Fifth generation winemaker, Hempies owns Annandale Estate in Stellenbosch. He makes robust, traditional red wines with plenty of heart. He’s just turned 64. Clad in a red jersey the outline of his shoulders hints at his rugby playing past. (He earned five caps as a front row strongman on South Africa’s Springbok national rugby team). His lightly tanned face shows the evidence of a life spent outside, and a thick salt-and-pepper moustache along with matching thick eyebrows—one of which he often raises ironically while speaking—completes the picture.
“From a very young age I dreamt of making my own wine on my own property,” he muses. Like some kind of fine and delicate drapery, ageing cobwebs commandeer the room. The silken strands are said to date back to 1954. The previous owner didn’t believe in killing spiders, as she wanted to live in harmony with nature. And, when Hempies bought the farm in 1996, he promised her he wouldn’t change a thing.
“I started helping my dad out in the cellar from a young age. One of my first jobs was to fill a wheelbarrow with the leftover stalks.” Hempies grew up on Alto Wine Estate (also in Stellenbosch), as his father Piet was winemaker there from 1959 up until 1983. He says he even sometimes sat up watching the tanks while his dad slept, making sure nothing went wrong - these were the days before cooling technology, and just mountain water was used to bring down temperatures.
“My father never gave me a ploughed piece of land to farm - I always had to start from scratch. I made pocket money by growing vegetables and selling them. I would sometimes run the farm while my parents would go on holiday. There was nothing else I wanted to do more.”
His dedication and perseverance as a young man paid off when he took over from his dad as chief winemaker at Alto in 1983. It was a tenure of many successes, including the honour of being awarded a grand slam at the 1993 Vinexpo in Bordeaux. The 1984 vintage of the Cabernet Sauvignon was the only South African wine to win a "Grand Prix d'Honneur". In 1995 this was followed by a gold medal for the 1987 vintage. Hempies and his father are also credited with driving forward a style of red wine that’s known as a ‘Cape blend’, aka Alto Rouge.
Click here to read this online.