This living legend of SA wine recently turned 80.

Q: How do recent vintages compare to the wines being made in the Cape sixty years ago?

A: The main differences are that the ‘modern’ vintages are less oxidative and there are many more varieties at present. Vintage quality has become more stable, there is less volatility and the wines are purer in general.

Q: Have the tastes of the SA wine drinking public changed over sixty years?

A: Yes, their tastes have definitely changed, it has become more elegant, variety conscious and informed. Wine drinking has become sophisticated, very different from when the wine industry was in its infancy.

Q: Which are your favourite vintages?

A: One can’t really choose favourite vintages. When making wine you always try to make a good vintage. Looking back there are so many vintages that were special for their own reasons. I would rather like to think of a vintage that I am proud of, that vintage would be 1979, the year I first made a noble rot wine, the now well known “Edelspatz”. I thought that the vintage was a lost cause but after consulting my dear friend Frans Malan he pointed out the potential of this “rotten” vintage.

Q: As a founder of the Stellenbosch Wine Routes, do you think wine tourism is close to its peak?

A: I don’t believe that we have reached the peak yet. One only needs to ask the tour guides that visit the farm to know this, and I agree with them that there is still room for growth. The local tourist market is still under developed, if you look at the average wine consumption per person the industry and the tourism around it has room for expansion.