Tania Joubert - FNB Private Clients WINE magazine Chenin Blanc Challenge 2007

Blonde Ambition

Not only has the KWV's Tania Joubert won the 2007 FNB Private Clients WINE magazine Chenin Blanc Challenge, but she can also hold a tune. Christian Eedes interviewed her.

FNB Private Clients WINE magazine Chenin Blanc Challenge

KWV's Tania Joubert

 

Tania Joubert is retiring from winemaking at the age of 27, this despite a flurry of recent successes. Her triumph in the 2007 FNB Private Clients WINE magazine Chenin Blanc Challenge with the KWV Val du Chêne 2004 was preceded by her KWV Cathedral Cellar Chardonnay 2005 appearing among the top 10 wines as judged for the 2006 Diners Club Winemaker of the Year.

Joubert's petite, blonde appearance belies her feisty nature. As a child, she used to visit her father, an information technology manager at the Paarl offices of wine company KWV, and was so taken with activities in the cellar that she pledged she would later become a winemaker. "Back then my dad just laughed and said women did not make wine," she recounts. "He's subsequently been very supportive though."

When you first encounter the softly spoken Joubert, it is also difficult to imagine her belting out songs by Metallica or punk rockers Green Day. However, she reveals that she's been singing since primary school days and currently performs in a band called Alchemy, started by her boyfriend (and Idols talent show finalist) Jay Theron.

Is she a frustrated rock star? "Very much so. I could easily live that life, but sadly, it's not a viable job."

Review her qualifications and you soon realise that Joubert is something of an over-achiever. She completed her B.Sc in Agriculture, Oenology and Business Management at the University of Stellenbosch in 2001 and is currently busy with her B.Comm Honours in Marketing. From May this year, she moves from the production side of the KWV across to the marketing subsidiary KWV International to take up the position of brand manager for wine. Johann Fourie, previously of Rawsonville cellar Badsberg takes over the winemaking position she's vacating.

Like all young winemakers, Joubert is pre-occupied with awards and you get a sense that if her recent triumphs had come a bit earlier she would be less hasty to become one of the suits. She contends that time in the cellar provides her with extra credibility now that she is undertaking her marketing career.

About her success in the Chenin Blanc Challenge, Joubert is charmingly modest. "It's completely exceeded my expectations. I feel like I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming." She points to the calibre of previous winners, who include the likes of Rudera's Teddy Hall and De Trafford's David Trafford, and observes that to prevail in the Challenge goes a long way to establishing a winemaker's name.

Joubert started at the KWV in 2003 as assistant to the winemaker in charge of white wine, Ian Nieuwoudt, but she soon found herself with a lot more responsibility than she'd bargained for when Nieuwoudt was fired towards the end of 2004 for adulterating a batch of Sauvignon Blanc.

Come the 2005 vintage and she was responsible for all KWV white wines, from entry level to top end. How did she cope? "I don't know," she replies with disarming honesty. "I was working extreme hours and there were some very miserable times. What's more, I was only earning an assistant winemaker's salary, which was frustrating." She admits that she felt she was being scrutinised with "very critical eyes" by her colleagues and she must have dearly wanted an award or two to bolster her confidence.

At least her work was not monotonous, she reflects. On one hand, she was required to make Pearly Bay, a two million litre, non-vintage blend of Chenin Blanc and Colombard, and on the other hand, relatively small batches of ultra-premium wines for the Cathedral Cellar range. "They each require a different mindset. In the case of Pearly Bay, you find a routine that works and then you stick to it otherwise you're not going to get to anything else."

As for the Val du Chêne 2004, Joubert describes it as "really satisfying but a little weird" that this wine should have performed as well as it has. She reveals that it originally constituted 250 000 litres that fitted into the unpretentious KWV Classic range, most of which was destined for export when it first came on the market. 1 000 cases remain locally, selling for R45 a bottle.
Joubert says the wine was designed to have "wide appeal" - while wines for the top-end Cathedral Cellar range that are "done to prove something" and which she feels often end up being "too much", in the sense of being very demanding. As a result, Cathedral Cellar wines are "not for everyone", but this doesn't perturb her as she feels that all wine drinkers gradually become more sophisticated over time. All credit to her then that the Val du Chêne 2004 combines both popular appeal with fundamental quality.

Discussing the success of the wine, Joubert makes the point that the reason Chenin Blanc is so ubiquitous is that it is so easy to work with, but she adds that much can be obtained from it "if you put in enough effort". She feels that local Chenin still doesn't get the recognition it should, although it appears that the KWV is undeterred by this: there are rumours of an ultra-premium, small-volume version of the variety in development.

Grapes for the Val du Chêne 2004 were obtained mainly from Malmesbury bush vines, but also Stellenbosch and Wellington. While 40% was tank fermented, 60% was fermented and then matured for three months in second-fill French oak barrels, with Joubert convinced that the use of wood gives the wine extra structure and improves the potential for the wine to mature in bottle to good effect - the same wine went from a rating of 4 Stars in the 2006 Challenge to 5 Stars this time around.

The KWV has traditionally not been the most progressive institution in the wine industry, and you wonder why the obviously intelligent and occasionally sassy Joubert chooses to work there at all. She replies that it presents plenty of challenges and reveals that the company is "gearing up to become a big role player, not just in South Africa but in the world".

What of being a female in a male-dominated workplace? She confesses that this has been a cause of irritation at times. "Some of the older guys are inclined to shove you around. I've had to prove myself 10 times over, but you get respect eventually." As she heads off to marketing, Joubert is glad to be "going out with a bang". Production's loss is marketing's gain, it would seem, and a great pity that we won't be seeing more wines from her after the 2007 vintage.

ROLL OF HONOUR: Winners to date

For the FNB Private Clients WINE magazine Chenin Blanc Challenge 2007 tasting report, click here.