Family values

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

The celebration of Van Loveren’s 30th anniversary was so typical of the extended Retief family of Robertson. It embraced family and friends, relationships forged through business over three decades – and also supported a community music initiative where young schoolchildren displayed their calypso steel drum playing skills.

Reflecting on the local wine scene 30 years ago, Wynand Retief sketched a very different scenario to the increasingly corporate one which wine farmers enjoy nowadays. The market was dominated by just three producers: Distillers Corporation, Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery and the KWV. “You were either a Distiller’s supplier or a Farmers’ man,” Wynand recalled. “And we were a bit jealous of the Bergkelder boys in the Distiller’s stable.” But ultimately they parted ways with SFW and bottled their own wine – a very brave move 30 years ago. And it took an entire year to flog their 500 case production of Premier Grand Cru. Nowadays Van Loveren’s phenomenally successful Four Cousins range accounts for 800 000 cases alone and they’re proud of the fact that most sales are still local!

It was also an opportunity for Van Loveren to release a new range – and true to form it celebrates family, in the form of Christina van Loveren , an ancient forebear of the Retief family. Wynand and Neil’s mother, Aunty Jean was renowned as an exceptionally green-fingered gardener but she was also responsible for the family farm’s name change, deeming Van Loveren far more suitable than Goudmyn F which it used to be called.

The Christina van Loveren range is a single vineyard series and comprises a NV Methode Cap Classique, a 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, as well as a Chardonnay, Shiraz, Cabernet and finally a Rhine Riesling Noble Late Harvest all from the 2009 vintage. In typical Van Loveren fashion, the entire range is exceptionally reasonably priced: just R89 for the reds, R55 for the whites andR75 for the bubbly.

There were a few gems in Wynand’s speech – such as the anecdote about “swopping” Chenin Blanc for Rhine Riesling with neighbour and boyhood friend Danie de Wet under cover of darkness, flouting the authorities at the time. Jean Retief loved her garden and planted trees to mark significant events: two massive Norfolk pines used to signify Victory over Germany and Victory over Japan but when Van Loveren entered those markets with their wines it was decided to redub the trees Peace in Germany and Peace in Japan… And what about the wry observation that they were the first to plant Harslevelu and Fernao Pires grapes, believing they were getting a jump on their rivals…