During his first few vintages, Frans's focus was two-fold: to make quality wine for Spier; and ever-increasing quantities of wine for the Savanha brand. The latter, especially, entailed honing his skills at teamwork and people management as Spier's wine enterprise entered into several partnerships with other wine companies and cellars (including Savanha and Langridge).
This meant working with several winemakers and viticulturists, wines and vineyards, wine procurement people, and marketers.
In his first vintage, Frans Smit made just 5 000 cases of wine. By 2007 this had become 500 000 cases.
Both Frans and Spier had begun to be noticed among the wine cognoscenti and wine lovers alike, both locally and overseas.
By 2012, Frans Smit was heading up a team turning out over a million cases of quality wine under different labels, while continuing to concentrate on the small volume, ultra-premium Spier portfolio.
Frans's main task had always been to identify pockets and blocks of top-performing vines in order to create premium wines for the Spier label.
Together with viticulturists such as the veteran Gerrie Wagener and his talented young successor Johann Smit, Frans found a variety of vineyards in some of the best terroir in the Cape Winelands.
This winemaker seldom talks about his winemaking without reference to his vines and his viticulturists.
This focus on terroir enabled him to pursue excellence in the bottle from the start, particularly in his top-tier range, which he refers to as 'selections within selections'.
The year 2009 was a seminal one. Not only was it one of the great wine vintages for the Cape, but it was the year Spier hit the headlines by adding a cache of double-gold and gold medals at Veritas to their other accumulated accolades. Frans was invited to join the Cape Winemakers Guild.
'From the beginning, the family and management at Spier supported our vision to invest in the vineyards, even when the sales were not there to warrant this approach.
But it's paying dividends now, as can be seen from the awards that Spier's wines are winning,' says Frans.
'The wine show results have been amazing. But, as someone who has always been hands-on from the vineyard to the selecting to the blending, it was that ultimate recognition by my peers in the Guild that meant so much. For me, that was a really big deal.'
The man regards Spier's achievements as a team effort, and he sees Spier becoming a 'school' for young winemakers.
'I invariably seem to find some really talented young guys [men and women], hire them, they work with me for a couple of years, and then they move on, usually to smaller top-quality cellars. And then I have to start all over again, looking for another team. It's actually very rewarding.'
A Seminal Moment
Yet another highlight of 2009 was the release of Spier's flagship red wine by this master blender. He'd been experimenting with the aging potential of small parcels of wine from various vineyard blocks left in barrel for 18 to 24 to 30 months as potential components of a 'super blend'. The final product was called the Frans K. Smit.
'I had absolutely no idea they were going to name it after me! We'd all been discussing names for this wine as the first in what could become a small, exclusive range of the best that we can do at Spier.
'Next thing I knew, I was told to be at a dinner, which is when they presented me with the first bottle under the new label: Frans K. Smit. I have to admit, there was a tear or two. It meant the world to me, especially knowing that the company understood the desire of any serious winemaker to be able to produce something he's proud enough of to carry his or her name.'
Frans has always believed in making wines by 'getting the most out of each grape with as little interference as possible. To achieve this, every different block, vineyard, and wine grower's fruit is vinified and matured separately, enabling Frans to monitor the quality and development of individual batches and draw on these myriad building blocks for his blends and ranges.
Growing remarkably are the Creative Block range (reflecting Frans's penchant for blending} and the Signature range (celebrating that quality: value ratio he's so intent on pinpointing). Recently launched is the 21 Gables range, so-named for the same number of Cape Dutch gables appearing on various restored buildings on Spier. According to Jans, the farm boasts more gables than any other wine farm in the country.
In line with Spier's ethos, Frans is also keeping an eye on trends with organic wines, and the ongoing debate on the merits and possibilities of biodynamic and organic wine production. A 'working holiday' to Chile for him and his wife Lacea [pr: lessay], involved with wine marketing and sales, saw them exploring that burgeoning wine region’s success with organic wine growing and winemaking.
Lamb rib rack with lemon, rosemary and coriander rub recipe by Frans Smit served with caramelised boerpampoen paired with CWG Auction Reserv...
Marinated Gemsbok skewers recipe by Frans Smit served with Serve with Kalahari suikermielietert paired with Spier 21 Gables Pinotage....