Rising stars of the SA wine industry

Hitting the right cords

Who are the wine rockers of the future? These are some of up-and-coming faces of the local wine industry.

South Africa’s wine industry is rich in young, energetic winemakers who are learning from the best while gradually imparting their own unique stamp on the industry. Eager to facilitate change, but not forgetting those who laid the foundation, the up-and-comings featured here are some of the winemakers who will continue to shape the future of the local wine map.

 

Whether guided and groomed by venerable cellarmasters, celebrated fathers or an embedded passion for the vine, these young guns have, by means of their labour and position, ensured their place under the spotlight. Far from just being winemakers, the changing wine industry from local to global means that the new generation of winemakers also act as brand ambassadors – a balance that is remarkably easy to achieve when you love what you do, and do what you love.

JD Pretorius
THE SOCIALIST

His hair curls wildly and he often sports an unshaven look, but don’t be fooled by JD Pretorius’ careless facade, as this young gun is extremely focused. JD is originally from the Free State, but has been occupying a position as winemaker at Constantia winery Steenberg since 2009. Working for one of South Africa’s most coveted producers has its pressures, but the benefit of learning from cellarmaster John Loubser, mastermind behind the iconic Magna Carta blend, and JD’s mentor, will prove to be invaluable to this winemaker’s technique in the future.

“I just focus on the basics, and that includes the vineyards and the cellar. I constantly try and challenge myself, like finding a couple of barrels in the cellar to include in some fun experiment,” says JD on his unique winemaking approach.

At 25 years of age, JD is concerned that the local industry isn’t shaking its pre-modern approach to a constantly evolving trade. “There are a lot of new and exciting things going on in the industry and around the world, and we need to open our minds to different styles and wines. Also, there are a lot of stigmas about wine, and that scares people off, we need to make wine accessible to everyone.”

JD graduated from Michael Fridjhon’s Wine Judging Academy with distinction this year, while his judging ability was also put to good use when he judged at the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon 2010 in Bordeaux.

A respectable, solid background at this young age is a foundation JD is looking forward to building on: “Steenberg has always been one of the top cellars in the country, but in recent years we have slipped down a bit. It is my aspiration, together with the rest of the Steenberg team, to make our way back to the very top.” How? “By making wines that people will talk about and remember for years to come.”

Anri Truter
THE TRADITIONALIST

With one of South Africa’s wine heroes as dad, it was destined for Anri Truter to become winemaker at Beyerskloof in 2004. It is a big opportunity and equally challenging as the future might see Anri taking on the responsibility of maintaining, and growing, the very successful Beyerskloof brand.

On this path, Anri admits to drawing inspiration from his father. “I admire my dad, Beyers Truter, for having done a lot for the South African wine industry and Pinotage. He is one of the most passionate and best winemakers locally and abroad!”

Beyers, as cellarmaster, imparts this fervour for winemaking on his son, with Anri approaching winemaking challenges with a similar cool-headedness. He acknowledges the fickleness of winemaking: “We work with a natural God-given product. There are so many factors that can infl uence the quality of a wine – one mistake and your product turns ordinary.” It’s a challenge that he overcomes with a winemaking technique that aims to keep things “simple and basic” by applying certain non-negotiable practices – “hands-on during harvest, punch-downs every two hours on the reds and using French oak”.

For a young winemaker, Anri is surprisingly traditionalist. “I am a sucker for tradition in wine,” he laughs, adding that he imagines the industry would be better off had it been kept small. “It would have been nice to make wine in the ‘80s and ‘90s. In those years all the winemakers knew each other, shared ideas, got together for tastings and the industry had much more of a family feel to it.”

Considering this winemaker was only born in 1981 it is a surprising statement, but taking into account that he grew up calling iconic winemakers such as Sakkie Kotze (ex Lievland) and Francois Naude (ex L’Avenir) oom, it is perhaps to be expected.

Extremely brand loyal, Anri says if there is one wine to recommend to a friend it would be the Beyerskloof Synergy, “the best value-formoney wine in South Africa”.

Trizanne Barnard
THE IDEALIST

No matter what season it is, Trizanne Barnard is always tanned – possibly due to the fact that she’s a fanatical surfer. In fact, it’s something she loves so much, that, had she not ventured into winemaking she would’ve probably become an “oceanographer or professional surfer”. Wine lovers should be glad she didn’t – her maiden white blend Trizanne Signature Wines Sauvignon Blanc/ Semillon 2009 received rave reviews from respected wine critics soon after release.

Leading wine commentator Michael Fridjhon called it “a profoundly good white Bordeaux blend” while comparing it with other high-profi le wines in this category from Vergelegen, Tokara and Cape Point wineries. She has an impressive CV to boot, with harvests in Australia, Bordeaux and Portugal to her name.

Previously responsible for the red wines at Anwilka, and also the hand behind the very successful The Berrio Weathergirl 2009, Trizanne’s fi rst solo venture speaks of a brave and very talented winemaker. She sources her grapes from numerous vineyards in a region famous for being ‘wild’ – Elim near Agulhas – where storms are the norm rather than the exception. But braving the elements is exactly what this up-and-coming fi nds so exhilarating: “Winemaking on its own is not a major challenge; however, it’s all the elements involved in creating the product that can lead to some challenging decision-making. From climate forecasting, picking dates, patience, blending, bottling and ultimately marketing and selling.”

Her approach to winemaking leans towards the romantic. “I admire winemakers who have vision with potential vineyard sites, who can express their creativity and philosophy in their wines and who have the ability to translate this to the consumer,” she says. Characteristics that she feels winemakers Bruce Jack, from Constellation Wines, and Dawid Niewoudt, from Cederberg, portray best. “Not many of us are trained storytellers. Ultimately we need to sell our product through passion and from the heart, and the winemakers who can do this are admirable,” she adds.

Peter-Allan Finlayson
THE NON-CONFORMIST

Ex philosophy and economics student Peter-Allan Finlayson again proves that you don’t need to have studied winemaking to make great wines. His stellar Pinot Noir, the Crystallum Cuvée Cinéma 2008 received Wine magazine’s ultimate accolade of 5 Stars in May this year, while the Crystallum Peter Max of same vintage didn’t lag far behind at 4½ Stars. Of course, it helps that this 28-year-old stems from a winemaking family, his father being Peter Finlayson, cellarmaster at Hemel-en-Aarde winery Bouchard Finlayson. His dad taught him a high regard for the winemaking process and still Peter-Allan admits to not moulding his wines to a pre-ordained recipe.

“I’m not sure there are any unique winemaking approaches. I think it’s more about taking care in each of the 100 steps that it takes to produce a wine.” Attention to detail and a key awareness of wine business are other trades imparted from father to son.

Aside from his father, Peter- Allan jokes that he admires winemaker Adi Badenhorst, “for having the most impressive facial hair in the industry, and of course still manages to pull off a perfectly conditioned ponytail.” On a more serious note he mentions Eben Sadie, Chris Mullineux and Trizanne Barnard (also featured here) as noteworthy winemakers.

He rightfully believes that one’s success, or lack thereof, should predominantly be determined by what’s in the bottle, and says that this all too often isn’t the case. “Like any modern industry, there is an increasing level of commercialisation where marketing and clever branding often hold too much power with the consumer.”

If he had it his way, he would focus on putting in place a structure where the consumer would have access to wines with more integrity. How is he facilitating this change? “Trying to create wines that are honest is a start, and then getting involved in discussions and forums to promote these ideals.”

In line with his support for honest wines Peter- Allan says that he’d recommend the Testalonga El Bandito, a Chenin made from 60-year-old bushvines. Although, says Peter-Allan, the maker of this wine, Craig Hawkins, has too little facial hair to be of any further inspiration.

Donovan Rall
THE GARAGISTE

This young gun exploded onto the wine scene by earning a 5-Star Platter’s rating for his maiden white wine, simply called Rall 2008, which boasts an unconventional six-barrel blend of varieties Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier and Verdelho. “It was such a big surprise, considering I almost didn’t enter it,” says Donovan Rall. “I couldn’t be sure how it would score, and I wasn’t sure whether they’d take a first-time guy seriously.”

It is a wine that even grabbed the attention of international wine writer Jancis Robinson, who listed his wine under SA’s “new generation of fine wines” in an article published in 2009, calling it “an attention-grabber”.

A garagiste at heart, Donovan says that it is his aim to cap production at more or less 1 000 cases. Winemaker Eben Sadie, from Sadie Family Wines, is said to have had a huge influence on Donovan’s winemaking approach. There are others too: “Johan Kruger (Sterhuis), Adi Badenhorst (Badenhorst Family Wines), Miles Mossop (Tokara) and Bruwer Raats (Raats Family Wines) are all very unique individuals who are doing their own thing in their own way.”

In making his wines he aims to maintain a hands-off approach as far as possible. “If you have the right fruit you have to do very little to make a good wine.” For Donovan it is also cardinal to seek out the best-possible fruit from the oldest-possible vineyards. It is an approach that is clearly paying off – at the time of going to print his 2009 white blend was in line for a repeat 5-Star rating in Platter’s 2011.

At 28, early success hasn’t gone to his head, and Donovan says that no matter what the demand, he will continue with small-scale production of wines that are unique and different. It’s an attitude appreciated by those in the know – when we interviewed Donovan some wine pundits were already waiting in anticipation for the bottling of his four-barrel Swartland Red Blend, made from Syrah, Mourvédre, Grenache and Carignan.