A regular tasting companion now is son Pieter-Willem, following in his dad's winemaking footsteps at Elsenburg Agricultural College in Stellenbosch. There was no pressure of expectation, says Bartho. Pieter-Willem is nevertheless as besotted with winemaking as his father and has been doing cellar and tasting room duty for some time.
There is a centuries-long tradition of winemaking in the family. Bartho's ancestry goes back to one Heinrich Oswald Eckstein, a German immigrant to the Cape in 1702, who made wine in Constantia.
Descendants of what was to become the Eksteen family (due to Dutch influence), moved to another traditional Cape winemaking enclave, Franschhoek.
Both Bartho's grandfather and father grew grapes for delivery to the town’s co-operative cellar. 'Oupa [grandfather] so made a little wine.'
Bartho Eksteen grew up on the historic Cape Ducth property La Bri. He went to Boland Agricultural High School in Paarl with the idea of pursuing a career in agriculture.
'It was after reading about wine making in a newspaper insert on careers that everything started.' He was elected on his school marks as one of 10 students to do winemaking at Elsenburg Agricultural College in Stellenbosch.
Too small to support two families - Bartho has an older brother - La Bri was sold. 'But I'd fallen in love with Walker Bay as a wine region and, though I'll die a Franschhoeker, Walker Bay is far more exciting, a much bigger challenge: here, I LIVE my wine making dreams!'
Even wife Suné has been vinifying her favourite tipple, since 2008, with the help of family and friends in the garage at home.
'Though during two years on the lees it was tasted so often not even 140 bottles of the first 2008 Véraison Cap Classique were degorged!' More of subsequent vintages may survive the Eksteens' enthusiasm.
Family and Fun
The Eksteens have fun with wine. They remember special bottles they've enjoyed by using the corks with their different decorative metal caps clasped by a wire as novelty kitchen cupboard handles.
'The corks are simply threaded onto a screw, which is screwed into the wood. The cork strips after a while, especially on the heavier drawers. But that's just a good excuse to open another bottle of bubbly we've not tasted before for a replacement handle,' says Suné cheerfully.
An imported bar fridge on castors is the ideal mobile wine refrigerator, wheeled out onto the wooden deck around the pool area. This is where most meals are enjoyed, weather permitting. Family (often including Bartho's mom Ria), friends, wine buyers, overseas agents, whomever is welcomed into their home, gather round a table in a corner underneath a vine-trellised pergola to eat, drink and be merry. But it's always interspersed with some searching discussion on what's in the glass and how it matches what's on the plate, Bartho ever eager to hear and voice opinions.
Bartha harvests from the sea as well as the land. He dives for alikreukel [giant periwinkle] and kreef [crayfish]: 'I LOVE kreef, it's just a bit fattening!' He gathers clams and hard-to-reach rock bed black mussels amid growing scarcity of accessible, sand-dwelling white mussels. He usually prepares seafood on the open fire, while Sune gets creative in the kitchen. Pieter-Willem and his younger sister Shani are encouraged to do stove duty and both happily oblige.
'I met Bartho, briefly, water-skiing on the Breede River near Viljoensdrift when he was at Rooiberg and I was a state prosecutor in the courts in Montagu and Ashton,' says Suné. 'He remembered me some time after that when he was caught speeding and called me up for "legal advice"!' Bartho reckons that, after being happily married to that same state prosecutor for 22 years and counting, 'I’m still paying off on that speeding fine!'
The Eksteens' home is an extension of the winery with all its activities: to save time, fuel and, of course, simply for the fun of it, Bartho bought himself a scooter to zip between the two. And this intrepid, inspirational wine couple have now started what they simply call the 'Wijnskool', Officially the Diners Club Bartho Eksteen Wine Academy, and based on similar institutions overseas, it was started with sponsorship from Diners Club after Bartho won the Diners Club Winemaker of the Year award in 2010 for his Hermanuspietersfontein Sauvignon Blanc No. 5. (Each sauvignon blanc in his range is named after a prime number.)
The Wijnskool operates from his alma mater, Boland Agricultural High School. 'We've converted a dairy into a winery and there's 20 hectares under vine, which is a member of Windmeul co-operative cellar.' The Eksteens' mission is to better prepare and inspire youngsters for a career in winemaking or the wine industry. Offered as an extra-mural to boys from Boland Agricultural High School, the practical courses cover everything from tending a vineyard, pruning, harvesting and making various styles of wine. Internationally acclaimed WSET courses are offered to a broader student base.
Needless to say, sauvignon blanc was one of the first two wines seen into bottle during the school's trial run in 2011, with the ebullient Bartho at the helm, passing on his knowledge and passion.
Alikreukel (giant periwinkles) trio of tasty cakes, creamy cubes and salsa strips recipe by Bartho Eksteen paired with Die Bartha or Hermanu...
Baked ox tongue with mustard sauce recipe by Bartho Eksteen served with vegetables and paired with Herrnanuspietersfonrein Swartskaap wine....