"Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance…" what a beautiful mantra and an ideal response to give to anyone who asks you why you love wine.
De Toren, its name meaning "the tower" in Dutch because of the gravity-flow system that they use for their wines, is all about the love and appreciation of wine. They were the first, pioneering wine farm to use this method of making wine.
The farm’s maiden release was the 1999 vintage “Fusion V”; a Cabernet Sauvignon driven five varietal Bordeaux style blend; a first for South Africa’s wine industry. The 1999 vintage received a gold medal from the IWSC competition and 90 points by both Parker and Wine Spectator, placing De Toren immediately amongst the world’s elite.
They don't tend to enter wine competitions anymore, citing that their wines don't tend to fit into a definable category being both New World and Old World. Instead, they dedicate themselves to only producing the best grapes, and therefore the best wines available in South Africa. And to their credit, they stay a private cellar so that time can be spent on their craft.
Albie Koch is the winemaker and when you book a tour at the winery, he will take you and show you around personally which, in harvest time, is pretty remarkable. He firmly believes that a good winemaking starts in the vineyards, "if you haven't given proper attention to your vines, the winemaking process is 10 times harder and will require far more manhandling in the cellar." His tip for seeing whether a winemaker has been giving his vineyards enough love, "a winemaker should be seriously tanned. That's a tell tale sign of whether he's been out and about amongst the grapes."
Sight:
The vineyards are some of the neatest and most luscious I have seen with beautiful views of the Helderberg.
The tour included a look at the cellar and then heading to the small, intimate tasting room to sample the wines with Albie himself.
Taste:
The wines available to buy are all Bordeaux-style reds and one of the main reasons for booking in advance is so that Albie can decanter the wines beforehand.
I tasted:
La Jeunesse - this is the lightest wine in the range and is delicious when chilled.
Fusion V - the first vintage was in 2004.
De Toren Z - this was their first wine and is deep and rich with structured spice.
Diversity - a blend that they specifically sell to their wine club clients.
For my personal tastes (I'm going to be labeled a complete heathen now) the wines were very big, a little too overwhelming for me. But these are wines that will benefit from serious aging and the effort that goes into each bottle is amazing.
Sound:
Don’t expect to have your wine and simply drink it, this is an experience that offers an educational side, giving you a full appreciation for the craft.
This is where Matt Damon visited during the filming of Invictus so it's incredibly intimate, peaceful and wine-driven.
Best feature: Albie Koch and his personal approach to the estate.
Head here if you've: got an afternoon to spend and you want a wealth of information and to stock your wine cellar with bottles that can be aged for 10+ years.
For matters of a disclaimer, I was not invited and it was not for free.