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PREVIOUS WINELAND ARTICLES | WINELAND HOME
by Jacoline Haasbroek
As a post-graduate student in Stellenbosch, Elsie rented out half her little house on condition that the tenant ate what she cooked. After a week of toast and Marmite, toast and scrambled eggs and again toast and Marmite one Friday evening, her veterinarian lodger sat her down on a chair, presented her with a glass of 1939 KWV port, tied his apron and started cooking. "The most wonderful meal," she remembers, "and those old red wines he pulled out from a chest under his bed!"
Edmund and Elsie Oettlé's life on Fisantekuil, picturesque and hidden against the steep slopes outside Wellington, sounds and looks like a fairy tale. Colourful and untamed vegetation decorates the white walls, a collection of feather-footed bantams, quackers and wild geese beg greedily for another handful of poultry grain, and from somewhere, locked up behind a wooden door, emerges the unmistakable aroma of wine taking its time to mature in barrels.
Idyllic, perhaps, in the eye of the beholder, but definitely not without its daily toil. Edmund is in the vineyards at the crack of dawn, then returns before breakfast for a two hour teaching session with the two children, eight and nine years old. In winter he takes his falcon for a daily hunting session, then it's back to the cellar or vineyards and in the evenings when the sun dips away, he scrubs his hands, puts on his white coat and becomes Dr Edmund Oettlé, veterinarian, ready to receive his patients. And when the last headlights disappear over the hill, it is time for a glass of his own Upland Cabernet Sauvignon, relaxing with his family.
Edmund started making his own house wine in standard eight. "I used everything that flowered or bore fruit, to my mother's consternation." Jasmine flowers, peaches and mulberries, all were converted to wine, as much as 20 gallons at a time.
From wine-making in a Johannesburg backyard Edmund went to Onderstepoort to study veterinary science. He then moved closer to the winelands and after two years at Tygerberg Hospital and later Groote Schuur, he opened his own practice in Brackenfell.
After a few years as a vet he realised that life is too short to remain occupied with things one believes one has to do. His interest in falcon safaris, together with the idea of a guest farm for people who would like to hunt with falcons, brought him to Fisantekuil. "I certainly did not have a wine farm in mind, but the grapes were in place, so I had to vinify them and make something of the crop."
Fisantekuil measures 46 ha, of which the original Steen and Riesling grapes constitute eight hectares. In 1994 he planted two hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon and his first wine was made in 1996. In addition to vineyards, they also planted olive, pecan and macadamia trees. Used to working with his hands, he got stuck into the vineyards, pruning and harvesting himself, and soon decided to switch over to organic viticulture. "I think it complements my falconeering, an equally natural way of hunting which gives hunter and hunted an even chance."
Edmund scaled down his original idea of keeping a number of falcons for hunting safaris to just one falcon, Guinevere (named for the queen of King Arthur). She was bred in Canada and on winter mornings Edmund spends more than an hour with her in the veld. Sometimes she does not catch anything and then Edmund has to spend an hour feeding her by hand, as in summer when she moults.
Edmund's first attempt at making his own wine was a real backyard affair without pumps or barrels. "We pressed with our feet and moved the juice around with the help of gravity. Fortunately no more than a ton and half of grapes, in case it proved to be a flop." His next attempt in 1997 was a bad year, viticulturally speaking, and all the wine was sold in bulk. In 1998 he harvested his first proper crop and made wine that had commercial value.
According to Edmund the name Upland (English for Boland) sounds better on the foreign ear than Fisantekuil. "Upland Estate, the registered estate name, creates the impression of high-lying vineyards with a wonderful view, which is what we try to portray on the label," he explains. "Then there is the upland game bird, birds similar to our pheasants, which refers to Fisantekuil."
In due time Edmund expanded his cellar. He made and soldered his own steel tanks and surprised himself with the amount thus saved. His advice to new entrants: "Rather grow more slowly than take a loan at the bank, just to lie awake at night because of debt, which is standing in the cellar with a cold and shiny appearance."
Apart from enjoying red wine himself, his decision to make red wine was a deliberate effort to add more value to his product. In addition to the Cabernet Sauvignon, Edmund wanted to do something with the existing Steen and Riesling grapes. Therefore to be found in his cellar are a few barrels of brandy that await bottling in May 2001. "A cognac type vintage product," he enthuses, "made stringently according to the traditional rules."
Once again Edmund built his own distilling plant. And to give the cash flow a further boost, he released his first grappa this year, also under the Upland label. Too little for export, but a classy product for the local market.
Both the Upland Cabernet Sauvignon and grappa are available from the farm by appointment. Edmund aims for a maximum of 10 000 bottles of Cabernet per annum. The 2000 vintage has already exceeded 7 000 bottles. Apart from the local market, he exports wine to Namibia and Holland.
And Edmund the vet? At night between six and nine he receives specially referred patients. "I specialise in dog reproduction, especially male problems, and only see clients by appointment." More personalised than the conveyor belt effect of a private practice.
So many tasks, and only so many hours in a day, how does he keep it up, I wonder. "I know I am burning the candle at both ends," he admits with mock-seriousness, "but as Edna St Vincent Millay once said: My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night; but ah, my foes and oh my friends - it gives a lovely light."
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Right: Between six and nine at night, Dr Edmund Oettlé transforms himself into a veterinarian, thereafter he relaxes with a glass of his own Upland Cabernet Sauvignon.
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