TMV...the birth!
|
|
by Tom Garnet-Wolseley and John Merriman Why? If music is the food of love, then wine is certainly the drink. To us wine is love. We love wine. We are fascinated by every aspect of it: the vineyard, the cellar and the drinking of the finished article. There are many people around the world who are fascinated by wine, and many who are more knowledgeable than we are. But not everyone wants to build their own vineyard and make the best wine they possibly can. Why do we want to do that? Maybe it is a bit like playing God, we love it and we want to create it. Where? We were very lucky, we started with a completely blank sheet of paper. We could have started a vineyard anywhere in the world, nature permitting. There were, of course practical, worldly considerations: cost, language, politics, regulations, ease of travel etc. We were also very lucky to be able to add South Africa to our list of potential investment locations. An investment in apartheid South Africa would have been unconscionable. Suffice it to say that having traveled together to many countries and all things having been considered South Africa looked like a great bet. Of course we call this an investment but in reality it is a bet. With all gambles you can only bet what you can afford to lose......completely. On that basis we proceeded. We will go on to describe the reasons for choosing the particular farm and the particular site for our vineyard but it must be borne in mind that all the time we were falling in love with South Africa, its incredible countryside and the wonderful people who befriended and advised us. We were also starting to savour the slower pace of life. How different to the constant time pressure we seemed to be under in our "real" lives. One incident in particular made Tom and Mrs. G-W realize how much they needed to slow down and relax. They had traveled from the Far East to arrive in Cape Town in the early morning pretty jet lagged. They checked into their favourite hotel and thought they would catch a quick nap before lunch. Woken at midday to the sound of happy chatter and tinkling glasses and, unable to beat the noise, they decided to join it. The small but elegant poolside restaurant with ten or so tables was beginning to fill up with Friday lunchtime patrons. At the tables were small groups of business people in suits and dresses. As the early arrivals finished their aperatifs the jackets came off and the champagne corks were eased out of the bottles. As they took their table it was 12.30pm.
They soon realized that these groups
of Cape Town We were also being caught up in the optimism and regeneration that is the overwhelming spirit of South Africa and, maybe foolishly, we think our small investment is helping. It helps when the bills come in anyway! What we can contribute is the outsider's viewpoint and our experience of international business practice. We had chosen the country, or rather SA had chosen us. Now we needed to find our farm. We spent many months looking at various farms in different locations. The priority was the vineyard site. The terroir. Terroir is a French word that has no direct English translation. The French will say there is no English word for it because no native English speaking person has ever produced good wine, unless it is within the borders of France. It is really the only single word that can describe the whole vineyard environment, but in a metaphysical as well as physical sense. It includes the soil, the wind, the water, the air and the sun as well as all the other small physical characteristics of a piece of land. But it also includes the feeling of the place. That is why the French worship their vineyards and embellish them with beautiful names and in some cases beautiful and ornate chateaux. We couldn't afford a picture perfect estate with a beautiful Cape Dutch house, although we did admire the many that we visited. Our limited money was to be spent on a vineyard. We wanted to create one from scratch so we weren't interested in buying a block of vines from a farmer who needed some funds and would then farm it for us. Remember we were putting our own imprint on the vineyard. When choosing a vineyard site we feel you have to be clear as to the style and character of wine you want to produce. Then you have to find the area that will produce your chosen wine the best. Then you have to narrow that down to one farm and then one vineyard site on that farm. Our ambition is to produce a great red wine. We want our wine to be appreciated by discerning wine afficionados but most important we want to be proud of what we produce. We want it to compare with any bottle of red wine that you can buy in the world for a reasonable sum of money. We want to produce red wine that will be gorgeous on its release and improve over the next 5 to 10 years in the bottle. It should have sufficient fruit to appeal to lovers of the new world style, but sufficient tannin to last on the palate and improve in the bottle. We have much admired the red blends of Australia and California for their new world, upfront appeal and the best grape variety for providing depth and character is Cabernet Sauvignon. We want to build a vineyard to produce a superior red blend and, if possible a couple of exquisite single variety red wines. Before we even started looking for farms we needed to know about the climate in different areas of the country. This would help us choose an area suitable for red wine varieties and would also be useful in giving us a feeling for the macro environmental features of this vast land. Because of limited resources and time constraints we chose two different areas of the Cape, Malmesbury north of Cape Town, and Hermanus on the South coast and did a full climate survey of them. Using data from the SA weather bureau we built up a picture of the characteristics of these areas. It was pretty thumb in the air stuff and was inconclusive taken in isolation, but it did help. If you are interested in the nitty gritty of it then it is here in the survey. If any conclusions could be drawn they were: 1. Hermanus is cool and temperate, probably better for whites and delicate reds like pinot noir. There might be a problem with ripening in a cold foggy summer so it was probably to be avoided for the full bodied reds we were planning on producing. 2. Malmesbury is undoubtedly hot and more continental compared to Hermanus but there would certainly be the sun for ripening. If we could find a site that was high up with cool mountain breezes to alleviate the temperature problem and good soil then we may be in business. Another factor was our decision to farm to organic principles. Low or no summer rainfall means less humid conditions so mildew is less of a problem and weeds will only grow on irrigated areas. Thus it might be easier to control disease and weeds here without the use of the cocktails of chemicals needed by growers in more temperate areas with summer rain. The grapevine vitis vinifera will grow almost anywhere, but if you want to make good wine out of the grapes you need to be very careful where you put it. It is now commonly accepted that the climate (macro and micro), the soil, the aspect, the wind etc at the site of your vineyard are as important as what goes on in the cellar. The wine will reflect aspects of the terroir upon which it is grown and some areas suit certain styles of wine and cultivars more than others. All we had to do was find a site suitable to grow red wine grapes. The checklist was:
As they say terroir....terroir....terroir!
As good as it gets! Among other areas we targeted the Tulbagh Valley as a possibility. The Tulbagh valley is situated 40km NE of Malmesbury but is higher in elevation. It gets masses of sunshine but the valley floor would still be very hot on a still summer's day. We were looking for a site high up on the mountainside to get the cooling breezes. We heard about a farm that suited our needs (more about that in the following chapters). We tested the soil extensively throughout the farm and the reports were very favourable. Glenrosa soil type covered most of the slopes on this mountain retreat. Perfect for vines (this will be explained in more detail in the monthly updates). Most of the slopes were West or Northwest - sunny but mostly late morning/ afternoon/evening sun which is not perfect but there were areas of southwest and south facing and even north east facing slopes so we could mix it up and with careful row positioning and canopy management we could mitigate this. So the soil was great, the farm had plenty of water and plenty of cooling breezes as well as fantastic views. Vines love a good view! We noticed from the photographs in the farmhouse that the snowline in winter nearly reached the cultivated areas of the farm. From our experience in Europe a very cold winter often precedes a great vintage so our farm being so high up would be exposed to temperatures a lot lower in winter than the lower lying areas of Stellenbosch or Franschoek. One of the few vineyards in SA to experience frost! The farm felt right, it was a beautiful farm with happy staff and healthy livestock. It was clean and well maintained and the owner was the farmer, and he lived on site. He was retiring from farming after many happy years there and it was originally bought by his father. The farmhouse was nothing special but we were buying the land for what it had to offer us, not a gentleman's manor or stockbroker's plaything to show off to our friends. Everything added up to what the French would call "Terrior Magnifique" and what the Brits call ******. We had found our spot. Sun, soil, and FEELING.
The road to Nirvana To find out if Nirvana exists come and read The story so far... Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards now has a dedicated site at www.tmv.co.za Copyright © 2000 Tulbagh Solutions. All rights reserved. |
Home Page Tulbagh Wine Tulbagh Visitor's Info Where to Stay Where to Eat Tulbagh Real Estate Event Planning Activities Tulbagh Trade Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards Tulbagh Information Tel: +27 (0) 23 230 1348/230 1375 email: tulbagh information |
business folk were
all in
for a serious lunch. By 3.30pm several of the groups had amalgamated and
were sitting on the edge of the pool with trousers/dresses rolled up enjoying
their vodka San Pedros. One group kindly invited them to join in and they did. There was nothing raucous or aggressive about them, as you would find
if London City types were out for a long lunch in the sun. These guys,
with nothing in particular to celebrate, were just having a good, civilised
lunch. Later on they met up with a few of them as they sampled the delights
of late harvest wines. It was now 5.00pm and all Tom and his wife could manage was a
pot of strong tea! 
