Posts Tagged ‘garagiste’

Glorious garagistes: Michelle Coetzee talks about her Tumble Turn Shiraz

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

After completing the garagiste winemaking course at the University of Stellenbosch earlier this year, Michelle Coetzee took the plunge and made her first batch of wine. By all accounts it was a great success – and hopefully the first of many vintages. Michelle tells us more about her winemaking activities.

1.             What exactly is a garagiste wine maker?

My definition of a garagiste wine maker would be someone that makes wine on a small scale for their own consumption.

2.             How did you end up as one?

I can’t remember exactly when I started loving wine as much as I do, but when I realized that I was more excited about trying new wines, and going on wine routes, than almost any other outings, I realized I had a passion for wine, and that’s where the idea of making my own wine came from.

3.             What do you think garagistes bring to wine making that the traditional wine makers don’t?

A personal element, knowing that the wine was made by somebody that loves wine (why else would you go through the hassle and mess?) gives it the impression it will be special.  Certainly traditional wine makers more than likely love wine too, but it is made on a bigger scale, where the ‘consumer’ isn’t always known.

4.             What is the most exciting thing about being a garagiste wine maker?

This year was my first attempt, so every step of the way, from the yeast fermentation to the bottling and labeling was exciting;  probably the most exciting was when my friends tasted the wine, and enjoyed it!

5.             What is the most challenging thing about being a garagiste wine maker?

Consistency; I was lucky this year to have really good grapes (must have been because the wine tasted good :) ) I have to hope to get as good grapes next year, even if it is from the same source.

6.             Please describe your wine for us?

Tumble Turn is 100% shiraz; it was a good red colour, considering it was not aged for very long;  3 months on oak chips.  It had berry flavours and a hint of pepper.  It was fairly soft, although you could pick up the tannins. It must be said that I only made 7 litres, 8 bottles.

7.             What can we do to promote garagistes in South Africa?

I’m not sure, I don’t see myself making quantities more than my family and friends can drink! I do try support garagiste wine makers by buying their wines when they’re available.

8.             What is the biggest challenge facing the South African wine industry at the moment?

Again, this is a novice opinion, but for new wine farms, it must be really difficult to break into a market that seems saturated;  we have such a large variety of wines and regions to choose from, and it keeps growing.

9.           How do you think South African wine ranks internationally?

I only really got to taste international wines while living overseas, and not knowing enough about them, I didn’t get to taste their best.  What I have had is some amazing Australian reds.  I rate South African wines highly.  You seldom get a bad SA wine, and yet I tasted some fairly horrible wines while living in London, but again, that would have been due to my limited budget!

10.          Talk to us about environmental issues in wine.

Having not grown my own grapes or made wine on a large scale, I don’t have any real input on environmental issues.

11.          What is your favourite wine that you have made?

Just the one! Tumble Turn Shiraz

12.          What are you drinking at the moment?

Being summer, I’m enjoying Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel.  I love red wines, and Hartenberg has never disappointed me!

13.          Where can we get bottles of your wine?

I have 1 bottle left, which is not for sale! I’m waiting to drink it next winter, to see whether its taste has improved after some time in the bottle.

14.          If you weren’t making wine, what would you be doing?

I work for an online media company as a Database Administrator;  many people don’t understand what I do, so mostly I say I work in IT, and there are seldom questions after that..

15.          Anything else you would like to add?

I’m looking forward to making my first barrel of Shiraz next year!

Just as we are looking forward to hearing about it, Michelle!

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Glorious garagistes: Ian McNaught Davis

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

1.    What exactly is a garagiste wine maker?

No winery? No problem! A garagiste wine maker is someone who wants to make wine for the sake of making wine. Garagiste wine makers get their kicks from spending long nights of squashing grapes with their feet, and if it means getting a bottle of the fruit for your labour one day, that’s even better.

2.    How did you end up as one?

I grew up on the wine farm Klein Helderberg (between Stellenbosch and Somerset West) and we had some extra grapes to spare, so a couple of my garagiste friends showed me the ropes.

3.    What do you think garagistes bring to wine making that the traditional wine makers don’t?

Volatile acidity.

4.    What is the most exciting thing about being a garagiste wine maker?

As the smooth-talking wine journo and garagiste extraordinaire Edo Heyns said, “Chicks dig it”. Which sounds better? “Would you like some coffee?” or “Would you like to try some of my wine?”

5.    What is the most challenging thing about being a garagiste wine maker?

There is a lot at stake, especially for me as a beginner. My “harvest” consists of two barrels, so if something goes wrong, it all goes wrong.

6. How do you not get impatient while you are waiting for the wine to mature?

I’m pretty impatient, I’d say the wine is a lot more mature than I am.

7.    Please describe your wine for us?

Well, it’s still in the barrel at the moment, but it’s safe to say it’s a masterpiece in the making… Jonny Wilkinson warming up for a comeback… John Lennon practicing his scales for a Beatles reunion tour. You get the picture.

8.    What can we do to promote garagistes in South Africa?

Now that everyone is jumping on the organic bandwagon, the concept of “handmade” wine has the potential to become quite trendy and chic. I also think having garagiste wine making competitions and expos will help spread the word.

9.    What is the biggest challenge facing the South African wine industry at the moment?

Directing marketing campaigns to the non-wine drinking sectors of our population.

10.    How do you think South African wine ranks internationally?

It’s a force to be reckoned with.

11. Talk to us about environmental issues in wine.

These days, more and more people will feel obliged to buy organic wine – saving the world one bottle at a time.

12. What is your favourite wine that you have made?

A Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend. It is yet to be bottled and is the first one I’ve made, but so far, so good.

13. What are you drinking at the moment?

In these economic times, wherever I can get a good deal.

14. Where can we get bottles of your wine?

I’ll let you know as soon as I bottle them.

15. If you weren’t making wine, what would you be doing?

Magazine journalism

16. Anything else you would like to add?

I’m really as amateur as they come but so far nothing has gone too wrong. (Touch French oak.) So if everything turns out alright, anyone can do this!

If you are a garagiste wine maker and would like to be featured in this series of articles, please email me at vanessa@capeinfo.com.

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Glorious garagistes – Edo Heyns

Monday, October 27th, 2008

Edo Heyns is the charming wine writer from Wineland and Fynproe. There is more to him than meets the eye – he has studied viticulture and oenology, and also practises what he preaches with his nocturnal garagiste wine making activities. In the second in our series on garagiste wine makers, Edo talks about the wine he makes.

1.    What exactly is a garagiste wine maker?
The term comes from the word garage and refers to people who make wine in their garages. Nowadays, however, some of them are quite serious about their wine and have mini-cellars with equipment to match their smaller volumes. Micro-winemaking has its own challenges, since a slight oxygen exposure to a 5 litres can is much more serious than the same happening to a 30,000 litre tank.

2.    How did you end up as one?
I have access to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc vineyards and studied viticulture and oenology. The first time I did it, I just thought it is a cool excuse for an interesting party and invited 5 fellow students join me for the harvest. That night we worked 13 hours, picked and destemmed just short of ton of Cab by hand, drank impressive amounts of Windhoek Draught (for energy, of course…) and went to class the next morning. True story. That wine was sold as “Ses van die Bestes” and we’ve been doing it ever since.

3.    What do you think garagistes bring to wine making that the traditional wine makers don’t?
I’m going to bugger up your question by saying that garagiste winemakers are the traditional winemakers. Most of us don’t have budgets for fancy equipment and additions like enzymes and fining agents. I think this type of wine is a pure, unadulterated form of the product. I am also playing around, like many established wineries, with the idea of trying natural fermentation to take this to the next step. This doesn’t mean that our wine is necessarily inferior to those made in proper cellars and it shouldn’t stand out when tasted among other commercial wines.

4.    What is the most exciting thing about being a garagiste wine maker?
Chicks dig it

5.    What is the most challenging thing about being a garagiste wine maker?
Being cost effective with smaller volumes. Bottling is also a problem. You can’t use a bottling line with nitrogen and CO2 to minimise oxidation when your total production is 300 litres. I bottle my wine with a hosepipe and gravity. This works, but it is scary to think that you can easily mess up your hard work during the final step.

6.    Please describe your wine for us?
So far, my favourite has been a Cab/Cab Franc blend. Cab Sauvignon ripens far later than Cab Franc and this meant that by the time the Cab Sauvignon was ripe, the Cab Franc was super ripe! They were co-fermented – it is not recommended to co-ferment if the sugar levels between the components vary a lot – and it worked beautifully! Berries, cherries, cigarbox and subtle cloves. Big and bold!

7.    What can we do to promote garagistes in South Africa?
It should not be promoted. As soon as too many people start doing it, it will lose its appeal

8.    What is the biggest challenge facing the South African wine industry at the moment?
Politics and economics. Unfortunately. Second to those – local consumption. Luckily, we can do something about it. Bottoms up!

9.    How do you think South African wine ranks internationally?
Increasingly high.

10.    Talk to us about environmental issues in wine.
I’ll keep you busy for days – I’m switching to organic production…

11.    What is your favourite wine that you have made?
See above.

12.    What are you drinking at the moment?
Still Windhoek. LOL

13.    Where can we get bottles of your wine?
Under my bed.

14.    If you weren’t making wine, what would you be doing?
Writing about it.

15.    Anything else you would like to add?
Go organic.

If you are a garagiste winemaker and would like to be included in this series, please drop me a line by email.

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Glorious garagistes – Stallion Ridge's Tracy Phillips-Bryant

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

This is a new Wines Online series looking at South African garagiste wine makers – those amateur wine makers doing amazing things with grapes and pushing the envelop outside of a commercial winemaking operation. In a later article I’ll look more closely at the garagista movement, but to kick things off, here is an interview with one of my favourite garagiste winemakers – Tracy Phillips-Bryant, pictured left, from Stallion Ridge in Paarl.

I was lucky enough to meet Tracy earlier in the year when she hosted a wine and food pairing event with Perdeberg Wines. You can read here about how I got my mitts on a couple of bottles of her fabulous Shiraz. And today, happily, Tracy has stepped up to the plate in the first of my interviews with garagistas.

What exactly is a garagiste wine maker?
A garagiste wine maker is an amateur wine maker who creates wines in a micro setting from home, usually in his/her garage.

How did you end up as one?
My husband and I both from corporate backgrounds. My husband, Colin, is an ex-strategies consultant and I am an ex-banker. We purchased a wine farm in 2001 as a country retreat. After a few years of loving the country environment we decided to relocate to the farm and started doing the Cape Wine Academy courses. We planted a block of Shiraz and then, using the best grapes from our first harvest, and blended them with more mature awarding-winning grapes from a neighbour’s farm. And so we made the first Stallion Ridge Shiraz in 2004 together with our neighbour. The next year our neighbour started making his own label and my husband started getting involved in coroparte affairs and I began my real journey into becoming a garagiste.

What do you think garagistes bring to wine making that the traditional wine makers don’t?
Fastidious attention to detail in light of the small quantities made.

What is the most exciting thing about being a garagiste wine maker?
Being able to make wine to your own standard, with passion coming before profit or corporate requirements.

What is the most challenging thing about being a garagiste wine maker?
Sourcing all the necessary equipment to make and bottle wine in such small quantities.

Please describe your wine for us?
Stallion Ridge Shiraz is a hand-crafted wine … which is fruity, spicy and varies in intensity each year depending on the vintage conditions. But hopefully it is always a most enjoyable drinking experience!

What can we do to promote garagistes in South Africa?
Exposure, exposure, exposure!!

What is the biggest challenge facing the South African wine industry at the moment?
The Black Empowerment issue.

How do you think South African wine ranks internationally?
Unfortunately not as high as they should.

Talk to us about environmental issues in wine.
I think it is great that the industry is becoming more eco-friendly and aware.

What is your favourite wine that you have made?
The 2007 Stallion Ridge is going to be really special I am busy preparing to bottle it at the moment.

What are you drinking at the moment?
Stallion Ridge of course! Also enjoy tasting other New World wines whenever I can lay my hands on them.

Where can we get bottles of your wine?
From the farm, Dudleyvale in the Paardeberg, ontact phone number +27 21 971 1656 or e-mail: stallionridge@worldonline.co.za.

If you weren’t making wine, what would you be doing?
Probably involved in the corporate world.

If you are a garagiste wine maker and would like to be featured in a Wines Online Blog interview – please email me.

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