The story of 500 A Vine Time wine columns over the past 10 years involves at least two dozen wine shows and festivals, countless tastings and meetings with wine producers and industry leaders, numerous food-and-wine pairing experiences with great local restaurants, cellar tours with winemakers and winelands tours with friends.
The numbers become less important over the passage of time, the stories and the people more so.
A little over 10 years ago, at the end of 2012, Weekend Post’s then Leisure Editor Louise Liebenberg asked if I would be interested in taking over this column from retired The Herald editor Derek Smith, who felt it was time to call time on wine writing.
“Well, I enjoy wine and I’m interested in it, but I’m no expert,” I replied.
“You can write, that’s the main thing,” Louise said. “The rest you can learn as you go.”
A tad daunted, I grabbed the challenge nonetheless and I have indeed not only learnt a lot, but also seen many changes in the wine industry over the past 10 years, some accelerated by the disruptions and adaptations demanded by the Covid-19 pandemic.
I’ve been privileged to learn about the inside workings of the wine industry from industry stalwarts and legends deserving of the title such as the Bay’s wine doyenne Olga Hafner, who opened many doors and introductions; Bennie Howard, a veritable encyclopedia of SA wine who has worn too many industry hats to mention; and the supremely knowledgeable and personable Durbanville Hills cellarmaster Martin Moore, his death in recent weeks a huge loss to the industry.
I’ve been inspired by pioneers such as passionate and down-to-earth ‘Pinotage King’ Beyers Truter of Beyerskloof; the entrepreneurial ‘Chenin King’ Ken Forrester; and Boets Nel of De Krans, whose family led SA’s pride of premium port-making in Calitzdorp in the middle of the arid Karoo.
And also the new generation of pioneers — young, innovative, some maverick, winemakers who don’t necessarily own their own vineyards but source interesting parcels of vines all over the country to make interesting wines that push traditional boundaries.
The Swartland “revolutionaries” come to mind, as does “vine hugger” Johan Reyneke who has led the way in proving the quality of organic and biodynamic wines.
Pieter Walser of BlankBottle whose philosophy is to skip preconceived notions by not putting the cultivar on the bottle, instead self-designed labels and quirky names such as Familiemoord, so that one judges on what’s in the bottle, not on the name of the grape.
One of the great lessons from meeting wine producers and hearing their stories, is the realisation that the snobs of the wine world are not those who make the wine.
Winemakers are, mostly, farmers at heart — down-to-earth people whose best reward is not medals and trophies but hearing from a consumer that they love their wines.
And at the end of a long day in the vineyards or the cellar, or pouring wine and repeating their story over and over at a wine show, what do they drink? An ice-cold beer.
The message out of that is that a lot of the pretentiousness and snobbery around wine, that intimidates and mystifies novices, is really unnecessary.
I still don’t pretend to be a wine expert.
In my first A Vine Time on January 12 2013, I undertook to share my journey into learning more about wine with Weekend Post readers.
The journey is not over, the learning is never done, and I look forward to continuing to share the adventure here.
And the invitation first issued 10 years ago, remains valid — share your wine questions and super finds with me at samventer70@gmail.com
Celebrating 500 columns, dozens of festivals and countless tastings
Vine Time
The story of 500 A Vine Time wine columns over the past 10 years involves at least two dozen wine shows and festivals, countless tastings and meetings with wine producers and industry leaders, numerous food-and-wine pairing experiences with great local restaurants, cellar tours with winemakers and winelands tours with friends.
The numbers become less important over the passage of time, the stories and the people more so.
A little over 10 years ago, at the end of 2012, Weekend Post’s then Leisure Editor Louise Liebenberg asked if I would be interested in taking over this column from retired The Herald editor Derek Smith, who felt it was time to call time on wine writing.
“Well, I enjoy wine and I’m interested in it, but I’m no expert,” I replied.
“You can write, that’s the main thing,” Louise said. “The rest you can learn as you go.”
A tad daunted, I grabbed the challenge nonetheless and I have indeed not only learnt a lot, but also seen many changes in the wine industry over the past 10 years, some accelerated by the disruptions and adaptations demanded by the Covid-19 pandemic.
I’ve been privileged to learn about the inside workings of the wine industry from industry stalwarts and legends deserving of the title such as the Bay’s wine doyenne Olga Hafner, who opened many doors and introductions; Bennie Howard, a veritable encyclopedia of SA wine who has worn too many industry hats to mention; and the supremely knowledgeable and personable Durbanville Hills cellarmaster Martin Moore, his death in recent weeks a huge loss to the industry.
I’ve been inspired by pioneers such as passionate and down-to-earth ‘Pinotage King’ Beyers Truter of Beyerskloof; the entrepreneurial ‘Chenin King’ Ken Forrester; and Boets Nel of De Krans, whose family led SA’s pride of premium port-making in Calitzdorp in the middle of the arid Karoo.
And also the new generation of pioneers — young, innovative, some maverick, winemakers who don’t necessarily own their own vineyards but source interesting parcels of vines all over the country to make interesting wines that push traditional boundaries.
The Swartland “revolutionaries” come to mind, as does “vine hugger” Johan Reyneke who has led the way in proving the quality of organic and biodynamic wines.
Pieter Walser of BlankBottle whose philosophy is to skip preconceived notions by not putting the cultivar on the bottle, instead self-designed labels and quirky names such as Familiemoord, so that one judges on what’s in the bottle, not on the name of the grape.
One of the great lessons from meeting wine producers and hearing their stories, is the realisation that the snobs of the wine world are not those who make the wine.
Winemakers are, mostly, farmers at heart — down-to-earth people whose best reward is not medals and trophies but hearing from a consumer that they love their wines.
And at the end of a long day in the vineyards or the cellar, or pouring wine and repeating their story over and over at a wine show, what do they drink? An ice-cold beer.
The message out of that is that a lot of the pretentiousness and snobbery around wine, that intimidates and mystifies novices, is really unnecessary.
I still don’t pretend to be a wine expert.
In my first A Vine Time on January 12 2013, I undertook to share my journey into learning more about wine with Weekend Post readers.
The journey is not over, the learning is never done, and I look forward to continuing to share the adventure here.
And the invitation first issued 10 years ago, remains valid — share your wine questions and super finds with me at samventer70@gmail.com
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