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Tim Cohen

Editor at Large

HAVING comprehensively outperformed their Capetonian countrymen in production of wealth, pollution and better drivers, is it possible that Johannesburgers can also steal a march on its provincial forebears in the wine department, despite not having any actual vineyards?

Developers Gary Jordan and Keith Kirby plan to have a shot at this unlikely target by establishing a R70m wine shopping and restaurant development deep in wine country — Sunninghill (wine-consuming country, that is, as opposed to wine-producing country).

The three-storey complex is planned to include a wine-bar, three restaurants, a fully operational winery, a food hall-styled retail development and extensive cellaring facilities for wine enthusiasts.

Construction tenders for the development, to be called Cellar d’Or, are about to go out, and Jordan and Kirby are planning a construction start early next year, to be completed by the fourth quarter of next year.

The development is partly aimed at business visitors who tend to spend short periods in SA, and are not able to get down to the Cape to experience the vineyards proper.

“We hope the development will encourage them to do so,” says Kirby. But if not, they can get a taste — literally — of the vineyards in Johannesburg, with about 600 different wines available to taste by the glass in an extensive and comfortable tasting area.

The main aspect of the development will be a tasting area called The Wine Route, and it will showcase Cellar d’Or’s producers’ wines, including graphic displays, facilitated by wine experts.

The idea is for members of the public to taste and order wine there and then, similar to a tasting venue on individual wine estates.

In addition, the developers have opted for a “corporate box”-like concept, with special tasting rooms available to corporate clients who hire space in the temperature-controlled cellaring areas. These areas will hold anything from 600 to 3000 bottles of wine, depending on membership level.

Already about 40 wineries have signed up to become part of the concept for what the developers describe as a “nominal fee”, and Kirby says the list is closed. Others may join, but this will depend on the views of current members and may be subject to extra conditions.

The list contains a range of SA’s winemakers, including some of the top players, but a list perhaps dominated by the ambitious, second-level producers. It includes, for example, classic estates Rustenburg, Villiera, Buitenverwachting and Allesverloren as well as relative newcomers such as Asara, Bilton and Dalla Cia Wines.

The wine producers from the Cape are signing up to take a 33% shareholding in the business, while a black empowerment player, African Access, the company that won in 2003 the tender to distribute school textbooks, will also take a stake in the project. The company has diversified into other black economic empowerment opportunities including tourism and golf course development, and will hold 26% of the equity, which could increase to 40% over time.

The development will include a wine academy and a winery, which will allow an interactive wine-making experience with grapes selected from Cape vineyards, starting with the destalking and crushing of the grapes, through to bottling and labelling the wine.