Johan Joubert had spent three vintages handcrafting mainly red wines at traditional, centuries-old Muratie after graduating from Elsenburg Agricultural College with a diploma in viticulture and cellar technology in 1992.
Johan Joubert 1995 Muratie Cabernet Sauvignon won the General Smuts Trophy for the best wine at the South African Young Wine Show that year; quite an achievement, for the youngest winemaker ever to have done so.
But he was looking for experience in handling a greater variety of wine styles and bigger volumes. Four vintages as one of the winemakers at Boland Co-operative's two cellars gave him just that. Once more, it was his cabernet sauvignon that impressed, winning its category at the International Wine & Spirits Competition in London in 2001. (It was one of Boland's several top-scoring wines to earn the team the Robert Mondavi International Winemaker of the Year Trophy.)
He had subsequently moved to Bovlei, another top co-operative winery in Wellington, as cellarmaster when Kobus Basson contacted him. 'It was a tough decision, as I had already reached quite a level of seniority. But the passion for winemaking and the opportunity to help build Kleine Zalze was too much to resist.'
Kobus Basson had bought Kleine Zalze Wines as a run-down cellar and vineyard in 1996. It was one of several properties and wineries owned by Gilbeys Distillers & Vintners. Over the next few years it was developed as a winelands 'lifestyle' destination, with a residential estate (De Zalze), golf course, lodge and the well-known award-winning Terroir restaurant.
Long-time wine lover Kobus Basson also modernised the winery and set aside 120 hectares of the total 280 hectares for mainly classic red varieties such as cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and merlot. Added to this would be grapes sourced by virtue of their quality from selected sites across the Western Cape, including cool-climate sauvignon blanc and chenin blanc bush vines.
Celebrating his decade here in 2012, Johan as cellarmaster, working together with two dedicated winemakers and a focussed viticulturist, manages over 2 000 tons of fruit and three tiers of wines: the limited multi-award-winning Family Reserve, the equally acclaimed Vineyard Selection and the broad-based Cellar Selection. There are also the Foot of Africa and Zalze ranges (exclusively for export).
Besides his successes with Kleine Zalze's serious Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc, he repeated his earlier achievements with reds, producing top Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz wines. He won the WINE magazine Tops @ Spar Shiraz Challenge in 2005 with the farm's maiden release Family Reserve Shiraz 2003 and trophies for the best Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon at the 2009 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show with the 2007 vintages.
'What I've been doing at Kleine Zalze is building up a bank of knowledge about vineyards, wine styles, vinification methods and the influence of oak to offer different expressions of single varieties in the bottle. But now I'm also looking at different grape varieties and what they bring when blended together: primarily varieties that could accompany shiraz in a blend.'
But more importantly for the vintner (who has, he jokes at his own expense, been dubbed '!di Amin' in the popular wine press for the late Ugandan military dictator, renowned for his medal-bedecked uniform): 'I’m back in Stellenbosch.' As an Elsenburg student, he'd decided it was here he wanted to make wine.
Baked kassler pork chops with pineapple rings recipe by Johan Joubert paired with Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Barrel Fermented Chenin Bl...
Quick fix mushroom risotto recipe by Johan Joubert paired with Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Barrel Fermented Chardonnay....