Casa Labia is thrilled to announce that we will be entering a charity team into the 2012 Cape Argus Pick ‘n Pay Cycle Tour.  We have set ourselves the target of raising R30 000 by inviting riders to join the Casa Labia team and encouraging them to gain sponsorship by having members of the public pledge support to them.

 Why are we doing it?

The Casa Labia Dream Team will be cycling to raise funds for an Early Learning Centre situated on the Flower Valley Farm in Stanford. These funds will be used to provide further training for the school teacher in the discipline of art education as well as being used to ensure that the school is adequately stocked with good quality art materials to allow the children to create and learn as effectively as possible.

For more information about the school please visit www.flowervalley.org.za

Who’s doing it?

1. Gareth Hardres-Williams
2. Natale Labia
3. Clyford Zifungo
4. Nick Durrant
5. Harvey Trent
6. Oli Potgieter
7. Justin Trent
8. Joni Watson
9. Olivier de Quelen
10. Daniel Appel

Click here to view THE DREAM TEAM

 How can you help us?

With the target of R30 000.00 set there are various ways in which you, as an individual, your company or school can support us in making this fundraising drive successful.

1) Join the Casa Labia Dream Team

We are looking for keen cyclists of all ages to join our team!

As a Casa Labia rider, you will receive:

1. A free guaranteed entry into the race. (Casa Labia will handle the entire registration process for you)2.

2. Start no later than 8:45 am (the last start is at approximately 10:00 am. Bond members who qualify for an earlier start will still be seeded accordingly with the option to drop down to ride with their colleagues

3. Late closing date for entries

4. Special ‘goody bag’ for each team member

5. Special area at registration for collection of race packs

6. Branded Casa Labia gear to wear on the day

Each rider will be required to raise a minimum of R3000 by:

1. Holding a fundraising event (e.g. dinner / dance /music evening etc)

2. Sponsorship – getting your friends / family / colleagues / company to either give a ‘straight’ donation or sponsor you per km you ride. Each team member’s profile will be loaded onto our website, making it easy for your friends and family to pledge their support

The rider is free to use their initiative when raising their required amount of funds and as long as the minimum amount of R3000 is raised, each rider can raise his/her money however they wish to do so.

Casa Labia will assist each rider where possible with PR material or publicity. The closing date for all sponsorship money to be in is 20th March 2012.

Or

2) Sponsor a Casa Labia Dream Team member

Sponsor a rider for a minimum amount of R3000 per rider.

Should you wish to sponsor a rider, your sponsorship will be given exposure by means of advertising on our website and in various pre & post publicity articles.

Or

3) Sponsor branded items

We are appealing to sportswear companies to sponsor branded cycling gear for our team. Should a company wish to sponsor us in this way, they will be given exposure by means of advertising on the clothing, as well as on our website, social networking sites and in various pre & post race articles.

Or

4) Sponsor of prizes for use in fundraising raffles

We are appealing for a donation of prizes of any type which we will be able to supply our cyclists with, for them to use in their fundraising efforts. Kindly contact us if you have an item / voucher you wish to donate for this purpose. Sponsors will be given exposure via our website and on our social networking sites as well as in various pre and post race articles.

Or

5) Make a donation

Should you wish to make a donation of any amount to this fundraising drive, kindly make a deposit into the below bank account…

Casa Labia Cultural Centre

Nedbank

BOE Private Clients

Branch Code 172805

Account number 1006 387579

Kindly use the following reference when making your deposit: Your Surname/Argus and fax us the deposit slip with your contact details to: 021 7886067 (Att: Gareth) or email gareth@casalabia.co.za so that we may thank you appropriately.

With education becoming evermore a priority in South Africa, we encourage you to join with us to help better equip the future leaders of tomorrow.  However small or large a contribution you chose to make, there is no doubt that your donation will be making an enormous difference to the life of a child less fortunate than yourself.

Gareth Hardres -Williams

The story so far…

Count Natale Labia, Italy’s first minister plenipotentiary in the 1920’s and the man who called Casa Labia home, was responsible for pioneering a host of Italian–South African business relationships.  The South African wine industry was one of many industry’s to benefit from the Count’s tireless efforts and the fruits of his labour are still clearly visible in the winery’s of the Western Cape today, be it in the form of an Italian-manufactured press or the use of Italian cultivars in the vineyards.  Much of the ground work for the strong relationships that exist today between the two countries wine industries was done in those early days.  It is this impact on our wine industry that Casa Labia chose to celebrate by planting a small vineyard on the terraced slopes behind the house.

The Pinot Noir vines planted in 2010 to placate my wife’s demand for bubbly have done surprisingly well, despite the European Starling’s best attempts to scupper the progress as the berries begin to ripen.  Next in line on the terraces are the Grenache vines – and what a triumph this variety has proven to be!  The Grenache vine clearly loves living by the seaside and doesn’t seem too fussed with the roaring South Easter either.  The Mouvedre, on the other hand seems a little less enamored with our wind and sea vistas, and has produced some fruit, but is nowhere near as virile as the Grenache.  The undoubted “flop vine” of the Casa Labia vine growing project on the slopes above the house has been the Shiraz.  Now to be fair to the vine, I was aware before planting it that “Wind” was not a regular feature on Shiraz’s Christmas card list, but plant in Muizenberg “home of the South Easter” I did.  Needless to say, there won’t be much Shiraz in our blend this year, or in any future years for that matter.  There are one or two vines still alive, but the bulk of them are woeful little dead stumps protruding out of the sandy soils.

The next planting was done to answer the call (once again from my wife) for a home-grown “Prosecco” – the Italian sparkling wine, and I dutifully planted some Pinot Grigio a year after planting all the other vines.  My thinking was that the loss of sun in the early afternoon would allow for gentle ripening and facilitate a lovely crisp acidity and subtle fruity flavour in the resultant wine.  This may well still prove to be the case, but the quantities produced will be so small that my wife will be the only one able to attest to the “Granny Smith apple” crispness!

In summary then, the vineyard experiment has been an unreserved success, simply because it was exactly that – an experiment.  As with all experiments, your results are what they are, neither right nor wrong, but simply results from which something is learnt.  I have learnt that vines can be grown in a howling gale, that salt burnt leaves are problematic but not the end of the world, and that growing vines is very much like life – you win a bit here, loose a bit there, but at the end of the day everything seems just that much more worthwhile if you have a glass of wine in your hand.    So fortunately we should be able to harvest some fruit and begin a journey of winemaking in the most unlikely of places.  What the end product will taste like is anyone’s guess, but I can certainly vouch for the experience of getting to the point of taking the first sip as being a delicious one!