From small beginnings using just the cream of the crop (the remainder was sold to Nederburg), Andries Burger grew with the wines and vineyards, as each successive vintage revealed where the farm's viticultural strengths lay.
From 2002, under the fourth generation of Clüvers, expansion based on one of the Cape's first scientific wine-growing terroir analyses guided a major vineyard renewal. (As of 2012 some 90 hectares on high-lying, mostly ultra-cool south to southeast-facing slopes have been planted with a view to eventually having 150 hectares under vine.) The winery was rebuilt. And the export market was further developed.
'My focus for the Guild wines is on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir,' says Andries, a member of the Guild as of 2010. He still fits in a visit to Burgundy once a year among his other overseas study and marketing travels.
From the first renditions of Paul Cluver Chardonnay, the wine has been likened in style to Burgundy. The terroir and the winemaker's handling of the grape have captured the fine combination of complexity and elegance the variety is capable of. As Andries has experimented with wild yeast fermentation and a combination of new and used French oak barrels, recent vintages, including grapes from vines over 20 years old, have shown increasing class.
2008 achieved a five-star rating in the Platter's South African Wines Guide and 2009 was the inaugural winner of the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show's new International Judges' Trophy in 2011.
Similarly, his panache with pinot noir has produced wines regarded as among the Cape's finest. Still, somewhat of rare, specialist wine in South Africa, where it's known as a tricky variety if not grown in the correct area (and the farm is that) and handled with kid gloves in the cellar (which is what Andries does), it has become a Cape benchmark here.
The extent of the dedication to this variety is apparent in three different bottlings. Joining the standard Paul Cluver Pinot Noir in 2006 was the Seven Flags Pinot Noir. Named after the seven flags in the Clüver family, it has subsequently become a barrel selection from the farm's best site on which a specific clone of the variety was established. The Guild auction wine is usually a blend of three clones of pinot from the farm's highest vineyard.
The source of a recent bout of Tiggerlike exuberance was generated by a northern hemisphere harvest visit to Germany in 2011: 'To see how one of Germany's best dry riesling producers, Philip Wittmann of Weingut Wittmann, works with riesling. But they also produce pinot noir and he asked me to make his pinot for him while I was there. There's been a huge jump in the quality of German pinots in the last five to ten years!'
Likewise, it’s not so much the awards for Paul Cluver wines that excite him; it’s seeing his wines enjoyed by passionate people. Like Thérèse Boer, sommelier and wife of chef patron Jonnie Boer at three-star Michelin restaurant De Librije in Zwolle, Holland, where the Cluver Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are part of her 'Lady Librije' range of wines served by glass.
Andries has always preferred not to refer to any wine as the Paul Cluver ‘flagship’. Just as well, because there is another variety that obstinately continues to garner local and international acclaim for the Paul Cluver brand: riesling.
Grilled kudu fillet with red wine sauce, mashed potatoes and roasted vegetable recipe by Andries Burger paired with Paul Cluver Pinot Noir....
Moules Marinière with home-baked sourdough bread recipe by Andries Burger paired with Paul Cluver Chardonnay....