Jasper Raats

Wine is in my blood - usually literally too! I grew up with wine, tasting it with my dad and working amongst the vines belonging to my godfather. My big brother Bruwer is also a winemaker, and my ancestors were Huguenots from the Loire valley, so wine quite literally runs in the family. The Huguenot connection is probably why I love Chenin too...!

Wine Making is more of a hobby than a job to me, I love what I do, the soil, to feel the sun, to freeze your ass off during pruning in the winter...., to smell and taste in the wine the flavours you were hoping for. It's very satisfying, creating something that other people can enjoy.

And I've done some pretty extreme things for the love of wine too - almost bankrupting myself being one of them! When younger I took unpaid leave (whilst earning next to nothing anyway), to get to Bourgogne to work at a small Domaine for food and wine. But what an experience - I ate the most beautiful food and drank the most wonderful wines, and the work was pretty intense too i.e. pruning vines at -2C!"

Back to the present, I would definitely consider myself a 'green' winemaker. I try to be as natural as possible, not using enzymes, yeast, tartaric acid or fining agents - and preferably no filtration either. I am constantly working towards fully sustainable practices and aim to be 100% organic as soon as possible. My vineyard in New Zealand is already fully organic - and hopefully the family run business in South Africa will soon be the same.

There are some elements of the job that I could do without - the paper work, cell phones going off, and certain larger-than-life egos I have to deal with - but nothing that would ever stop me doing what I do. It gives me great pleasure to hear that people have enjoyed drinking my wine!"

Jasper's key winemaking philosophies

1. "There is no correct recipe"
2. "Respect the soil"
3. "Get your grapes tops"
4. "Work clean"
5. "Don't fiddle too much with the wine i.e. work as naturally as possible"
6. "And finally, put a few long calls in for Divine Intervention!"