Boekenhoutskloof Winery (Pty) Ltd, which Marc Kent now has shared, also owns its own piece of the Swartland: Porseleinberg (Porcelain Mountain), home of what the winemaker calls 'South Africa's most awesome, and extreme, vineyards'.
And, there's a hint of glee that they've 'snuck into the heart of the establishment wine scene in Stellenbosch' with the purchase of Helderberg Wijnmakerij (the former old wine co-op).
'It's a great facility and the grower's farm on some of the country's best red wine terroir, especially for cabernet, so we're helluva excited!'
Marc clearly relishes the ins and outs of the wine business as much as he loves making and drinking the stuff. And the erstwhile 'angry young man· has become known as a collaborative entity in Cape wine, without compromising on a still-strong individualistic streak.
'We're not farming organically for marketing purposes; it's the only way to keep on making good° wine: leave the land in better condition than you found it!'
He'd dreamt of being a pilot as a boy, growing up on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast before moving down to Cape Town and living with his father in Noordhoek.
'I was selected to fly in the Air Force after school, in the late eighties. But mid- 1989 they suspended the program. I was gutted.' He waited tables at wine lover Gerald Ludwinski's Black Marlin restaurant in Simons town... and waited for the possible reinstatement call. It never came.
But, meanwhile, he'd discovered wine thanks to Ludwinski. 'It was purely through his incredible generosity. We'd braai and Gerald would open bottles from his amazing collection.
We drank French First Growths, great Mosels, Sauternes; I drank more great wines then than I think I've ever drunk since becoming a winemaker.'
While studying cellar technology at Elsenburg, he met winemaking student David Finlayson, son of the then owner and veteran winemaker of Glen Carlon Walter Finlayson [a Guild founding member] and wife Jill. 'Besides Gerald, they probably played the greatest role in my wine life.'
The Eggs
Gerald Ludwinski is now involved in importing 'the eggs', the winery's novel 600-litre egg-shaped concrete tanks for fermenting white wines and maturing reds. 'They're based on the old Roman amphorae made of stone or clay.
The science behind it is that the egg shape allows for even distribution of temperature during fermentation, especially important when you rely on wild yeasts for spontaneous fermentation instead of inoculating the juice with commercial yeast. Why do you think Mother Nature designed the egg shape for incubation?'
Because the shape also keeps the lees in suspension, white wines are richer, and reds matured in the 'eggs' after a shorter period of barrel maturation show more fruit and less overt oak character.
It's the latest innovation from a winemaker who was the first to use a sorting table to handpick the best grapes coming into the cellar in the 1990s; and the first to install a computer-controlled pneumatic basket press in the early noughties. Another modern take on the ancient art of winemaking from a traditionalist: the man's style is essentially retro.
Aromatic green fig preserve with ginger and chilli recipe by Marc Kent paired with chilled Boekenhoutskloof Noble Late Harvest wine....
Duck Cassoulet recipe by Marc Kent paired with Boekenhoutskloof Cabernet Sauvignon....