Francois Agenbag - Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year 2006
Mountain Ridge's Winemaker Francois Agenbag
The old saying goes that "manners maketh the man" and Mountain Ridge Wines winemaker Francois Agenbag has those aplenty, judging by the way he greets visitors to the Wolsely Winery's tasting room. Sara Steer caught up with the polite and laid back Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year. Much like the gently winding country roads one navigates to explore this scenic region, the tale behind Agenbag's winning entry, the 6 + 1 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2004, contains a few twists and turns. Agenbag joined Romansrivier Winery, producers of the Mountain Ridge range, in 2002 and he's justifiably chuffed with his role in the Romansrivier renaissance.
"At the time things looked bad. The board decided to halt production for one season. But we believed in the cellar's potential and decided to blow new life into this place!" said Agenbag. While at Bonnievale Cellar this Stellenbosch University graduate was approached to take the helm as production manager and winemaker at the rejuvenated cellar, which officially changed its name to Mountain Ridge Wines this year.
"We didn't expect anything from my first vintage in 2003. It was a new cellar and I had to get acquainted with it." But their faith and hard work paid off handsomely as the cellar went on to win the Best Pinotage Trophy for their Mountain Ridge Pinotage 2003 at the Worcester Young Wine Show, while that same wine also scooped the 2005 WINE magazine TOPS at SPAR Value for Money Pinotage Award.
To what does he attribute the winery's return to form? "If one wants to do well, you're going to succeed. If the fruit is good and you do your job, then the good stuff should follow," he said matter-of-factly. "Our whole mindset has changed. We're far more quality and market driven."
In line with this philosophy is the winery's commitment to providing a service to a wide variety of private and corporate clients for whom Agenbag and his team produce wine. "They supply the fruit and some of the infrastructure and I create the wine according to their preferred style." One such client is a couple who recently invested in a wine farm in the Breede River Valley.
Businessman Patrick Pols and his wife Jacqui, who hail from Sasolburg, own the farm Seven Oaks, just down the road from the Mountain Ridge cellar. "One day Patrick asked me if I'd make some wine for him. So I said, 'sure, why not?'" Initially the plan was to produce just enough for private consumption.
Pols supplied the fruit for what subsequently became the 6 + 1 Reserve and it was vinified in a small 'satellite' cellar within the larger Mountain Ridge winery. "They gave me all the freedom in the world - with the prerequisite that I make a good red wine," he chuckled.
True to the arithmetic origin of the name, all the factors seemed to add up from the get go. "We had excellent raw material to work with. In the cellar we used small red wine fermenters - five and 10 ton." Only 1 500 cases of the 6 + 1 Reserve Cab Shiraz '04 were produced. "It's a more personal way of making wine, with the luxury of plenty of time and no urgency to empty the tanks just because you have other grapes waiting to go in!" The final blend is 66% Cabernet Sauvignon and 34% Shiraz.
"We worked the skins very hard, fermented quite cold, and left the wine on the skins for almost one month after fermentation. We didn't press at all and used only free run juice, and then straight into the barrels for malolactic." Agenbag believes in a hands-off approach, preferring to let the wine speak for itself. The 6 + 1 was matured in 90% American oak and 10% French oak barrels for 12 months.
Their first option was to bottle the two wines separately, but after sampling the trial blends the sum of the parts won hands down. "I went for a full bodied, fruit driven, yet accessible style. There are lots of New World influences from the American oak and optimally ripened fruit. The wine has an upfront fruitiness and a big alcohol by volume of 14,8%. Although dry, the residual sugar (4g/l) imparts a better feel on the mid palate," he said.
"I set out to make it for Patrick and Jacqui and their friends - a wine to be enjoyed in relaxed surroundings. I had a picture in my head of what they liked and that's what I tried to create.
"I just had a gut feeling about this one," he said when asked why he entered it for the Diners Young Winemaker competition. The category this year was for dry red, unfortified wines. He's walked off with the top prize, a framed certificate and R5 000 for his efforts.
"We also realized as time went by that we couldn't keep it a secret!" The 6 + 1 Reserve Cab Shiraz '04 will be listed in restaurants and available from specialist wine shops at around R50 a bottle. Also in the pipeline are a Merlot Cab '05, Chenin Blanc '06 and Cab Shiraz '06.
The name 6 + 1 refers to the name of the Pols' farm, Seven Oaks. When Pols initially visited the property he admired its seven stately oak trees. Later when he took his wife along, Jacqui only counted six... A seventh tree was planted and the wine was named in honour of this adding error!
At 28 Agenbag is revelling in his dream job. His winemaking mantra: "passion, precision and timing". Earnest, focused and refreshingly down to earth, Agenbag maintains he doesn't stress easily. He unwinds with his family, wife Rachelle and their two small boys, Jean and Francois Jnr. "I'm not a city person, so the tranquility and natural beauty of the Breedekloof area suit me just fine," says Agenbag contentedly.
Top 10 wines as judged for the 2006 Diners Club young Winemaker of the Year
WINNER:
Seven Oaks 6+1 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2004 (Francois Agenbag, Mountain Ridge)
Diemersfontein Pinotage 2006 (Francois Roode)
Fairview Shiraz 2005 (Erlank Erasmus)
Groenland Antoinette-Marie Reserve 2004 (Piet Steenkamp)
Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (Bartho van der Westhuizen)
Lategan Family Reserve Touriga Nacional 2005 (Daniel du Toit, Bergsig)
Quoin Rock Syrah 2004 (Carl van der Merwe)
Saxenburg Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2003 (Edwin Grace)
Scarborough Red 2004 (Duncan Savage)
Spruitdrift Merlot 2005 (Johan Weideman)
