Winepress - March 2024

Generation Y-ine

Getting a taste for winemaking

KAT PICKFORD

WHEN UNIVERSITY students taste wine, it’s often more for the effects than to gain a deeper appreciation. But when Thomas Jordaan was first introduced to “decent wine” while studying earth science, geology and the environment at the University of Stellenbosch – in South Africa’s most wellknown wine region – his curiosity was piqued.

“Being poor students at the time, wine tasting at the region’s cellar doors was a free, or at least cheap way to entertain ourselves,” Thomas says. “That initial tasting really opened my eyes – it was like a revelation that you could get something really refreshing but at the same time so complex.”

Thomas gradually gained more interest in wine, and what started out as fun trips with friends, turned into more serious wine tastings with the intention of learning more about wine and how it was made. After completing his fouryear bachelor’s degree with honours, he moved to nearby Cape Town to embark on a two-and-a-half-year thesis in the field of chemical engineering. While there, he realised he wasn’t keen on working in a mine, where he would be based “in the middle of nowhere for months at a time”, so after completing his thesis he put his name down for a vintage in Boschendal Wine Estate in Stellenbosch, to get a taste of a career in the wine industry.

“That was really when I started to see things differently and I seriously started considering a career in wine,” Thomas says. “Boschendal was established in 1685, so it has a lot of history, but also has a lot of variability. Vintage started in January with sparkling varieties and progressed to whites and reds. It lasted four months in total and I saw a whole lot of different wine making techniques in that time including sparkling, classic whites, barrel ferments, red ferments and sweet wines.”

During that formative first vintage in 2018, he learned a lot about the industry and discovered it was possible to travel, work a vintage, make some money and travel again. The idea of being a flying cellar hand and eventually a flying winemaker was hugely appealing and he immediately began applying for roles at wineries in Sonoma, California. After his second vintage in the United States, he was confident a career in wine was for him, so he decided to make it official with some study, electing to do a one-year graduate diploma in Viticulture and Oenology through Lincoln University in Christchurch.

Following his studies, he continued to pick up experience working vintage at a number of New Zealand wineries including Tony Bish Wines and Alpha Domus Winery in Hawke’s Bay, plus a winter pruning job on Waiheke Island, before being offered a full-time cellar hand position at Vavasour in the Awatere Valley.

In 2022, he jumped at the opportunity to step up into an assistant winemaker position with Indevin. Now, approaching his 10th vintage, the 31-year-old is excited to see what this year’s harvest will bring. “It’s an exciting time of year, it definitely keeps everyone on their toes,” he says. “It’s looking pretty light this year, but across the board quality is looking very high for all varieties. It will be interesting to see how vintage 2024 will taste.”