Half-Century - Not Out: Kanonkop 1973-2015
BY NEAL MARTIN |
Earlier this year, fourth-generation co-proprietor Johann Krige and winemaker Abrie Beeslaar flew over to London for a special tasting of Kanonkop wines to celebrate fifty years since their first bottled release. Of course, South Africa was a very different country back in those days, cut off from the rest of the world behind anti-apartheid sanctions. Consequently, its wines, then almost exclusively under government control, were entirely for domestic consumption. Kanonkop’s decision to bottle their own wine was uncommon in those days, not dissimilar to how Burgundy producers extricated themselves from selling their fruit to négociants and the resistance they had to endure. I had always wanted to taste a venerable vintage of this Stellenbosch stalwart - a constant through decades of tumultuous change. This was a unique chance to taste their maiden vintage. Before the wines were poured, Krige and Beeslaar presented a brief overview summarized below.
“In 1903, the Sauer family bought Uitkyk farm,” Krige explains in a brief recap (for readers wondering how to pronounce that name, think “oat cake”). Krige is a captivating orator, his audience hanging on every word enunciated in a thick Cape accent. A bit like winemaker Adi Badenhorst, he’s not averse to the odd controversial comment to spice things up, always with a wink in his eye. “The farm was eventually sold, but the family kept one part with favored terroir. The winery was built in 1942, with nothing much more than a wooden container and little surrounding it apart from wild brambles. Jan ‘Boland’ Coetzee was appointed the first winemaker in 1968. My father and Boland started bottling in 1973: Pinotage and Cabernet Sauvignon. [Winemaker] Beyers Truter started in 1980, and the following year, the maiden Paul Sauer cuvée was released. In 1991, we won the IWSC Trophy, which was a big moment, and people started taking notice after sanctions were lifted. In 2002, Abrie Beeslaar was appointed winemaker.”
Johann Krige (left), together with his brother Paul Krige, co-owns Kanonkop with head winemaker Abrie Beeslaar (right).
Krige hands the baton to Beeslaar, who is more quietly-spoken than his boss. I have met him several times, both here and on the farm, a candid and principled winemaker with a deep well of knowledge. Surely, he must have felt some trepidation carving his own niche, following in the footsteps of two long-serving figures?
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Stellenbosch stalwart Kanonkop celebrated a half-century of bottling their own wines with a retrospective tasting in London that traveled all the way back to that historic inaugural vintage.
