Dr Greg Olsen, an American billionaire physicist involved in developing optical sensors capable of seeing through layers, has a close affinity to South Africa and when the opportunity arose to purchase a wine farm near Paarl, a painting closed the deal. It just happened to be a copy of a famous Renoir original which Olsen's invention had analysed previously and which had startled the art world with its revelations about changes the artist had made. The painting was hanging on the wall when Olsen toured the Paarl farmhouse. A name change to Olsen Private Vineyards followed.
The wine farm was a family concern, and still is. Dr Olsen injected funds, made upgrades and inspired changes, but left the family at the heart of the enterprise. Now, more than a dozen years on, Mum, Dad and winemaker son Armand Botha still run the business. Truly, though, it is more of a family passion, than a thrusting business. The wines are the definition of small scale. The original 30 hectares is at present 8 hectares and they yield around 8 tons per hectare. This year’s absurd harvest (40% down on last year) will see a mere 15 tons in total. "There will be no Cabernet Sauvignon this year", says Armand, but that isn't so surprising, he can't remember a year when he has produced every one of his planted cultivars; some years there are no whites at all. Armand has the support of Dr Olsen to only make what is worthy. We drove past a vineyard covered in bunches of grapes lying beneath the vines, "Cabernet", says Armand, "no colour, the wind saw to that".
The wines usually sell out, quickly, to friends, family, Greg Olsen in the US. With only 6 barrels of Chardonnay, 1,200 litres of Chenin and Merlot and 1,500 litres of Shiraz it doesn't take long. More is planned, Armand is rejuvenating 6 half-hectare plots amongst his red loam, sand and granite terroir. The vines are young but look to be ready in two years, "no, we'll give them at least five years before we use the fruit, we don't want anything that isn't right". When purchasing Stelvin Luxury Plus caps, Armand was told the minimum purchase was 60,000. “That should be enough for the next 50 years”, says Armand.
Everything about Olsen wines is kept natural. Water flows down the estate from the mountains behind, natural vegetation outweighs the vines by ten to one. A giant Falcon swooped across us, horses stared, the view from the top of the farm was stunning through the proteas. "We'll plant cereal here", he says, why not vines? I ask, "cereal will help prepare the soil for a year or so". They are obviously not in a hurry.
No hurry with the wines, either. The only wine not to see oak is the Chenin Blanc, Armand feels the 30 year old vines are distinctive enough, the Chardonnay gets one year in new oak but very little Malolactic. Both reveal a signature elegance. There is a light touch and delicacy to both – despite the oak. The reds get two years in oak, though I only detected it in the Pinotage, and anyway, there are only 75 bottles of that left, the rest were just layers of rich, plummy fruit, ripe, profound and lingering. The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon was a star; complex, powerful, still unwinding and classic cassis expression. “Red wines must be like a big, deep pit to look into”, says Armand; he likes good colour on his reds. “I want my wines to be as good and special as a home cooked meal”, he adds.
Olsen premium wines sell at around R160 (the whites less) and when you consider the scale of production (the Press would fit in the back of a bakkie, the ‘barrel room’ was three stacks of barrels with around three per row and two high and the wines ‘ready to go’ would fit in my kitchen) the price makes little sense. Luckily, Dr Olsen and Armand aren’t into the numbers, Armand makes what he wants, how he wants. He is not Maties or Elsenberg trained, he grew into his position and makes wines he wants to drink, “I can only help them to perform at their best”, he says. Dr Olsen must be happy enough; his annual visit at harvest appeared more to keep Armand from being alone in the cellar – the small space and CO2 was his biggest concern, he obviously likes the wines. Clearly, the ‘Orbit’ and ‘Soyuz’ brands make sense, “that is a real back-story”, says Armand.