- Meet the diverse cast of Stark-Cond wines in the Jonkershoek Valley of Stellenbosch.
- Owner Hans Schröder spent 30 years in Tokyo and raised three daughters before returning to South Africa with his family, purchasing Oude Nektar, the farm that established the Jonkershoek Wine Ward.
- Today, his son-in-law, self-taught, award-winning winemaker Jose Cond makes stellar Cabernets and Chenin here, with Diner's Club Young Winemaker of 2018, Rüdger van Wyk, and Tayla Kymdell.
"A team's strength can be determined by its diversity." - Jose Cond .
Jos and Marie Cond (ne Schröder) are not your traditional Stellenbosch couple.
Jos is Cuban-Irish American, and Marie… well, Marie is German (but South African by birth, though born in Tokyo and never been to Germany). It's complicated.
Hans Schröder, Marie's father, was the original South African in this story, from German-Namibian stock. He was in the merchant navy and fell in love with Japan. In the 1960s, he returned to Tokyo to study at ICU and met Marie's mother, Midori Maruyama (her surname means 'Round Mountain').
Back then, they could not return to South Africa due to the apartheid regime's Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, and thus lived in Tokyo for 30 years and had three daughters. In Japan, you have to take your father's nationality, but at birth, Marie and her sisters were denied South African citizenship because of the law and thus unable to claim any right to the country.
Her father eventually managed to get them German citizenship through his connections with the German embassy. But in some strange way, the words of Virginia Woolf when she wrote, "As a woman, I have no country," apply to the children we could not claim during this time in South African history.
Happily, Marie has now finally claimed her South African citizenship and her and Jose's life in South Africa on the farm Oude Nektar her father purchased in 1989, a testament to the pull of the land.
A Jonkershoek farm
Marie tells the story of her father during the protests against apartheid in the late 1980s.
She had been studying in Boston and asked him how he could love such a terrible country. She didn't expect his vehement response: "You can love a country and hate the politics! You don't understand."
When the laws were lifted, her mother agreed to accompany him to South Africa. Having spent 30 years in Tokyo, she thought it only fair to spend the next 30 years in South Africa with him.
What he bought was some of the oldest agricultural land in the country, granted to a freed slave, Jan Louis Jonker, almost 300 years ago.
Jonker then the root of the name Jonkershoek. And Jonkershoek, the wine ward, was classified for this particular farm when Hans Schröder purchased it in the late 1980s. Thus Oude Nektar, the first wine farm in the Jonkershoek wine ward.
A self-taught winemaker
When Hans purchased the farm, Neil Ellis was the winemaker here, one of the stalwarts of South African wine. He probably never expected to be challenged on the title by one of Hans's three daughters. Though no one expected Jos to make wine.
As a graphic designer, having worked at the New York Times and doing design work in Tokyo. Jos and Marie were content in Japan, though Marie says space became an issue when they had their second daughter. The sheer cost of living in Tokyo made them consider moving to her father's idyllic farm in Jonkershoek.
In 1997, on the promise of South Africa hosting the Olympic games, with the potential of a whole host of design work to follow, their family settled in South Africa. Jos soon tried his hand at winemaking, self-taught, his maiden vintage, made quite literally at the turn of the century.
A 2000 Jonkershoek Cabernet Sauvignon, only 2400 bottles made, received five Platter's stars, 92 Wine Spectator Points, and was selected by UK wine writer Oz Clarke as one of the Top 20 Wines of the Year. When I ask Marie how, she says you must understand Jos is a geek. The prospect of teaching himself a whole new field appealed to his studious nature, and the resulting wine was just that good.
Stark-Cond was born, named for Hans's mother, Franziska Stark, and Jos 's Cuban surname, Cond . The hyphenated name only hinting at the complexity of its origins.
Oude Nektar
But back to this pioneering Jonkershoek farm, covering over 240ha at the entrance to the Jonkershoek conservancy, with only about 40ha to vine.
All Stark-Cond wines come from here. The Oude Nektar, 1.6ha vineyard was planted between 550 and 600m above sea level and burned down in 2009. It was planted before restrictions were placed on the height of the vineyards, and thus we can certifiably say that this is arguably one of the highest Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards in the Stellenbosch district (certainly in Jonkershoek).
The wine produced here was originally a traditional Bordeaux blend, but in recent years the Cabernet component has become more dominant, reflecting the virtues of its terroir. When I say terroir, I mean the soil, the aspect, the elevation, the micro-climate, exposure to the sun, and proximity to the ocean - all of these coming together to produce what Tim Atkin MW recently wrote of the 2019 Oude Nektar: "South Africa's answer to a Pauillac First Growth," with the 97 Points to prove it. (Even Christian Eedes agreed on the rating.)
With winemaker Rüdger van Wyk, who joined the team in 2015, a Cape Winemaker's Guild Prot gè, who promptly received the Diner's Club Young Winemaker of the Year award in 2018, and newest assistant winemaker, Tayla Kymdell. Jos has set about defining the identity of Jonkershoek wine.
The golden thread
The golden thread in Jonkershoek wine is the fynbos and the rainfall. They receive some of the highest rainfall in South Africa during the winter months. Combined with the deep clay soils that absorb the moisture and slowly release it during the warm summer months, these conditions create naturally balanced vineyards that produce quality fruit with a distinct fragrance and perfume, no doubt subtly infused by the abundance of fynbos corridors on the farm.
And while their wines prove that Stellenbosch does Cabernet incredibly well, last year, they launched a top-rated Chenin, the Monk Stone Chenin Blanc.
The Monk Stone joins their two other top white wines, including the much-lauded White Field Blend and Sauvignon Blanc from the oldest vineyard on the farm (33 years old this year).
They make three red wine ranges, with the Oude Nektar as their flagship, the Three Pines Range, including a Cabernet and a Syrah named for the Three Pines that stand sentinel over the vineyards. And their Stellenbosch range includes a Cabernet, Syrah, and Petite Syrah. In Tim Atkin MW's latest South Africa Report, of the 9 wines rated, all received over 92 points, with four over 94 - proving the sheer quality of the wine and Jos 's commitment to the cause.
Certified organic
They are among the few farms with full organic certification, a feat many will tell you is expensive and challenging to uphold while retaining viable yields.
Many farmers employ only some organic principles in their viticultural practices, unable to endanger even one vintage due to financial constraints. But if done right and accepting of the challenge, the principles of organic farming will ensure soil health and work to counteract the far-reaching effects of climate change in the future.
A little tension
Jos says a lot of talent goes missing when people only want to work with people like themselves. He doesn't want his team to agree with him all the time. (Though I'm sure he requires it from time to time.) He says there should be a little tension in it all, like in the wine. And he has built a team of extraordinary diversity, culturally, generationally, and across the gender divide, harnessing our very differences to create something quintessentially Jonkershoek. And World-Class.
I cannot discriminate against any of their wines, but with Stark-Cond , it's the Cab for me. Though as ever, don't take my word for it. Shop the wine direct from the farm here.
