Gottfried Mocke - Diners Club Winemaker of the Year 2006
Gottfried Mocke Winemaker at Chamonix
It was less than three decades ago that the first Chardonnay vines were planted in South Africa. The country's winemakers have been on a steep learning curve ever since and today one of the country's most adept Chardonnay vintners, according to the panel of judges who chose the winning wine for the 2006 Diners Club Winemaker of the Year award, is Gottfried Mocke of Chamonix, Franschhoek.
Gottfried Mocke tucks a bottle of Chamonix spring water under his arm and leads the way out of the smithy which now serves as the winery's tasting room, into the cellar - past the quad bike, the plastic picking crates, down some stairs, past the stainless steel tanks, sharp right around the maturation barrels to a tiny sanctum. The water's only because he's thirsty - Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are usually first choice on his list of "things to drink".
"I love Burgundy - white and red," he says, bubbling with enthusiasm, having just returned from a trip to France along with good friend Johan Kruger, last year's Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year with his Sterhuis Chardonnay 2004. "We concentrated on Meursault and Montrachet, and it was absolutely amazing to see how each winemaker works differently, according to his terroir or his grapes."
As the winner of this year's Diners Club Winemaker of the Year competition he's won a trip to a wine-producing country of his choice plus R15 000 'traveling money' - no prizes for guessing that he'll be heading back to Burgundy.
Both his Reserve and "standard" Chardonnays from the 2005 vintage were among the finalists, with the former scoring slightly better and commented on as follows by the judges: aromatics of oatmeal, barley sugar and a touch of toast which segued into gentle tropical tones in the background, with light citrus notes; on the palate, fresh and full with a fairly firm acidic backbone. Mention was also made of its complexity, the sweet spicy oak that played a supportive role, and the melon and cashew flavours. Loads of development potential. And there's enough to go around: 1000 cases (by 12 bottles) of the standard Chardonnay and 500 cases of the winning Reserve, which sells for around R80 retail.
Mocke attributes Chamonix's success to their abandoning acidification in 2003. "We rely on natural acid in the fruit and pick at various levels of ripeness to get different acid levels." One block of vineyard can be harvested up to eight times! "I've been here since 2001 and [we] now know how the soils change within each vineyard… We know which rows to pick early and which to pick later or riper."
That's the first element, fruit selection in the vineyard with eight hectares of Chardonnay to choose from, including one block of 23-year-old vines and another of 18-year-old vines. Then there's Mocke's policy of allowing the Chardonnay to ferment naturally - no inoculation with cultivated yeast for Chamonix. And he only uses new barrels for his best Chardonnay - 228-litre barrels from the Alliers forest in Burgundy.
"The Reserve is generally from one particular vineyard and has 14 months in wood. I then blend in some of the Chardonnay that's been whole-bunch pressed and only spent 11 months in oak - and perhaps some more that's been in second-fill barrels, to add a bit of freshness."
Mocke uses malolactic fermentation for all of his Chardonnay - again, naturally. "Yes, I could inoculate with a malolactic culture and it'd be finished fermenting in two months, but then the wine becomes too buttery. I want time for the wine to get that creamy richness, so it takes as long as it takes…"
There is long lees contact and batonage during this time as well. It's also important to him that all the natural sugars are exhausted and the Chardonnay reaches total dryness. "I don't want any residual sugar whatsoever."
So where did it all start for the man behind the wine?
"I was born and grew up in Swellendam - and my mom was actually the one who said I should consider winemaking." Mom also organized that the young Mocke spend some time working with family friend Kurt Amman at Rozendal in Stellenbosch.
"I've been very lucky that people have helped me so much. And I will never forget a day at Rustenberg - I didn't know what I was doing, they made me fill barrels, and a lot of Chardonnay ended up on the floor that day."
After matriculating he worked a harvest at Du Toitskloof in the Breedekloof valley. "They really drink a lot in Rawsonville… It was perhaps not the best place to start."
Then he went to Germany and to August Kessler, a top Riesling producer in the Rheingau. "It was an amazing experience working in both the incredibly steep vineyards and in the cellar." At the end of 1995 he was enrolled into a winemaking apprenticeship whereby he spent two weeks in the winery and then a week at college. "I didn't know the meaning of hard work until I did that!
Saturdays we used to load up this little van and drive all over delivering wine. I'd have to carry boxes of wine up five flights of stairs to a customer's apartment!"
Three years later, after qualifying as an assistant winemaker, Mocke set off for America in search of a different experience - in Pinot Noir country, specifically Rex Hill in Oregon, where he spent six months working with "his babies" - Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Then it was back to South Africa for a six-month stint at Robertson Winery. "It made me realize that I never want to work in a big co-operative winery. I take my hat off to the guys who do because it's really hard making wine in those volumes."
Subsequently Mocke was accepted at Weinsburg Institute in Germany and the next two years were spent in-full time studies with the Johanninger family as his mentors. "They're a new generation of producers in Germany who are making Burgundian wines. It was through them that I was able to taste great Burgundies while studying - at harvest time we drank a great bottle of wine every night. It was a privilege. And Weinsburg really invested in their students," he says, recalling trips to top producers in Italy, Bordeaux and elsewhere.
After graduating from Weinsburg in 2001, he was contacted by Chamonix winemaker Peter Arnold who faxed him a job offer. "I wasn't too sure that I wanted to work in Franschhoek - but then I visited the farm and I saw the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and was hooked!"
A few months later Arnold left and Mocke was appointed cellarmaster for Chamonix owner Chris Hellinger. "He's been amazingly supportive. We're brutally honest with each other and there's mutual respect…"
In spite of 2002 being his first solo vintage - and one typified by outbreaks of mildew and disease throughout the winelands - the Chamonix Chardonnay Reserve 2002 won Mocke his first acclaim, a gold medal at the prestigious Chardonnay du Monde competition in France.
"It's a challenge making wine from this small 50ha farm in a pocket of Franschhoek. It's a young farm, only established in 1992."
And when he's not at Chamonix, Mocke likes nothing more than relaxing with friends and good wine - he relishes the fact that fellow Burgundy fans Ludwig Maske of the La Cotte wine shop and Marc Kent of Boekenhoutskloof are good mates. Surfing is his main leisure activity. He often packs his board and wetsuit in the bakkie, whistles for his four-legged companion (a Jack Russell named Gypsy) and is off to the family holiday cottage in Elandsbaai.
Elandsbaai is where he'll retreat, to the cottage with no electricity, to let the impact of his Diners Club award sink in - and to ride a few West coast rollers, dreaming of his next trip to Burgundy.
By Fiona McDonald.
Top 10 wines as judged for the 2006 Diners Club Winemaker of the Year
WINNER:
Chamonix Reserve 2005 (Gottfried Mocke)
Chamonix 2005 (Gottfried Mocke)
De Wetshof D'Honneur 2005 (Danie de Wet)
Haut Espoir Reserve 2005 (Nikey van Zyl)
Jordan 2004 (Gary Jordan)
KWV Cathedral Cellar 2005 (Tania Joubert)
Mulderbosch Barrel Fermented 2005 (Mike Dobrovic)
Quoin Rock Cape Agulhas 2003 (Carl van der Merwe)
Sterhuis 2005 (Johan Kruger)
Tokara Stellenbosch 2005 (Miles Mossop)
