The 200 year old advice of “cobbler stick to thy last” was not taken by the Jordan family, makers of the eponymous shoes, when Gary and Kathy Jordan returned to South Africa in 1992 to build a cellar in which to make wine from the classic varieties of grapes Gary’s parents, Ted and Sheelagh had begun planting shortly after they purchased the property on the hills of Stellenbosch with its panoramic views of Table Mountain, False Bay and Stellenbosch.
In 1993, the year of the first vintage on Jordan, it was evident that this was a grande marque de vin in the making.
Gary, whom I have known since he was at nursery school with my sister way back when, is a geologist – helpful when you own a piece of soil and Kathy, an economist – great for running a business. Their experiences in wine in California and in Europe have led them to producing wines that have all the fruity accessibility of New World wines and the classic elegance of those from Europe.
The Jordan philosophy is that their success begins in the vineyards and here they are blessed in that they have vineyards facing all four points of the compass and lying at altitudes from 160m to over 400m above sea level. Short crow flies to both the chill Atlantic ocean and False Bay allow for cooling breezes and mist which lower the temperatures in the vineyards, and as a result of the maritime influence, fog is not something the Jordans need to worry about.
The soils are all they could ask for having evolved from 600 million year old Cape granite, a mixture of clay, loam, gravel and sand.
The cellar is a superb blend of the old and the new, the traditional and the scientific, the artisanal and the high tech. The cellar is built into the mountain which helps keep the temperatures down. Stainless steel tanks built for cold fermentation and in different sizes allow for grapes from separate vineyards to be vinified separately. Barrel-fermented whites are given the Burgundian treatment while the reds mature separately in their Bordeaux shaped barrels.
The medal and awards cabinet on Jordan is filled with honours showered upon its wines, both local and international.
The Chameleon range offers a Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend that is fruity and accessible with beautiful brushes of oak. The white successfully brings together two grapes, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay unusual bedfellows offering the sparky freshness of the former and the biscuity citrus of the latter. The Chameleon Rosé is a triumph pretty cherry pink with waves of sappy spicy summer berry fruits and dry at the end.
The Bradgates is a range of wines which is very successful in overseas markets and now the Syrah [spicy red fruity warm], the Cab Merlot [excellent fruit, easy to drink] and the Chenin Sauvignon blend [honey and flowers of Chenin and zippy Sauvignon appeal] are available locally and are often found on restaurant wine lists.
It is the Jordan range, and those of Gary’s Cape Winemakers Guild labels, from the Chenin Blanc to the unoaked Chardonnay, the Merlot to the Rhine Riesling, the Cobbler’s Hill to the Nine Yards Chardonnay Reserve, the Syrah to the Mellifera Noble Late Harvest that shine as the brightest of stars in the Jordan Way.
They’re good people too who care about their environment. They sponsor a bursary for a PhD student to study the Cape Dwarf Chameleon, which lives in the fynbos surrounding their vineyards, and is the star on the labels of Jordan’s Chameleon wines.
Go to their website to learn more. Better still, go there and experience.
Winegrowing Area Stellenbosch
Owners Jordan Family
Winemakers Gary and Kathy Jordan
Stellenbosch Kloof Road, off Polkadraai [M12] Stellenbosch.
P.O. Box 12595 Die Boord 7613.
Western Cape, South Africa.
Telephone +27 21 881 3441, fax +27 21 881 3426
Email: info@jordanwines.com Web: www.jordanwines.com
