Eleonor Visser

WINE magazine TOPS at SPAR Chenin Blanc Challenge Winner Eleonor Visser

Eleonor Visser is the first woman to win the WINE magazine TOPS at SPAR Chenin Blanc Challenge for her Spier Private Collection 2004. Joanne Simon interviewed her, along with Winecorp group winemaker Frans Smit.

Sexual stereotypes abound in wine, with those bottlings that are big, full-bodied and tannic often described as "masculine" and those that are soft, delicate and aromatic as "feminine". Given that "feminine" wines usually also exhibit sexual traits - alluring, voluptuous and seductive (or fickle, moody and infuriating!) - it seems safe to conclude that most of the wine writers who use such descriptors are male (even if most of those in my acquaintance aren't particularly testosterone-fuelled...).

But while "genderalisations" usually annoy me, I'm strangely tickled by the words used by the all-male panel at this year's WINE magazine TOPS at SPAR Chenin Blanc Challenge to describe the winning wine - the Spier Private Collection 2004 - simply because "shy", "delicate", "elegant", "understated" and "plenty of complexity" so perfectly describe the woman behind it - Winecorp white wine maker Eleonor Visser.

Besides, Visser herself buys into gender stereotypes: "There's definitely a feminine side to making white wines because you have to pay very, very careful attention to detail, especially during harvest," she says. "Men can also do it, of course, but they don't seem to have the patience to write everything down."

Her boss, group winemaker Frans Smit, confirms that she can tell you every last detail about each of her wines, right down to the yeast and barrel used. But he insists there's nothing more "feminine" about making white as opposed to red wine (with Kobie Viljoen in charge of the latter at Winecorp). "During harvest, the white grapes come in so fast that white wine makers, in a short period of time, work harder than anyone else," Smit reveals. "Before one tank has settled, you need it for the next load of grapes. It can be a logistical nightmare, even for someone as organised as Eleonor, who works from 5am to 2am every day for two weeks."

"And then it's back to normal hours - home at 10pm!" quips Visser. "But at least you can eat something before you go to bed..."

It's no wonder the team behind the Spier, Longridge and Savanha labels is kept busy. The Spier cellar near Stellenbosch alone processes between 2 500 and 2 800 tons of grapes a year - which is why some might be surprised that it has beaten dedicated Chenin specialists, who handcraft tiny quantities, to win the 2006 Chenin Blanc Challenge. "People say we're so big, we can't possibly make great wine," says Smit. "I say being big gives us more opportunity to make great wine."

He elaborates: "When we designed the new winery five years ago, we made sure we'd be able to give the same attention to detail that a 50-ton winery gives its grapes. Every single block of grapes is fermented separately - sometimes three barrels from one block, sometimes 20. These barrels are then tasted continuously to decide which will make the cut for our Private Collection wines."

These are Spier's ultra-premium wines, made from hand-selected grapes from single, mature and low-yielding vineyards that are "gently" vinified and "judiciously" matured in tight-grain, French oak barrels - "selection within selection" is how Smit puts it. Those parcels of wine which don't make the cut go into one of Spier's other three labels: the great-value, fruit-driven Discover range; the varietal-specific Classic range; and the Vintage Selection of blended wines "where the winemaker becomes the artist".

"I don't think there are any other winemakers who taste more than we do," says Smit, who again pays particular credit to Visser. "She is a very accurate and also a very critical taster. I often say a barrel is good enough to go through; then she says no..."

And he listens. In fact, he makes the point that he's very happy to stand back slightly. "I'm a control freak, but as long as there are processes in place, and I know what is happening, my job is to let it happen - and to make sure that, at their price point, our wines are in the top 70 to 80% of quality. And with winemakers like Eleonor and Kobie, that's easy!"

Viljoen has already been in the limelight a few times - winning the Jan Smuts Trophy for the best wine overall at the 2004 Young Wine Show, for example, as well as being a finalist in the Diners Club Winemaker of the Year Awards 2005 for his Longridge Merlot 2003.

"We're a young company working with young grapes so consistency is not always easy," says Smit. "But we've started to be successful, more so for our red wines at this stage because our ratio of red to white is bigger. But with Eleonor's attention to detail, it was also only a matter of time for her..."

So where did it all begin? "Actually I'm a Vaalie," laughs Visser, who grew up in Pretoria. "And believe it or not, my first introduction to wine was WINE magazine, which I started reading from cover to cover while I was still at school."

Meanwhile, having spent childhood holidays in the Cape, she had always dreamt of studying at Stellenbosch University. "I didn't necessarily know what I wanted to study, except that it would be in a science field, or something to do with farming, having grown up on a smallholding. In the end it was my mom who suggested winemaking."

She obtained a BSc Agric degree (Viticulture and Oenology) in 1998, gaining international working experience at Quail Ridge Cellars & Vineyards in California while studying, and at Haselgrove Premium Wines in McLaren Vale, Australia, in 1999. She then worked at Thelema as assistant winemaker for eight months until cellarmaster Gyles Webb also became production consultant at neighbouring property Tokara. "He decided he needed someone more senior to run things here, so I opted to join Spier in 2000."

"Luckily for us!" interjects Smit, who in 2002 took the strategic decision to split red and white wine operations.

When it comes to Chenin Blanc in particular, it's interesting to note that Visser was in the same university class as last year's Challenge winner, Teddy Hall. But their winning wines couldn't be more different, with Hall's Rudera Robusto 2002 as big, rich and ripe (some might say "masculine") as Visser's Spier Private Collection 2004 is crisp, delicate and elegant (or "feminine"). And this, claims Visser, was a deliberate move on her part. "People in the industry had been criticising the Challenge for rewarding heavier wines, so I made my wine in a drier, more elegant, French style but with a definite South African fruit focus."

Speaking of fruit, she and Smit both insist that viticulturist Johann Smit should share the glory for the winning wine. "I believe what takes place in the vineyard is by far the most important part of the process," says (Frans) Smit. "We own about 60% of our vineyards; the rest of the fruit we buy in on contract. Farmers are paid according to quality - and if a wine made from their fruit wins an award, they also get a bonus."

Fruit for the Spier Private Collection 2004 was sourced from two nearby vineyards - 30% from Faure, which was planted in 1981, and 70% from Klein Moorbei, planted in 1983, both consisting of bush vines in the process of being retrellised onto one low wire. The grapes were picked at optimal ripeness (23° Balling) and then meticulously sorted. "We spend hours and hours at the sorting table," reveals Visser. "We only use berries from the inside of healthy bunches - in other words, grapes that have never seen any sun."

The winemaking itself, she says, is pretty straightforward. "We press the grapes until the juice is slightly cloudy [as opposed to clear free-run juice], and then ferment it in French oak barrels - 15% new, mostly second fill, 15% third fill. One interesting thing in 2004 is that we used bigger, 400-litre barrels for the first time because we wanted a component of new wood, but without those obvious vanilla flavours that you get from a high wood to wine ratio."

Incredibly, the wine spent 16 months in barrel, with some of it only completing fermentation after nine months ("nerve-wracking!" is how control-freak Smit remembers it) with Visser doing battonage regularly: "Stirring the lees gives you freshness and also protects the wine from absorbing too much wood flavour."

To finish off the wine and adjust the sugar levels, she blended in a small amount of Noble Late Harvest made from Chenin Blanc rather than using grape concentrate. "It was rich, flavourful and dark in colour after being in barrel for two years. It was such a tiny amount that you can't really taste it, but it lifts the nose and rounds off the wine nicely."

Which is not to say that she'll do the same thing every year: "I don't want my winemakers copying the same formula from one vintage to the next," says Smit. "Don't worry, I've got all sorts of different tricks," responds Visser. "Sometimes I allow the juice to settle until clear before blending some lees back; sometimes we ferment the press juice in separate batches to get very concentrated flavours, giving us lots of different barrels to choose from. It depends on the situation."

Only 700 cases of the 2004 were made - and (in another first for a Challenge winner) bottled under screwcap. "It seems like a good idea because we've had so many problems with corks," says Smit. "I believe it'll give our wines a long life, and I particularly look forward to seeing this Chenin in a few years time."

In the meantime, though, he's just as happy to see it paired with fish, spicy Asian cuisine or even some Portuguese peri peri. "It's not so feminine that it falls away if there's a bit of spice or saltiness," he says.

Visser herself is apparently a good cook, not to mention (she doesn't; Smit does) a talented dancer. "Like me, Eleonor is quite reserved," he says. "She lets her wine speak for her!"

"People say we're so big, we can't possibly make great wine. I say being big gives us more opportunity to make great wine."

"I don't want my winemakers copying the same formula from one vintage to the next."

SPIER FACT FILE

• In 1999, Spier merged with Longridge and Savanha to form Winecorp, now under the leadership of CEO Vernon Davis.

• Spier is perhaps better known for its tourist attractions - from cheetahs and birds of prey to African cuisine at Moyo and luxury accommodation - than its wine. But Frans Smit and his young team are working hard to change that.

• In 2000, the winery (off the Allandale Road, backing onto the Spier resort) underwent a R20 million upgrade to a capacity of 2 800 tons of grapes. The air-conditioned maturation cellar has a capacity of up to 4 500 barrels in four rooms, each separately temperature controlled. All winemaking and operational procedures have ISO 9001 certification.

• Tastings and sales take place at the Spier resort on the R310 from 9am to 5pm, Mondays to Sundays. For more information, phone 021 809 1143 or visit www.spier.co.za.