Tokara, Stellenbosch
Tokara Winery
Owned by FirstRand heavyweight GT Ferreira, Stellenbosch cellar Tokara was voted best emerging winery by WINE magazine readers earlier this year. Joanne Gibson reports.
There’s a thick, rich smell in the air, like leaves rotting on the forest floor. It’s a sunny mid-winter’s morning at Tokara just outside Stellenbosch, and steam is rising from several perfectly aligned heaps around us. Viticulturist Aidan Morton plunges his hand into one of them. “It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside,” he laughs.
Teeming with microbes, this is compost made from all the waste generated by the vineyards, olive groves, garden and stables on this magnificent property. It’s a full-time occupation for two men, and it occurs to me that if rotting vegetation and horse manure get this much attention, then how can the wines, the olive oils, the restaurant and art gallery be anything less than exceptional?
Perched dramatically on the Helshoogte pass, the Tokara that visitors see is all raw stone, stainless steel and glass – a design by architects Van Biljon & Visser that inspired UK wine critic Jancis Robinson MW to describe it “in aesthetic terms beyond the wildest dreams of even the most munificent Napa Valley billionaire-vigneron”. The cellar is located in the Simonsberg ward, prime red wine country, and next to heavyweights Thelema Mountain Vineyards and Rustenberg Wines – “the other two top red wine producers in the country,” quips winemaker Miles Mossop. But owner GT Ferreira, non-executive chairman of financial services group FirstRand, didn’t have major winemaking aspirations when he bought the farm Rust en Vrede in 1994, renaming it after his children Thomas and Kara. “We just bought the farm to live on,” confirms his wife, Anne-Marie. “There was nothing here except instant lawn. But the soil was brilliant. We simply had to plant something…”
Initially they thought an orange orchard might be pretty, and perhaps some dairy cows. But neighbour Gyles Webb of Thelema soon talked them out of it, so certain of the property’s winegrowing potential that he came on board as production director – and also convinced them to buy two adjacent farms: Simonsberg (the hill where the winery complex now stands) and Kelsey. The first vines were planted in 1998, with the state-of-the-art cellar completed and top University of Stellenbosch viticulture & oenology graduate Mossop appointed in 2000.
That was also the year high-profile chef Etienne Bonthuys installed himself in the restaurant, the idea being that his French-inspired fusion cooking would showcase the property’s wines. Only, for a long time, there were no wines bearing the name Tokara…
THE WAITING GAME
From the start, Ferreira and Webb were determined that there would be absolutely no compromise on quality:
Tokara wines would not be made until the property produced sufficient quantities of exceptional fruit, and only released when they might consistently be considered world-class. The pressure was on the team, as were the sometimes bleary eyes of the industry – whose eyebrows rose when a range of “no name” wines made from the young vines as well as bought-in fruit was launched under the Zondernaam label in 2002. “We were criticised for the ‘nameless’ name and because we’d be the last entry on every winelist,” recalls Mossop. “But in fact we chose it because records dating back to 1685 describe a portion of the original farm as ‘de plaas zonder naam’.”
When these second-label wines started earning 4 Starplus ratings – not to mention Mossop a place among the finalists of the 2003 Diners Club Winemaker of the Year competition for his Pinotage 2001, and Super Chenin status for the Chenin Blanc when three successive vintages rated in the top 10 of WINE magazine’s annual Chenin Blanc Challenge – expectations rose even further. In the meantime, the team had scoured wine country for top white wine sites (3D digital landscape imaging and a few helicopter flips eventually identifying the aptly named Highlands and Siberia farms in Elgin and Walker Bay respectively).
Purchasing these vineyards culminated in the permanent appointment of Morton, previously at Thelema – and, with some 105ha under vine across the three properties meaning that the cellar would soon be stretched to its 950-ton capacity, Dumisani Mathonsi was appointed as assistant winemaker.
When the flagship Bordeaux-style blend Tokara Red 2003, Tokara Stellenbosch Chardonnay 2004, Tokara White 2004 and Tokara Walker Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2005 were finally launched in September 2005 to much fanfare – as well as a cautionary note that these were not “crowd-pleasing blockbusters” and should ideally be laid down for a few years – the jury was out. Only now does it seem fair to start assessing whether Ferreira’s long-term investment has paid off – and so far so very, very good. Highlights include 4 Star ratings in WINE magazine for the Red 2003, 2004 and 2005, the Stellenbosch Chardonnay 2005 and the Walker Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2006. Meanwhile, the White 2005 rated 4½ Stars and the 2006 not only scooped the trophy for best white blend at this year’s Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show, but has just been named best white blend over £10 in the world at the UK’s Decanter World Wine Awards 2008.
THE WINNING FORMULA
This is not the forum for a detailed technical look at Tokara’s cellar; suffice to say that no expense has been spared, and every challenge met – such as white grapes from cool-climate Elgin and Walker Bay arriving at the cellar at the same time as some of the Stellenbosch reds. “Previously we could only process one type of wine on a given day, so we had to invest in new crushing equipment,” says Mossop. He’s currently most excited about a new Inertys press for his Sauvignon Blanc, which prevents oxidation by covering the juice with a layer of nitrogen. “The results are phenomenal, based on this year’s Elgin Sauvignon.”
An astonishing variety of presses and fermentation vessels enables Mossop to work each batch of wine in precisely the way he thinks it should be. “We look at every block, every batch, every day, and plan accordingly.” Speaking of blocks, nobody here trots out the cliché that “good wine is made in the vineyard”, but it’s hard to imagine it applying better anywhere else. Having qualified as a geologist before embarking on his winemaking studies, Mossop is as interested in soil types as Morton, who practises what he calls “precision viticulture” and says a mandate from Ferreira to explore technology, from aerial infrared sensing to 3D soil imaging, has helped him to optimise each pocket of soil. “We have up to seven soil types in one small area, plus the temperature and rainfall variation on each property is unbelievable. That’s why we have so many tiny little blocks, even if it gives Miles a headache at blending time…”
Mossop concedes that it “makes life interesting” but is only too happy to have evenly ripened fruit to work with. “The old days were all about convenience – large homog- Tokara 54 WINE october 2008 | www.winemag.co.za enised blocks producing big chunks of fruit – and the thinking was ‘julle begin pars en dan maak julle klaar’ [start harvesting and get done]. From one vineyard block, you’d harvest some fruit at 21 Brix and some at 29 Brix, resulting in wines that tasted overripe and herbaceous at the same time. Now, thanks to tools like remote sensing, we can even see ripening variances within individual blocks, the first benefit being that we can pick and keep batches separate; the second that we can investigate why there are differences and, if necessary, fix things.”
In particular, leafroll virus-affected vines are marked with a white band so that their fruit can be picked and vinified separately; the vines themselves quickly uprooted. Apart from some of the original vineyards, the properties are now mostly virus-free “and we plan to keep it that way”. Morton is also keen to move away from “lazy, quick-fix” modern farming to more sustainable methods, hence the large-scale composting project and the organic conversion of the Elgin property. “If it works there, we will look at converting the other properties. In the longterm, it’s the way we should all be farming.”
For now, a close relationship with the University of Stellenbosch means they are “in with whatever is hip and happening in research” as they strive to do everything as scientifically as possible. “But there are still more unknowns than knowns,” stresses Morton. “The romantic, creative side of winemaking will always be there.”
THE COMPETITIVE EDGE
When it comes to the wines, the idea is that those labelled as Tokara are site specific while the “more approachable” Zondernaam wines offer great value for money. “We always blend Tokara first, isolating the best barrels,” explains Mossop. “But Zondernaam is certainly not just whatever’s left over – we actually have a third outlet in Holland for any wine which isn’t rich and concentrated enough for Tokara, or has too much new wood for Zondernaam.”
While Webb no longer oversees the day-to-day running of Tokara, he certainly gets involved during blending. “Just when we think we’ve got it down pat, in walks Gyles to throw us a curveball,” laughs Mossop before describing him as a great mentor. “He’s available anytime for questions – and we’re not shy to ask!”
As for Ferreira: “He leaves us to get on with it, but he also knows our every move. He’s a real gentleman, and there’s a fun side to him – the staff just love him.”
The 60-odd people employed on a permanent basis across the three properties also just so happen to be “one of the best-paid winery workforces in the country” for the simple reason that Ferreira wants to retain the skills being developed through his sometimes very creative empowerment scheme. “For example, though Tokara is only 5km outside the town of Stellenbosch, it’s not on a reliable bus or taxi route, so workers can qualify for ownership of a small motorbike by getting a driver’s licence,” says Morton. “A huge trust has been set up for the entire workforce to look after their future individual needs. Mr Ferreira doesn’t discriminate between levels or colours, which makes for a motivated and positive team. Tokara,” he concludes, “is a very happy company.”
