In 2008 Constellation, then the world's biggest wine company based in the United States, approached Bruce Jack to head up its South African winemaking interests. This included rebuilding the ailing, once top local export brand Kumala.
The deal, agreed Bruce, was that Constellation buys Flagstone and allows it to continue doing what it does best. Which it did and it has, and Kumala is back up to some 32.5 million bottles a year. 'That's more than a bottle bought every second,' says Bruce who, on top of being a font of literary, scientific, and historical knowledge, admits to a fascination for the minutiae and machinations of big business.
Just as well, as he was again involved in international corporate dealings in 2011, when Constellation sold a majority stake in its Australian, European, and South African businesses to CHAMP, an Australian private equity firm. Bruce officially became chief winemaker of Accolade Wines South Africa, among other things retaining responsibility for Flagstone, Fish Hoek, and Kumala.
He also makes wine in Spain in partnership with old friend Ed Adams, British Master of Wine and 'authority on all things Spanish'. Their La Báscula wines provide a particular thrill as many of the vineyards are extremely old. Their La Báscula The Gauntlet Monastrell originates from a vineyard in Yecla that has been continuously planted for over 1 000 years.
Relieved of the financial risk and unrelenting pressure inherent in running one's own business, Bruce is spending more time developing The Drift, the Overberg grape, olive, and organic vegetable farm against the Akkedisberg near Caledon, owned by the Jack family since 1994. 'It was a lifestyle farm; we'd like to make it a commercial venture; become a supplier of organically grown grapes, vegetables, and foods.'
'Want to know the secret to long life? Eat two Brazil nuts a day, preferably organically grown.'
Family Tradition
Bruce Jack revived an old family tradition of making cider: freshly fermented apple juice, no concentrate, and additive-free. 'James Mitchell's Gone Fishing' cider tells the story of his great grandfather James Mitchell. 'He adored cider; developed his own recipe on his farm near Henley-on-Klip in the old Transvaal; owned orchards all over the world: Canada, New Zealand...'
The Drift is also planted to shiraz and malbec, as well as experimental tannat, barbera, and various port varieties. An organic extra-virgin cold-pressed olive oil and verjuice are beautifully bottled.
Bruce is a verjuice fan. 'Verjuice was used in Europe before Marco Polo introduced the lemon. It's an acidifier, but slightly sweeter and more flavourful than lemon juice. And it's a wonderful deglaze.
He's a keen cook, a 'graduate' of Master Chef South Africa's celebrity chef Peter Goffe-Wood's Kitchen Cowboys courses. Typically, this walking encyclopedia likes to stir the proverbial pot with his alternative views on common cooking practices.
He no longer cooks with wine. 'The tannins, when heated, give food a bitter flavour.' He prefers canola oil to olive oil for cooking. 'It's richer in Omega-3 and has a higher smoke point, so is less inclined to convert to bad trans fats.' He opines on kale as a great source of iron', homemade stock as 'the real secret to risotto', and the virtues of selenium as a trace mineral essential to healthy soils 'and a healthy gut'.
The man also engages in the biodynamic versus organic debate. On The Drift, he hopes to implement the former 'closed system' based on self-sufficiency as espoused by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner (also the founder of the Waldorf education system followed by the Michael Oak Waldorf School just down the road which his young sons Robert and Benjamin attend).
Though deeply appreciative of natural beauty, in his wines as in all things, appearances matter not a jot to Bruce. He was one of the first in South Africa to use alternative closures and the first winery to bottle all his wines under a screwcap.
What counts is what his wines taste like. He is here to 'make magic'; look for the 'yum' factor; communicate to fellow wine lovers his personal delight in a really good glass of wine: one of life's simple joys.
Scrambled eggs recipe by Bruce Jack paired with CWG Flagstone Weather Girl or CWG Flagstone Happy Hour wine....
Shiitake mushroom, organic spinach, and kale risotto with gremolata and white truffle oil recipe by Bruce Jack....