Jan Boland Coetzee - the legend with a taste for fine, French wines.
He quotes from a heavy book laying on his lap: “A winemaker is a humble servant of nature; his role is to give nature the opportunity to produce the best possible wine. Nature creates, man only guides.” He leans back in the leather sofa, his bare feet folded underneath his imposing physique. “I’ve changed the text a little bit,” he says. “In the last sentence I prefer it to read ‘man only cares’ – the more you care for nature, the better the wine.” He then looks at me, with a gaze that I can only describe as piercing. He has been described as modest, this barefoot winemaker sitting in his unassuming wine shorts and T-shirt in front of me, but here is no lack of confi dence. Jan ‘Boland’ Coetzee. The ex-Springbok flank with a love for fine, French wines and one of South Africa’s most influential winemakers.
Photographs by Toby Murphy
There is a proud, legendary history that besieges the man. Bordering on 70 – “I considered buying a ’45 Mouton to commemorate the occasion,” he says – Jan Boland is still a force to be reckoned with, his reputation as one of South Africa’s ‘rough and ready’ flanks in the ’70s, his indisputable influence on one of SA’s foremost wine estates and his present-day involvement in the wine industry have cemented the fact: you don’t mess with Jan Boland.
It sounds like a severe statement when actually confronted by the man. He is soft-natured, humble and even somewhat shy. He likes philosophising, which goes hand-in-hand with his love for the vine.
“Wine is an incredible companion, it comes to its right when shared – it doesn’t matter with whom – but it’s best enjoyed with friends,” he says with his distinctive Boland brei that, together with the Boland rugby blazer he wore as student at Stellenbosch, has earned him his nickname.
He has had many achievements in his life, and there the rippling effect has played a significant role in shaping SA’s wine industry as it stands today – even if by somewhat controversial means.
Today, Jan Boland has 48 vintages to his name and, when I visited him at Vriesenhof in Stellenbosch at the passing of another vintage, he described how it was the earliest vintage he had ever concluded. It wasn’t said without some warning.
Coetzee takes his cue from nature, and the fact that this vintner had just experienced the hottest vintage of his winemaking career should serve as an indicator to global-warming proponents (and their critics). Says he: “Wine is the best mirror of its environment and a reflection of the person who looks after it.” Which beckons the question: Are we already encountering wines made from an ill-treated environment?
Jan Boland has an awful lot to say about present-day wines and the industry, not all of which is positive. “The focus has moved away from the importance of soil – instead it’s about what happens in the cellar, about winemaking competitions, which has created a fashion idiom when it comes to wine.”
Needless to say, Jan Boland isn’t interested in making wine for star ratings. “I don’t need to change my style of wine to attract attention. It is between me and nature. Competitions don’t fascinate me.”
It is rather ironic then that Jan Boland’s winemaking career started at Kanonkop in Stellenbosch, one of South Africa’s most coveted producers. Bar the two vintages he spent at Simonsvlei, Jan Boland’s skills were honed here, the period between 1968 and 1980 having an undeniable influence on the style of the wines produced here. Today the Kanonkop wines are still closely associated with his name.
When he talks of the Kanonkop years he remembers catching up on sleep with his head resting on the wine press (“It resulted in quite a bump on my forehead”) and he tells of his involvement in literally every aspect of the winemaking process. He cultivated, grafted, planted, produced and marketed the wine at Kanonkop – most notably Cabernet Sauvignon which he was instrumental in introducing to the farm.
His passion for this noble variety is clear, but, again, the reason for this infatuation is found in nature. “Stellenbosch is Cabernet country – I believe it to this day – it simply has the right soil types.”
But Jan Boland’s name is also closely associated with Chardonnay, although this connection has some controversial roots. In the 1980s, he, together with winemaker Danie de Wet from De Wetshof and some fellow frustrated winemakers, were responsible for smuggling cuttings into the country at a time when this variety was still banned by KWV. He recalls the incident when De Wet was called to “collect his chocolates” at the Wynboer offices in Paarl – ironically situated in the KWV building – where then editor Maureen Joubert’s husband Fritz was awaiting him with the smuggled package from his friend Jan Boland, who was doing a harvest at Drouhin, France. He pages through a photo album and points to a picture of his son as a baby: “We hid some cuttings in his nappies as well.” Coetzee and De Wet were later brought in to testify in front of a commission of enquiry – the outcome of which resulted in the establishment of the Vine Improvement Association in 1986, which reduced the approval period for new varieties from close to 20 years to three years.
Jan Boland isn’t done with redressing the industry. During the interview, he alludes to certain “meetings being called” and “issues being addressed”, – after mentioning the lack of decent marketing of local wines.
He follows this with quite a pertinent statement: “Priorities need to be straightened, the industry is shrinking and regressing.” He backs up this view with references to the standard of winerelated academic institutions, the ratio of vineyards being planted versus uprooted and the lack of new members with fresh views entering the industry. The current state of the industry is clearly a frustrating topic for him and the conversation switches to vertical tastings of Latour and Château d’Yquem instead – the empties of which stand on the steps leading down to his well-stocked cellar.
Here old Château d’Yquem vintages with their distinct gold labels draw his attention. He lifts a ’66. “The ullage is still good,” he clucks. He repeats this ritual, moving from shelf to shelf, pulling a wine, studying its content and then placing it down, gently, with its label facing upwards.
“I have Billy Hofmeyr of Welgemeend to thank for nearly everything I know about music, art and wine,” he tells, mentioning Hofmeyr’s influence in his early wine-collection years. “I was earning R150 a month, R3 went towards tax and R10 went towards wine. I bought a 1968 Romanée-Conti for R2.10, a ’69 Y’quem for R14.” A monthly spending habit which solidified a relationship with fine French wines – and which inspired him to create classic wines reflecting a winemaker in love with nature.
He concludes: “Wine is a stranger to words and yet has its own tongue, often a simple one – sometimes not shared easily – but it loosens the tongue in simple terms. A perfect mirror of the environment and care of mankind for a moment of sharing…” I intend to drink a bottle of Vriesenhof Cabernet 1991 to appreciate the full grasp of his words.
VISIT VRIESENHOF VINEYARDS
Paradyskloof Road, Stellenbosch
Tel 021 880 0284
www.vriesenhof.co.za
Tastings Monday to Thursday 10:00 to 16:00, Friday 10:00 to 15:30 and Saturday 10:00 to 14:00.
