Master Winemaker 100: Johan Jordaan

After growing up on a grape farm near Rawsonville in South Africa’s Western Cape, Johan Jordaan studied winemaking at Elsenburg Agricultural College in Stellenbosch before taking an assistant winemaker role at Slanghoek, where he quickly took charge of red winemaking. In 2007, Jordaan took this expertise to Spier Wine Farm as senior red winemaker, before succeeding his mentor Frans Smit to become cellarmaster here in 2021.

What job did you imagine yourself doing when you were seven years old?

I don’t remember dreaming about a specific career at that age. But later in life, after growing up on a farm near Rawsonville in the Western Cape, I was determined to do something different to my grape-growing father. I was all set to apply for a degree in Chemical Engineering, but all those hours helping out with the harvest when I was growing up proved too much to walk away from. Standing in the cellar, I was captivated by the familiar, heady scent of fermented grapes, and that settled it: I decided I should go into winemaking after all.

Who first led you down the winemaking career path, and how?

After school, I worked at a big winery as a cellar hand. By walking with the winemakers and working closely with them, I got introduced to the process of winemaking, but not understanding the whole process. Somewhere during this time, the winemakers and cellar master planted a seed that took another two years to sprout. This led to me enrolling at Elsenburg Agricultural College to learn more about farming in general, and finally homing in on winemaking.

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