Father of the Guild
‘It was Billy Hofmeyr who first came up with the idea of the Cape Winemakers Guild,' remarks founding member Walter Finlayson. Born in Stellenbosch, a graduate of the University of Cape Town in 1949 and a land surveyor by profession, Hofmeyr lived out a life-long passion for wine on Welgemeend.
Billy Hofmeyr and his wife Ursula bought the farm in 1974, replanted it to noble Bordeaux varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec, and introduced their first reds in 1979.
Billy was a self-taught winemaker, but a classic traditionalist, vinifying his wines in a cellar equipped on a shoestring budget, but investing in expensive, small French oak barrels for maturation to enhance quality.
He was also a member of the Wine Tasters Guild of South Africa from 1967; the winner of the inaugural Cape Argus newspaper SA Wine Taster of the Year competition in 1973; the founding chairman of the Stellenbosch Wine Circle in 1974; and a contributor to Die Wynboer (the specialist dual technical and consumer publication of its day) from 1974 to 1979.
Once the Guild was formed, Professor Joel van Wyk was invited as a patron. Having studied at the University of California, Davis in 1965 and been appointed to head up the oenology department at Stellenbosch University in 1969, he brought a more serious educational aspect to the Guild's monthly tastings, held at Blaauwklippen wine estate in Stellenbosch.
Founding member Etienne le Riche recalls: 'This was a good group of people who met for support and discussion; the tastings always had a technical angle and everything was centred on quality. It helped to get together to discuss issues, identify problems and try and bring them up in the industry to encourage change and development in areas we felt needed it, whether it was the finer aspects of the newly introduced Wine of Origin Superior rating system of quality and provenance; the importing of new varieties and vine stock; or the prevalence of young wine shows instead of bottled wine shows.'
Wine as Art
It was through Hofmeyr's interest in the arts and his friendship with South African fine art expert Stephan Welz, a director of Sotheby's International auction house, that the Guild was approached to put up a selection of their 'experimental' wines for public sale to connoisseurs, collectors and wine lovers.
The first Cape Independent Winemakers Guild Auction of Rare Cape Wines was held on 7 September 1985 in the Rosebank Hotel in Johannesburg. Wielding the gavel was English auctioneer and Master of Wine David Molyneux-Berry of Sotheby's in London.
The offerings were to be kept commercially exclusive to the event and were either chosen from the winemaker's cellar (be it a single barrel or particular blend) or were especially made for the auction.
Despite having started as essentially a 'red wine' group, particularly intent on exploring the then new concept of Bordeaux blends in the Cape, the winemakers were also applying their expertise to classic whites and other styles of wine. Among the items on auction were two chardonnays, a riesling and a wood-matured sweet white wine.
The highest price paid on the day for a case was R180 [roughly $24] (for Walter Finlayson’s Blaauwklippen Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 1982).
The hard work involved in preparing for the auctions was done by the winemakers themselves, which included personally presenting pre-sale public tastings in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg (later in Bloemfontein and Pretoria too) during the week preceding the auction. Serious stuff; but the early members also recall the fun and close 'family-like' ties developed among one another. Welz hosted a dinner for all at his house in 'auction week'. And there was plenty of golf played.
The commercial success of that first auction came as an unexpected but pleasant surprise. Early members re-iterate that the Guild was never intended to have a financially lucrative function and that the auction was always seen as secondary to the primary objective of the Guild as essentially a 'study group’ for the furtherance of the Cape wine industry as a quality wine-producing region: building 'brand South Africa'.
As the Guild and the auction grew, the members employed Barbara Pienaar as an assistant. Eventually, financial management and strategic business advice came in from Robin Grier, the late owner of Villiera. This role was later taken over by Rust en Vrede owner/winemaker and former Guild member Jannie Engelbrecht.
Interest at the auctions during the sanction years was mainly from the local market. Not that there weren't attempts from all quarters - to which the Guild was always eager to respond - to get fine South African wines showcased internationally. This was how members ended up banding together and sending their wines abroad courtesy of international shipping company Safmarine, who marketed and sold their wines overseas for several years.
Pioneers of the 80s
On the winemaking front, Cape Winemakers Guild members took the lead on using small French oak barrels, not only for maturation of reds but also fermentation and maturation of whites. Much of the legwork in exploring, planting and vinifying Bordeaux-style red wines in South Africa was done by Guild members, as was the further development of bottle-fermented sparkling wines à la méthode champenoise (pioneered by Simonsig in the 1970s).
Towards the end of the 1980s as South Africa's political headway helped ease sanctions, Guild members were submitting wines on international shows such as the reputable International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) in London. In 1990 they won eight of the 21 gold medals awarded to local wines, faring the best as a producer organisation when compared with other Cape wine-producing conglomerates.
In 1992 the Cape Winemakers Guild decided to bring the auction down to Cape Town to ease logistics. It was unlike the by-invitation-only, trade-based Nederburg event in being open to the public: any wine lover could register as a bidder and attend.
Nederburg was then also a source of older vintages, whereas the Guild auction offered connoisseurs young wines, some even still in barrel, in the style of the famous Hospices de Beaune sale of wines en primeur, held in Burgundy since the 1850s.
Explains Etienne le Riche: 'These were not, as sometimes considered, purely "experimental" wines, but rather wines of great interest and great effort. They were offered also as confirmation of a new winemaking method, to serve as encouragement and inspiration to other winemakers.'
For the Record
Founder member Walter Finlayson resigned after 29 years and now carries honorary membership. So too does Prof. Joel van Wyk. Others inducted during the Guild's first decade who subsequently resigned include: founder member Achim von Arnim, Charles Back, Jacques Kruger, Jannie Engelbrecht, Janey Muller, Kurt Amman, Hilko Hegewisch, Jean Daneel, Abe Beukes, Gyles Webb, Danie Truter, Mike Dobrovic, Eric Saayman and the late Pieter du Toit and Ross Gower.
Time has marched on since publication of Cellarmasters in the Kitchen and brought changes in the lives of the 12 master vintners who celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Guild as members since these early years.
Founding member Jan ‘Boland’ Coetzee resigned from the Guild at the end of 2018, but continues to oversee the vines and wines at his beloved Vriesenhof, celebrating his 41st vintage there in 2021 (his 55th overall). In 2020 he was presented with the Groot Constantia 1659 Medal of Honour for his ‘tangible actions to give greater human dignity, pride and honour to the wine industry and all its people’.
Fellow founding members Etienne le Riche and Kevin Arnold, and compatriot Neil Ellis, have also retired from the CWG, but still participate as ‘non-producing members’: those no longer making wine yet still active in the industry. Their involvement in the Guild’s regular educational ‘technical tastings’ and access to their years of experience and expertise are prized by members.
Both Etienne and Neil have welcomed their winemaker sons Christo and Warren to the family business, Warren earning an invitation to join the Guild in 2017. Kevin remains happily ensconced at the Mediterranean-inspired Waterford wine estate he built from the ground up, a multiple Great Wine Capitals of the World award winner.
Founding member Braam van Velden has retired, leaving historic family farm Overgaauw in the capable hands of fourth generation David. Philip Costandius is no longer a Guild member, having swopped his Solo winemaking career for consulting on Stellenbosch start-up Oldenburg. Internationally renowned red-wine maker Beyers Truter resigned from the CWG in 2020, but continues to do great things as cellarmaster at Beyerskloof, assisted by son Anri.
Postscript: Vintage 1990 was Billy Hofmeyr’s last. Incapacitated by Alzheimer’s from 1991, he passed away in 2000. But his legacy as ‘father’ of the Cape Winemakers Guild lives on.
‘Winemakers who joined the Guild during its first decade, the 1980s, and were still there to celebrate the CWG’s 30th anniversary in 2012 and be featured here: Jan ‘Boland’ Coetzee, Peter Finlayson, Etienne le Riche, Braam van Velden and Kevin Arnold (1982); Neil Ellis (1983); Johan Malan (1984); Beyers Truter and Jeff Grier (1985); Pieter Ferreira (1986); and Carel Nel and Philip Costandius (1988).’