together with Creative Workshop, Cooked in Africa was proud to be a part of the production from start to finish.
Special thanks goes to Sunel Haasbroek, Calvin Hayward, Wesley (Skunk), Zann Wienand, Andre Beumer, Brent Webb, Malcolm Stone, Chad de Klerk, John-Sebastian Esongo, Nerine Pienaar, Merina Geyer, Hansie Sedibe, Minuche Snyman, Cassius Lucani, and cast: Bongani Ndyalvane, Ursula Hogg, Gunda Roodt, and Julian Louw.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Exploring the Vine Boys meet Madame May-Eliane Deloncquaisane
A woman dubbed 'the queen of the wine industry' graciously accepted our invitation to feature her in an episode of Exploring the Vine covering women in the South African wine industry. Madame hails from the Bordeaux winelands in France where she single-handedly changed the face of the French wine industry. Find out what makes this extraordinary woman tick on episode seven of Exploring the Vine.
An Afternoon with Vince Colby
Director Rio Allen and his trusted team of 'film-ous' from Catchlight Media (part of the Cooked Collective) went out one Sunday to meet and capture a day in the life of South African music legend, Vince Colby, and his wife Patty. We had the privilege of being the first to gain insight into this man's life - a true symbol of strength in his current battle with cancer.
We have not known the extent of Colby's career up until this point. Watch as his friends join him as he does what he loves most - sing.
To see this rare insight into Colby's life, watch MNET HD or watch this space for future uploads.
We have not known the extent of Colby's career up until this point. Watch as his friends join him as he does what he loves most - sing.
To see this rare insight into Colby's life, watch MNET HD or watch this space for future uploads.
Further Exploring the Vine...
Howard, James and Stuart have just completed their eighth episode of Exploring the Vine and, so far, they have done everything from abseiling off Paarl rock with some of South Africa's hottest winemakers to finding South Africa's oldest vine in the desolate planes of the Karoo.
This week saw the boys attempting to catch a fish in time for their snoek braai with South Africa's 'Mr Pinotage', Beyers Truter. Either their bait was sub-standard or the boys simply had no idea how to cast a line because not one of them was able to secure a snoek in time.
Needless to say Beyers wasn't very impressed.
This week saw the boys attempting to catch a fish in time for their snoek braai with South Africa's 'Mr Pinotage', Beyers Truter. Either their bait was sub-standard or the boys simply had no idea how to cast a line because not one of them was able to secure a snoek in time.
Needless to say Beyers wasn't very impressed.
Blog Update 18 August
It's been a while since our last post and we apologise. A large group of wild meerkats attacked our internet connection while alien forces abducted and probed our entire office. Well that, and the small fact that we literally have had no time between completing a cook book, three TV series, a slew of commercials, short documentaries, a wedding, pitches, conferences and making coffee. But here we are, or here I am, about to fill you in on what has happened in the past couple of deadly silent weeks.
Or did I just do that?
Or did I just do that?
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Exploring the Vine: tasting some of SA's best
Sorry it’s taken so long to write another post, everything here has been a little hectic, so this is some of what we have been upto:
James, Howard and Stuart have finally abandoned their 7-day work weeks for the road in search of the best wines South Africa has to offer. Starting off the three spent the weekend at The Countries’ most popular wine festival – The Wacky Wine Weekend in Robertson. (Due to a competition that James had lost in the previous episode he was designated driver but he soon worked his around this one). There was rain forecast for the weekend but this didn’t deter the guys as they took full advantage of this famous Southern Cape festival.
In the episode that followed the guys decided that they were going to get a little cultural (they were really hoping to get their paws on some vintages that aren’t available in anywhere else) as they went in search of the oldest Vines in South Africa, which ended up taking them on a crazy tour, criss-crossing the Southern Cape- beginning in the centre of Cape Town, the guys then went to Groot Constantia – aouth Africa’s oldest wine estate, then Stellenbosch, where amongst other things they met with the godfather of South African wine, Spatz Sperling and finally they landed up in quite far North in Calvinia in the Klein Karoo, where some unlikely discoveries unfolded...
In the next episode the guys go to the Bastille festival in Franschhoek and look for some of the more unconventional names in wine, they visited Cabriere and chatted to their poetic Cellar Master Achim von Armin, later the three took part in a barrel rolling competition, in which James almost impaled himself. Next weekend the boys will meet up with some more big names in South African wine, who too have alternate approaches to the wine making process..
James, Howard and Stuart have finally abandoned their 7-day work weeks for the road in search of the best wines South Africa has to offer. Starting off the three spent the weekend at The Countries’ most popular wine festival – The Wacky Wine Weekend in Robertson. (Due to a competition that James had lost in the previous episode he was designated driver but he soon worked his around this one). There was rain forecast for the weekend but this didn’t deter the guys as they took full advantage of this famous Southern Cape festival.
In the episode that followed the guys decided that they were going to get a little cultural (they were really hoping to get their paws on some vintages that aren’t available in anywhere else) as they went in search of the oldest Vines in South Africa, which ended up taking them on a crazy tour, criss-crossing the Southern Cape- beginning in the centre of Cape Town, the guys then went to Groot Constantia – aouth Africa’s oldest wine estate, then Stellenbosch, where amongst other things they met with the godfather of South African wine, Spatz Sperling and finally they landed up in quite far North in Calvinia in the Klein Karoo, where some unlikely discoveries unfolded...
In the next episode the guys go to the Bastille festival in Franschhoek and look for some of the more unconventional names in wine, they visited Cabriere and chatted to their poetic Cellar Master Achim von Armin, later the three took part in a barrel rolling competition, in which James almost impaled himself. Next weekend the boys will meet up with some more big names in South African wine, who too have alternate approaches to the wine making process..
Friday, May 22, 2009
In search of perfection…
Yesterday Danny, our cameraman and Corne caught up with Stuart Botha, the third character in Exploring the Vine, he and his mentor at Eagles Nest, Martin Meinert, being the perfectionists they are, were on a mission to find just the right blend of Stuart’s 2008 merlots.
As it turns out the same grape variety, in this case Merlot, grown on different parts of the farm produces distinctively different wines – it all comes down soil types, weather, sunshine and the attention the grapes receive while growing.
After four days of meticulously testing merlot ratios, Stuart & Martin were pretty pleased with the result: Stuart’s first year as the head winemaker and a merlot he's tremendously proud of - Eagle Nest’s 2008 Merlot Vintage.
Yesterday Danny, our cameraman and Corne caught up with Stuart Botha, the third character in Exploring the Vine, he and his mentor at Eagles Nest, Martin Meinert, being the perfectionists they are, were on a mission to find just the right blend of Stuart’s 2008 merlots.
As it turns out the same grape variety, in this case Merlot, grown on different parts of the farm produces distinctively different wines – it all comes down soil types, weather, sunshine and the attention the grapes receive while growing.
After four days of meticulously testing merlot ratios, Stuart & Martin were pretty pleased with the result: Stuart’s first year as the head winemaker and a merlot he's tremendously proud of - Eagle Nest’s 2008 Merlot Vintage.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Justin says the F-word on live radio:
Justin felt right at home in studio when he joined lee downs and his crazy crew on Heart 104 this morning. They chatted about Cooked, Getaway to Africa 1 & GTA 2 and the mad times he shared with friends, family and the plethora of people he met along the way. For a second he forgot he was live (there are no re-takes) and let a ‘beep-word’ slip out. These things happen.. We are going to post the interview on our website for all of you who missed it.
On the road again..
Wine was flowing
All the mayhem of harvest is finally over and things have begun to go back to normal, so Sunel, who is our Director of Photography (DOP) and Corne the Director of Exploring the vine, our new wine show (currently in production) went out yesterday to catch-up with James and Howard. They left Cape Town before dawn and made their way to Flagstone (Stellenbosch), which was one of the estates Howard worked on over the past harvest - they we bottling their merlot.
Corne reckons that the process of winemaking has been a fascinating journey, something he, and most others know near nothing about. As the year unfolds and the show’s characters develop, he says it’s very interesting to see how the humble grape is simply transformed into some of the fantastic wines he has 'tasted' so far. Now that the guys have done the hard yards its time to reap the rewards so out onto the road they are going in search of the best South African wines out there…
James Corder: boss for a day
Autumn is a beautiful season, especially on Beaulieu, the Corder Family-run Estate in Elgin. The farm, traditionally known for their apple and pear orchards, more recently has converted a small portion of the estate, which is now under vine. The Corder’s have hit the ground running; with James at the reigns; the farm is a major contributor to Elgin Vintners, who to date have produced some darn mouth-watering vino.
At the moment the farm is relatively quiet and with all the ‘free’ time on their hands you’d think it would be the worst time to leave Jimbo in charge…
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Cooked begins shooting Getaway 2
It’s been almost a year since the first season of Getaway commenced filming. So when Justin and Sunel got the green light this morning the two practically flew out of the door.
The 1st episode of Getaway 2 sees the guys stick relatively close to home as they are attempting to re kindle the relationship between the people of the Cape Peninsula and their close cousins, the Chacma baboons.
In the case of all close families relationships have their ups and downs and of late the bond between man and the baboons of the Cape has been on the rocks, so much so that for some the only foreseeable solution is to completely eradicate these ultra intelligent animals.
The Chacma baboons have harmoniously shared the Cape Peninsula with Homo sapiens for hundreds of years. More recently these inquisitive primates have been turning up in the heart of the leafy southern suburbs of Cape Town and making themselves quite at home.
Although these residential areas border on and at times even encroach on the baboon’s natural habitat, their behaviour has caused considerable consternation with residents and homeowners and a result the baboons have been branded as not only a nuisance but also as violent and dangerous intruders. It does seem that they are making a conscious decision to move ever closer to the homes of their human counterparts.
Justin's aim is to delve deeper into the ongoing conflict between man and the last existing large wild mammals of the Cape Peninsula and hopes to find solutions that will positively suit both parties.
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