South Africa (Barrydale)
Joubert-Tradauw is a family owned private cellar in the Tradouw Valley in the Klein Karoo/Little Karoo region on the famous R62 route. The farm is located just outside the picturesque village of Barrydale. Life around here is mainly about two things: fruit of the vine and the work of human hands. Step into the clean, crisp air and onto the rich, fertile soil of the Tradouw Valley.
Sixty-one years ago, Schalk-Willem Joubert left Wellington for the fertile Tradouw Valley to farm mainly with fruit and wine grapes.
His son, Jacobus Joubert, Meyer’s father, realised the potential of growing premium grape cultivars for the production of wine. They delivered Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon to the Co-operative Cellar in Barrydale, Cabernet Franc was planted on the farm in 1982.
In the late 1990s, had a dream that was born whilst working as a child on the farm and making wine and working in the Napa Valley; they also worked in wine-tourism, which became a reality when an old building on the farm was restored and converted into an ageing maturation cellar. The fermentation cellar was built in 1998 out of stone from the rocky soils, characteristic of the farm. In 1999, the first grapes were harvested and crushed for the production of wine. The R62 Merlot/Cabernet Blend (60:40) was released after a 14-month ageing period in Burgundy oak barrels. The production is currently just below 3000 cases per year.
Meyer Joubert, an award-winning winemaker, studied viticulture at Elsenburg near Stellenbosch in the Western Cape and thereafter in California’s famous Napa Valley for two seasons, before returning to South Africa to make his own wine.
Guido Franque, author of Monuments of SA Wine, had this to say about him: “Meyer was born into a farming family and, from a young age, felt at home in the vineyards and fruit orchards. His extreme respect for nature springs from the fact that he is an agriculturalist. He can talk for hours on the positioning of the grape vines, as long as the discussion takes place in the vineyard, where he feels most at home. He beams when speaking of his newly planted Shiraz vineyards, “a piece of heaven…something unique is growing here”. In the area, people consider him crazy. Before him, not many had thought of making a great quality wine in Barrydale, the far-off Klein Karoo region. This is Meyer’s dream. He perseveres — an established winemaker with a vision and a thorough knowledge of his natural biotype. He believes in little intervention during the winemaking process. His wine cellar is simple yet functional and appropriate regarding space, temperature and humidity. You would imagine yourself in an authentic barrel cellar somewhere in Chablis.”
Meyer, who was born in the Tradouw Valley, moved onto the farm in 1995 with his wife, Beate who also worked in Napa making wine and supported him in his dream to make premium wines. They were blessed with four children: Hanna Katerien, Julia Heleen, Andreas Meyer de la Courtte and Lena Beate.