The road leading to the Taaibosch estate runs alongside a property with a familiar name: Courchevel. Further up the road is a farm called Navarre. French place names are not uncommon in the Cape region, where Protestant Huguenots took refuge after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Some of them cultivated vines on farms which, three centuries later, are now renowned estates. However, a new chapter is about to begin, one of a vineyard growing in reputation and attracting new foreign investors, including French ones, who own around 15 estates.
After acquisitions in Sicily and France – such as Vallon des Glauges, which produces a notable rosé – the Oddo family was looking to add so-called "new world" wines to its portfolio. South Africa won out over Argentina and New Zealand. They set their sights on the prestigious Stellenbosch region, purchasing three estates, including Taaibosch in 2017, the group's flagship, which produces only Crescendo. This destination was suggested to them by Bertrand Otto, of the Edmond de Rothschild Group, which has also been in South Africa since 1997 with the renowned Rupert and Rothschild Vignerons brand, a French-South African joint venture.
'The most beautiful estate'
Pascal Oddo and his daughter Lorraine "fell in love with the country," Lorraine told Le Monde over the phone. She praised Stellenbosch's stellar reputation, "a very fine appellation which is developing throughout the world," and highlighted the quality of her property, "an absolutely stunning estate with incredible exposure, a view of the ocean that brings a great deal of freshness to the wines and protects the vineyard during heavy rain." It's "the most beautiful estate in South Africa," Taaibosch winemaker Schalk-Willem Joubert had promised them at the time of purchase.
Joubert, an experienced grower, enthusiastically drove his 4x4 up the estate's slopes. The incline rises 400 meters above the Atlantic, which can be seen from the vines. "If you want to make a Bordeaux-style wine, this is the right property," Joubert had said to himself when he first spotted the farm. This appellation area and its terroir are ideal for growing Bordeaux grape varieties such as cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot and petit verdot.
However, the landscape, with its mountains surrounding Stellenbosch, bears no resemblance to the Gironde. This particular topography means that "land is more expensive. The slopes are steep, so the cost of production is higher, and urban sprawl makes land less available," said Joubert.
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