Winemaking appears to have contributed to the fame of the South African Republic to the same extent as diamonds of Kimberley and the Witwatersrand gold mines. One of the world’s leading wine producers, South Africa is known for its subtle and elegant wines.
Set in a romantic landscape, most South African wine estates date back to the times of the Dutch East India Company. An interesting fact is that historical records provide us with the exact date of birth of the first South African wine: on 2 February 1659, Jan van Riebeeck planted a vineyard in the Company’s Garden, and thus the history of South African winemaking began. Some years later, van Riebeeck wrote in his diary: «Today, praise be to god, wine was made for the first time from Cape grapes».
South African wines owe their worldwide reputation to the unique location and favourable climate similar to that of the Mediterranean. During the long African summer, grapes enjoy a very generous sun to accumulate sugar, while sea breezes prevent the vines from drying in the heat. This, combined with a mild damp winter, makes South African climate ideal for winemaking.

Kramnik is a universal chess player. His playing style is interesting to watch in the same way as a good jazz player or a classical musician are interesting to listen to. Sometimes he thinks up such combinations and sees such things that no computer could possibly calculate. The fact is all the more surprising given that the champion has no higher education, which he does not at all regret. Let’s also mention that Kramnik, who looks like a scientist and is tall as a basketball player, is no puritan. Vladimir can indulge in a good glass of wine or a couple of beers in a nice company. He gave up smoking just recently, and it is still a question if he has quit it for good. The sybaritic lifestyle of the chess top division freshman produced numerous anecdotes. One of them is that he owns no car because he is too lazy to learn to drive, and he does not feel like hiring a driver either. Another

Men are believed to take lessons of life from Hemingway’s books. The life loving image of the writer was the epitome of flamboyant energy sufficient to nourish both his writing and his hobbies — the former was very unstable though, and as for the latter, his hobbies quite often ended in disappointments, which could even be taken for a fateful sign.
Very few writers during their lifetime could boast such extraordinary popularity Ernest Hemingway enjoyed. In admiration for his personality, people would undertake long risky journeys, parachute jump, stick their heads into the lion’s mouth, go mad, and take their own lives. His numerous houses and villas in Florida, Cuba, and Africa have become pilgrimage sites. His cars, boats, fishing tackle and shot-guns fetch record prices at auctions. He has become a cult figure who remains widely imitated even today when romantic heroes are no longer popular.
Meanwhile, you have to pay for the «moveable feast» and the fun you have — that was a maxim Hemingway proved by his life.

This painter seems to have tried all painting styles available, from fauvism and cubism through to detailed realism and surrealism. He experimented with poem-painting, collage, illustration, sculpture, ceramics, and tapestry. He combined abstract and real shapes, and drew on memory, dreams and fantasy to produce a surreal world inhabited by odd symbols, shapes, and characters.
Miro might have been flattered by all the excitement around his personality but he probably would not have admitted it. The pragmatic treatment of art had always been alien to Joan who would criticize his colleagues for painting merely for sale. On the other hand, the letters he wrote in the thirties to gallery owners prove he was not indifferent to his carrier.