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Koos, Koosie, Koesie or Cozy - storming ahead by Henry Hopkins
Koosie is a strange way of spelling a familiar name, but that is exactly what it says on the Stormberg wine label: "Stormberg ... by Koosie Jordaan".
Yes, he admits, people often say the label is lovely, with the mountains of Wellington finely pencilled, as in an old Baines etch, but they are sceptical about the double o. This dates from the days when he was marketing manager of Nederburg and overseas clients always wanted to call him "Cozy", obviously to the great mirth of his colleagues. Eventually he started writing Koosie with a double o. He suggested to the Americans that they pronounce it like their Coors beer. "Koesie" does sound a lot better than "Cozy".
He smiles. In the dark hair, streaks of grey are beginning to show, but in his golf shirt, shorts and brown boots it looks like the stresses of the corporate world are long forgotten; never, never again does he want to wear a jacket and tie.
Stormberg wines are made in the little cellar on Onverwacht, erected way back by Trevor Harris. After Trevor’s departure it remained closed for a long time. When Johan Bauermeister bought the estate that used to be in his family, Koos approached him to rent the cellar. Minimal adjustments were made, equipment was rented and then the first Stormberg twins could be coaxed into this world. Koos’s grapes are sourced from other farms, however, while that of Onverwacht are sold to Distillers.
While chatting at a table in the small entrance hall, we hear the click-clack of valves being opened and closed in the cool semi-darkness and smell the aroma of Pinotage must being chilled. The work is being done by Koos’s wife, Kitty, and their assistant, Elias Makete, which leads Koos to speculate, with a mischievous smile, that his work force is probably the most "affirmative" in the entire wine industry.
As manager in chief of SFW’s wineries in the Western Cape, he was in charge of more than 800 people and had to handle an operational budget of several hundreds of millions of rands. The irony was that he was not in charge of his own destiny and first had to give up the privileges of his job to "purchase" true freedom.
His way of doing things and his new lifestyle also have a lot to do with a visit to Australia, undertaken with Jan de Waal of SFW and Kim Green (then chief executive of WOSA) in 1995. The more they saw, the more they started using the expression "CTC" among them. It refers to "cut the crap", he says softly and quickly, for Koos is a chap who teaches catechism at the Paarl Reformed congregation and is not given to using crude words. In this instance the expression is highly appropriate, though, for in Australia they saw that the modus operandi involved cutting to the bone. There they are informal and scientific.
He was also impressed that a vast number of the 600 cellars are family run. Although the Australian industry is dominated by six mighty cellars, in many instances the rest are small family concerns. The trend is not entirely foreign to South Africa (Gary Jordan and his wife, Cathy, are both trained winemakers and there are other husband and wife teams in the making), but for many years, as a result of high labour costs, the Australians have been obliged to do all the work themselves, not only the vinification itself, but also working the vineyards as well as bottling and marketing. With their visit to the well-known Tim Hollie he noted that Tim’s wife was in charge of cellar door sales, his daughter worked with him in the cellar and his son in the vineyard. And because they produce quality wine, they are making a good living from 30 hectares. The economic viability of such a scheme made such an impression on him that he could not get the notion of a Jordaan family cellar out of his head, says Koos.
In 1998, after 17 happy years at SFW, he closed the door behind him for the last time, took his daughters out of school and departed for Bordeaux with his family, where they stayed for four months, undertaking study tours to other French wine regions. He especially wanted to know how they handled the three critical phases of when to pick, when and how racking should take place, and how long the post-fermentation maceration should last.
Back in South Africa he realised that he would not be able to erect his own cellar with the meagre means at his disposal and that he would have to rent cellar space and equipment - something he considers the most logical and practical alternative for anyone who wants to start making wine with the lowest overheads. "Nowadays everything is on wheels and for rent," he says, "from presses and filters to bottling lines. You can even get refrigeration on a Venter trailor."
But even though his costs were low, he was still obliged to work as a consultant, often as an arbitrator in the labour field, but also on technical and marketing issues. His first clients ranged from small estates to gigantic wine co-operatives in many districts.
At a later stage consultation work for La Motte and L’Ormarins brought him into close contact with Hein Koegelenberg and together they formed the marketing and distribution company, Historic Wines. A huge storage and distribution centre for wine has just been erected at Montague Gardens in the Cape. As marketing director of Historic Wines, the new activities demand more and more of Koos’s time - but he refuses to admit that he may be on the road back to a suit and tie existence.
"Never. It’s a CTC business. We have a manager and the logistics are backed by the absolute precision of an Ezy computer package. This is exactly how I attend our board meetings," he says, indicating his comfortable attire.
He is also trying to run the rented cellar on Onverwacht as cost-efficiently as possible, inter alia by renting equipment which he does not require himself.
"The concept works. The fuller the cellar, the lower your own overheads. People are forever phoning around. You’ll be surprised at the number of calls I receive - some require space for an extra ten tons, others quickly want to filter a small batch of wine, and someone else may be looking for a bit of tank space ..."
The grapes for both his 1998 and 1999 vintages were bought over the entire coastal region from Durbanville to the Helderberg, as well as the Swartland and Bot River areas. Success lies in selection, says Koos, referring to Neil Ellis, whom he admires greatly, who established a reputation as South Africa’s first negociant.
Stormberg 1998 Barrel Select is a Merlot, Cabernet and Cabernet franc blend and received a red, four star award from Platter at the time of its launch. The structure is tight and the aroma minty, with currants.
The Stormberg 1998 Cabernet also contains 20% Shiraz and the colour is purple with juicy berry, mint and cedar aromas. It is being served to British Airways business class passengers this year.
His approach is to pick grapes with ripe tannins and to work gently in the cellar. Moreover, to take care that the wines do not dry out in the barrel. Furthermore, he applies the lesson of meticulous zeal learnt from Günter Brözel at Nederburg. "That’s where I learnt that one can work hard and play hard. Both are equally necessary. And Günter understood the art of keeping them apart."
What Koos has to manage now is more difficult; namely ensuring that all his work activities remain separate and only a pleasure.
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The dream to make one’s own wine often necessitates a few other irons in the fire. Veterans such as Jan Boland Coetzee and Neil Ellis broke away in the 1980s and succeeded in financing their own formidable cellars with income from consultation work. Martin Meinert and now also Koos Jordaan are two of the younger generation who severed their ties with the corporate world to be associated with various other cellars in a consulting capacity, but also to put their names to their own product.
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