After half a decade Wine Cellar’s Young Guns has proved to be more than a funky wine fad, with earlier rebels now setting the trend, while the newcomers’ offerings are increasingly serious.

It started as a rebellion against conventional winemaking norms, with quirky Swartland wines sparking interest among a bunch of wine geeks in Cape Town. Five years down the line, the Young Guns session is perhaps slightly tamer; it has evolved into a serious wine event, which acts as a springboard for young winemakers and also exhibits the directions and philosophies of the next generation of winemaking trendsetters.

Dynamic diversity

The fifth Young Guns session was characterised by refreshing diversity. While “Chenin”, “old vines” and “Swartland” are still the most frequently used words among Cape Town’s off-the-beaten-track wine crowd, a young vine Riesling and Stellenbosch Pinotage showed that even the road less travelled can have paths leading from it.

Roland Peens, Wine Cellar director and the driving force behind Young Guns, reckons the Swartland Revolution is spreading, with young creativity making its presence felt in other regions, like Elgin, Walker Bay and Stellenbosch. “There are more young winemakers who don’t follow recipes, who are, as we put it, ‘throwing out the textbooks’. A key trend is that these wines are not just made to be different – they are made the way the winemakers like them. Also, the vineyards are central in their approach, not just for nifty winemaking tricks. Minimum intervention winemaking runs like a golden thread through most of these wines,” explains Roland.

He goes on to say that a decade ago some of these wines would not have sold, but now they are in demand. This indicates that there has not just been a shift in winemaking approach, but also in the marketplace – with the young guns often testing the market’s acceptance of new and different styles.

My favourites

Swerwer Red Blend 2014 – Jasper Wickens

Eendevanger Riesling 2013 – Lucinda Heyns (no connection to the author)

B-Vintners Liberté Pinotage 2014 – Gavin Bruwer

Inspiring young entrepreneurs

Although Wine Cellar’s key aim with the event is to attract wine purchasers, this year it drew a large number of young winemakers that were there to taste, learn and be inspired (granted that their cellarhand salaries are unlikely to spike sales).

Earlier young guns like David Sadie, Peter-Allan Finlayson and Chris Alheit have shown how young winemakers can opt for an alternative entrepreneurial career path. And attain a kind of winemaking rock-star status.

“The idea of winemakers being just winemakers is outdated. Look at Eben Sadie, Adi Badenhorst and the Mullineuxs. They are entrepreneurs who make, market and sell wine. Even though the young guns’ endeavours are often on a much smaller scale, it gives young winemakers the crucial skills that they don’t learn at varsity,” Roland adds.

Most of these wines are far more than just a project involving some barrel hidden in the corner of a cellar. The winemakers are serious about their products and confident about their future potential. Janine Craven – part of the Aussie/Saffa couple, who featured in this year’s session – quit her winemaking job to focus solely on Craven Wines. Many of the others are bound to follow this route.

As Roland puts it, “you cannot focus on making the best wine in the world if you also have a ‘real job’ while doing so”.

What’s next?

A gathering of intrigued wine geeks in Obs has grown into a national event, with tastings in Cape Town, Johannesburg and, for the first time this year, Durban. The word is also out beyond our borders, with young gun Ryan Mostert’s Silwervis, in particular, catching the attention of the Wine Anorak, Jamie Goode.

It’s no wonder that young winemakers aspire to make their debut on the Young Guns podium. Besides the obvious personal branding potential, many of the lots sell out by the end of the third session.

So, how does one keep the Young Guns concept fresh and exciting? According to Roland, there is no shortage of appropriate candidates, with the challenge rather being to attract a broader wine-drinking public. “Young Guns offers that unique excitement that could attract new wine drinkers and a broader wine audience. That is what both the young winemakers and the entire industry need!”