Just some 500 six-bottle cases were made in 2000. The wine was big and showy and shocked a few when it came out in 2003 carrying a price tag of R450 (around $60) a bottle. 'Commensurate with Ernie's international standing,' announced Engelbrecht, known as a risk-taking entrepreneur and marketer par excellence.
Louis Strydom, in typically candid, unpretentious fashion, confesses to being 'a nervous wreck' about the high expectations of quality immediately created by a price considered exorbitant at the time, and even more so for a maiden vintage.
But it was never going to be just a flash in the pan, given the personality traits shared by the owner and winemaker. Louis, for all his easy-going nature, has a strong work ethic and inherent sense of responsibility and propriety, taking his winemaking extremely seriously. As does Els his golf, famously quoted as saying: 'Forget about fussing over your swing. What counts is getting the bloody ball in the hole.'
Says Louis: 'I knew the Helderberg would deliver, with its mature wines in deep, red soils on the north-facing slopes. We naturally get big wines here, with opulent fruit and great intensity.
'I get greater extraction with basic winemaking methods such as open-top fermenters, regular punch-downs, the kind of yeasts I use, bigger 300-litre oak barrels [than the more widely used 225 litre] for richer fruit, less wood. The trick is to live with what you get from the fruit, without overcooking it.'
He was somewhat reassured by a top score for a South African wine for the maiden 2000 in Wine Spectator (once again), as well as a five-star Platter's South African Wines guide rating for 2001.
Despite the aura of celebrity surrounding the wine, leading some to think it might have been a one-hit wonder, the intention at the outset was to eventually buy a property and establish a separate winery somewhere on the Helderberg; the Rust en Vrede cellar did duty for the first four vintages primarily to keep costs down.
In 2004 another nearby Helderberg farm called Webersburg, a source of some of the grapes for the Ernie Els Signature (as the wine became known), was bought. A state-of-the-art winery was carved out of the hillside, stylishly set about with massive clay rocks reminiscent of the stone menhirs favoured by famous French cartoon character Obelix the Gaul.
And, as of the 2005 vintage, Louis moved lock, stock, and barrel into the Ernie Els winery, having added a second club to his bag: the Proprietor's Blend, which brought other red varieties such as shiraz into play from sources further afield.
'People always ask me if I'm also a golfer: to be honest, no, not really. I don't actually have the time, but I do play the odd game when there's a charity event.'
The portfolio has been gradually expanded, with the focus on red blends, all as richly fruited and seriously treated though less extravagantly priced for wider appeal. The Signature combines the classic Bordeaux varieties, the Proprietor's Blend is a la the northern Rhône, and the Big Easy is distinctly Mediterranean: a six-variety blend with a nod to the southern Rhône's famous multi-variety Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
It has Louis back in the vineyards, happily exploring. 'I found some 40-year-old grenache and cinsaut vines up in the Piekenierskloof in the Swartland. It's the same spot Eben Sadie buys from.' And he says, with all respect to the Swartland 'revolutionaries' touting the virtues of that region for great southern Rhône-style reds, the mother block [from which new cuttings are sourced] for mourvèdre actually planted on Rust en Vred’s warmer slopes back in 2001.
But the focus on the Ernie Els home farm’s 45 hectares will be cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and shiraz. 'We'll stick to the core of the business, offering diversity across these three main noble varieties, with the help of some carefully selected other varieties such as cabernet franc, mourvèdre, grenache...'
Of all his blends, Louis Strydom seems to have a special place in his heart for the Proprietors. 'It’s probably the truest to the land; each variety is a snapshot of the property and what it can produce. There is an elegance about the components that are typical of the farm, despite the high extract and power of the final blend, which is my style and type of the Helderberg.'
Baked spaghetti bolognaise recipe by Louis Strydom paired with Ernie Els Big Easy wine....
Springbok fillet with gooseberry-Amarula sauce recipe by Louis Strydom paired with Ernie Els Proprietor's Blend wine....