There are many recognised careers in the world of wine — viticulturist, winemaker, marketing or sales manager, logistics or brand support. However, there are also quite specialised functions that wouldn’t appear on the average guidance teacher’s list of possible employment prospects. I’m not sure that any of the leading soil scientists I have met felt an overwhelming compulsion to pursue this particularly specialised field when they were at school. Some came to vineyard soils via geology, some via oenology.
Once the wine bug bites, however, it’s easy to get lost in the multidimensional world you discover is hiding in plain sight. Occasionally you see this in action: you go to a trade tasting and there are a couple of nerdy folk approaching the winemakers with questions that are only obliquely related to the commercial reality of the wine business. They might be geographers fascinated with the impact of climate on a particular vintage, or whole-wheaters who believe that grapes are the bellwether of a healthy farming environment.
Johan Reyneke is one such slightly unusual but entirely sane and well-grounded figure in the world of Cape wine. He came from a wine-farming family that owned property on the Polkadraai Hills of Stellenbosch. At university he studied philosophy. It was undoubtedly his intellectual curiosity with the philosophical method that had become second nature to him that led him to interrogate the way the vineyards were farmed. This was how he came to embrace organics — pretty much ahead of most producers in South Africa — and then led him into the world of biodynamics, the arcane principles of soil and plant management outlined by Rudolf Steiner more than a century ago.
He learnt about the value of regenerative soil practices before they were properly codified, of replacing chemical pesticides with natural predators, of bringing the community that worked with him on the farm into a mutually beneficial partnership. Over the years the benefit of what he was doing in the vineyards became increasingly evident in the luminous intensity of his wines. While many of these practices were being applied — or at least trialled in Europe — they were considered dangerously close to the lunatic fringe in South Africa.
It has to be said that even some of the high-profile early adopters in Europe acknowledged the tenuous connection between the theory and the result. In the late 1990s I asked Aubert de Villaine, the proprietor of Romanée-Conti in Burgundy (and who had fairly recently converted to organic and biodynamic practices), if he could explain how they worked and he smiled wryly. “Most of it doesn’t make sense in terms of scientific method,” he said. “But the results are empirically obvious.”
Reyneke admits that his own thinking has also been influenced by issues beyond the pure viticulture. Initially his only concern was the farming method and the evident result in the fruit. Then on Jancis Robinson’s website, which for many years has been beating the drum about the effect of heavyweight bottles on the carbon footprint of the wine industry, he faced valid criticism for his packaging. His latest releases come in lighter bottles with labels made from recycled fruit pulp. These, and other changes, have contributed to a 23% overall carbon reduction.
Barbara Melck, who was initially assistant winemaker to Rudiger Gretschel, has been fully responsible for the latest releases. The Reserve wines, all suitably impressive, are made in quantities of a mere 500 dozen each. I was properly impressed with the 2024 sauvignon blanc — the 70% new wood is virtually invisible except for the fullness and breadth it adds to the palate. The Old Vine (1974 vineyard) chenin 2025 has lovely intensity, but it’s still a little angular and needs time to fill out. The syrah 2023 is simply splendid: bright aromatics from the newer high-altitude vineyards complement the textural richness delivered by the older vine fruit. And I was completely seduced by the Cornerstone white (70% semillon, 30% chenin): pure, savoury, generous and deliciously supple.
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