Delaire Graff captures the scent of paradise – not only in the estate’s fabulous gardens that bloom all year round, but also in its collection of valuable perfumes. One of Relais & Chateaux’s ‘Top 10 Spectacular Gardens Around the World’, the estate is a botanical wonderland and features a brilliant garden design by Keith Kirsten.
The gardens and vineyards of Delaire Graff capture the essence of summer in the Cape Winelands. What could be more inviting than lazy lunches and long afternoons spent sipping the estate’s impressive wines while the air is rich with the scent of summer flowers and with a base note of freshly mown grass.
It is no mean feat to seduce you indoors and away from this idyllic scenario. However, Delaire Graff offers visitors a multifaceted experience, inviting you to make time to visit its enticing little boutiques where the air is lightly scented with its signature Jardin du Delaire for further sensory delights.
It is here you will find the only Graff store on the African continent. Browse among superbly crafted diamond jewellery and watches – undoubtedly the most fabulous jewels in the world – to choose your own iconic bit of bling handmade in London by Graff’s master craftsmen. Look out for the aweinspiring replica of the 118,08-carat Delaire Sunrise Diamond, the largest square emerald-cut fancy vivid yellow diamond in the world, on the right of the reception hall neighbouring Tretchikoff’s original painting, The Chinese Girl.
The olfactory experience is further enhanced inside where you will also find some of the world’s most valuable perfumes: Graff’s diamond-standard fragrance collection. The range is named after his record-breaking 302,37-carat diamond, cut from a 1,109-carat rough diamond found in Botswana and christened the Graff Lesedi La Rona, which means ‘our light’ in Tswana. Graff’s exquisite emerald-cut diamond inspired the striking crystal flacons that hold the fragrances that are as precious as their namesake.
To create the six fragrances that make up the Lesedi La Rona collection, Graff teamed up with renowned perfumer Walter Johnsen, who led the worldwide, three-year-long process and scoured the planet for the precious ingredients that make up each meticulously crafted eau de parfum.
The initial brief was to create four fragrances that captured different aspects of Graff. “We want- ed the fragrances to echo our values at Graff by using only the most exceptional ingredients in perfumery, with the same care given to the com- position of the fragrances as to the cutting and polishing of the diamond itself,” said Laurence Graff OBE.
“To me, fragrances are little bottles of happiness. Like diamonds, they’re precious things constructed from gifts from the earth,” says Johnsen.
Rock star: The Lesedi La Rona diamond
Graff’s diamond-standard fragrance collection is named after his record-breaking rough diamond found in Botswana in 2015 and christened the Graff Lesedi La Rona. “We had an immense duty to cut the very, very best diamond imaginable to do justice to its impeccable natural beauty,” said diamantaire Laurence Graff OBE. It is the largest diamond of the highest colour and clarity ever certified by the GIA (Gemological Institute of America), and the world’s largest square emerald-cut diamond. It took more than 18 months of analysis, cutting and polishing, and produced 66 additional diamonds, ranging in size from less than a carat to around 26 carats.