Local heroes: Beyers Truter and Koos Kombuis
Local heroes
Over Pinotage burgers and bottles of Beyerskloof Pinotage, winemaker Beyers Truter and musician Koos Kombuis discuss what it's like to be legends in their own lunchtime. By Leigh Robertson.
Koos Kombuis, folk hero of Afrikaans rock music and literature alike, has written songs about many things: love and beautiful girls who've been his muses, war and despair, and ordinary but poignant moments that he has passed on with such a depth of feeling that we, the listeners, have cherished them for a lifetime.
He's been prolific when writing on matters political, kicking against old guard and new. The one-time Voëlvry member and Alternatiewe Afrikaner, along with friends James Phillips and the late Johannes Kerkorrel, inspired legions of disenchanted, mostly Afrikaans youths, through the medium of song, to question issues of identity amid the constraints of a conservative white regime, albeit in its dying stages, circa the turbulent '80s.
So the fact that he's able to pen meaningful lyrics even about Pinotage is a boon to a winemaker who has spent much of his life championing this grape. After all, Pinotage is immersed in folklore in its own right, with a rousing back story complete with humble beginnings, bitter-sweet rise to prominence (all the while fighting determinedly to be taken seriously) and the aura of nationalistic pride it wears, sometimes awkwardly, draped around it like a flag.
Koos Kombuis is dressed in a lively ethnic-print shirt not unlike something Madiba might have in his closet for our lunch at Beyerskloof's Red Leaf Restaurant. He explains that he's just finished his latest book, a "tell-all" sequel to his autobiography, Seks & Drugs & Boeremusiek.
We're joined by Beyers Truter who wears a casual golf shirt and rain jacket, both of which are branded with the signature red vine leaf emblem also adorning the wine labels and merchandise on sale at the tasting room. But he might well have been sporting one of their coveted tee-shirts bearing proclamations in witty reverence of Pinotage."Pinotage is nie my baas," goes his favourite, "maar as hy praat dan luister ek" ("Pinotage is not my boss, but when he speaks I listen").
"We spend many hours coming up with new slogans," Truter laughs as he pours glasses of Pinotage Reserve 2007 on this blustery autumn day. Fun as it sounds, with images of Pinotage-fuelled brainstorming sessions late into the night coming to mind, the award-winning winemaker is also one of the cleverest wine marketers in South Africa.
The former Kanonkop winemaker, named Diner's Club Winemaker of the Year for his Pinotage for that estate in 1987 and International Winemaker of the Year at the 1991 International Wine and Spirit Competition, was a founding member of the Pinotage Association and has done much to raise the profile of this uniquely South African wine (this year celebrating 50 years in the bottle, he claims).
But he's also put significant creative energy into promoting the red wines of Beyerskloof, which was founded in 1988 and is now run in partnership with Simon Halliday of UK importer Raisin Social. So it's not really surprising that Truter and Kombuis, strangely similar in appearance bar the bandana worn by the musician, are seated together here at the wine farm's restaurant, sharing friendly chatter and bottles of wine over juicy Pinotage burgers. Some might think them unlikely company, this former malcontent (Kombuis has since gracefully succumbed to fatherhood and the more gentle pleasures of middle-age) with the respectable and pious winemaker.
"I've always been a fan," admits Truter, "All of his writing is amazing." But more than that, the opportunity to tap into the populist appeal of the musician, who has managed to maintain the fascination of the Afrikaans press while attracting newer and younger fans to his music and writing, was irresistible. Truter makes no bones about wanting to increase the populist appeal of his wine, and by sponsoring Kombuis he's doing just that.
Sponsorships are common in the celebrity domain, with stars kept in sunglasses, designer clothing and wheels, among others. Being kept in wine clearly works well for Koos Kombuis. Once upon a time he was sponsored by that other iconic red blend, Tassenberg, and on stage along with his guitar it was routine to see a bottle or two make an appearance.
"As I got older, I realised there were other wines apart from Tassies," he jokes, before explaining the reason for the switch to Beyerskloof several years back. "A drunk American brought me a bottle of Beyerskloof Pinotage after one of my shows, which we drank together afterwards. Then I wrote about how I was sponsored by Tassenberg but that, if I had a few rand extra, I'd buy the Beyerskloof. Luckily, Beyers read that and phoned me a few months later when Tassies dropped me." And not, apparently, because the brand managers were put out by his comments, but "because everyone was getting retrenched". As he writes on his website, now that he's over the big fi ve-oh mark, he acknowledges that his tastes have changed and his "romance with cheap red wine is over". These days he likes "better wines and good restaurants and a better quality of life".
Now, Kombuis explains, he's got more or less the same deal with Beyerskloof. Without revealing exactly the limits of his wine "quota", it appears to be quite a cushy arrangement. And he gets to drive a "bus", naturally one that's branded with the Beyerskloof vine leaf. A moving advertisement if ever there was. How does he feel about the attention when he stops at traffic lights? "I keep forgetting and can't understand when people wave at me."
Wine and the Arts
Much of the buzz around the table is about the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK), the annual arts festival held in Oudtshoorn from which both have just returned. Truter, it turns out, is something of a performer himself.
The popular "kos konserte" (food concerts) he has been putting on for the last seven years, sponsored by Absa bank (also sponsors of the Pinotage Top 10 competition), were again a hit this April. Featuring Truter along with fellow heavyweight winemaker and former rugby legend Jan-Boland Coetzee of Vriesenhof, and Afrikaans pop star Kurt Darren, the shows are a smorgasbord of song, informative wine talks, tastings and food pairings.
"All the shows were sold-out," Truter says proudly. "Ja, there were bigger crowds at his shows than there were at mine," laughs Kombuis. "Beyers is a great speaker; like Peter de Villiers, he doesn't always make sense but he's fascinating to listen to!"
"Winemakers must know how to talk to and serve people," Truter responds, unfazed by the teasing. "Some brands, like Kanonkop and Meerlust, don't need personalities to sell them, but otherwise consumers need to put a name and a face to a brand. People need to speak to people. I love people, so it's easier for me."
With Truter increasingly concentrating on marketing (and his son, Anri, more involved with the winemaking), he says he's planning to take his food and wine show concept "on tour": "I want to take Pinotage to the people." He's already secured Absa's backing, significant in a time when corporate sponsorships are on the decline as the global economy falters.
Truter says it's one thing to be able to talk about your wines, but it's better if you can "sing... and be a magician" on top of it. "There's no way you can get a brand on the local and international market if you're sitting at home." And with the state of export markets, he reckons wineries that are not offering places where people can eat, drink and be gently coerced into buying the wines to take home are in for trouble.
"The next 18 months are going to be difficult times for all of us," he explains, adding that it's by necessity that "the wine industry is changing into a hospitality industry... You go to some of these farms and the parking areas are empty..."
Glasses are raised and jovial "cheers" exchanged, lightening the somewhat gloomy image painted by Truter of warehouses packed full of wine with nowhere to go. "Ja, that's what will happen if you have all your eggs in one basket."
Pinotage, he believes, has the ability to become a national wine in the true representative sense. And not by adding extra sugar either. "It's already sweet and round; I definitely believe it can appeal to a broader market."
But not so long as it's being given a bad rap by the media. "People don't talk like that about other varieties," he says with a frown. "And anyway, Pinotage has got enough accolades to speak for itself." As Kombuis writes on his website, "Rock is not dead, but there is more to life than just rock... And there is more than just one type of wine. That I now know..."
