McFarlane Wines – Proof That Dreams do come true!
Amongst the more recognised wines that will be available for tasting at the RMB Simonsberg Wine Festival on March 29 and 30 at the Plaisir Wine Estate – Tokara, Thelema, Glen Carlou, Muratie and others – is the lesser known McFarlane Wines.
In less than seven years, McFarlane Wines has emerged from what started off as a casual conversation over dinner to a highly respected winery producing a range of superb wines that are unpretentious and delicious to drink.
We caught up with co-founder and winemaker Alexandra McFarlane to find out how it all started.
What is your winemaking background?
I obtained my BSc Agric Viticulture and Oenology from the University of Stellenbosch in 2010 and then went on to work at some prestigious brands overseas, including harvests and pruning experience at Voyager Estate in Margaret River, Western Australia as well as at Kalleske and Henschke in the Barossa Valley, South Australia and at Dalle Valle, Dancing Hares and Favia in the Napa Valley, in the States. After returning home I worked as a junior red winemaker under Johan Jordaan at Spier in Stellenbosch then as a viticulturist at De Toren and later joined Druk My Niet in Paarl as winemaker and viticulturist in 2016.
On your website it says McFarlane Wines was “born while sharing dreams and desires one evening over dinner, sometime in 2018.” Can you tell us more.
My husband Wayne had just moved in! We weren’t married yet, although I am pretty sure we both knew it was going to happen at some point in the future. I love to cook; it’s definitely my love language, and this conversation happened in the winter. We lived in a little cottage on Rustenberg Wines which was freezing cold at that time of the year so the fire would have been crackling in the background. I don’t remember exactly what we were eating but it was probably a big bowl of comforting spaghetti Bolognese with heaps of parmesan cheese. At the time I was working for a small wine brand whose owners weren’t keen on me making any wine of my own, which had been something I had wanted to do for a while. Wayne was working as a financial manager for a well-known Stellenbosch brand, so he knows the ins and outs of finances of wine. I told him I wanted to start something, and he said he was keen to do it together as 50/50 partners. Looking back, I know our business would not have grown to where it is now without his input and business experience.
How fast did things move from that point?
We both knew that the financial undertaking of starting a little wine brand is a big black hole for money so, because we bootstrapped the business, we started small with two tons of Chenin Blanc as a side hustle. I left full time winemaking to work in sustainable agriculture which had flexi-hours, and I was able to put money into the business every month. Wayne did the same and it took four and a half years to grow our working capital. We processed and pressed on weekends and labelled after hours with the help of our friends. When we started getting bigger I took time off to press, filter and bottle but I ended up burning the candle at all ends and realised we needed to make a change. That was at the end of 2022. Fortunately, a family friend offered to buy some shares and came on board as shareholder, giving us a much needed cash injection into the business. I now run the business, and we have just taken in 40 tons of our own fruit. We also do a bit of contract winemaking.
Tell us about your first wines
The inaugural harvest for McFarlane Wines happened in 2019, on a magnificent Monday of bright blue skies and soft golden sunshine, and Monday’s Child, a Chenin Blanc truly fair of face, was born. Tuesday’s Child, a Cinsault full of grace, followed in 2021, honouring the naming convention adopted in 2019. This premium range is dedicated to honouring South Africa’s heritage varieties, exploring what they have to offer as fine wines.
Covid must have had a big impact coming so soon after your launch.
Boy are we lucky we weren’t drawing a salary from the business at the time! It definitely stunted our progress. We obviously couldn’t sell much due to the lockdown rules but thankfully we both still had work during this time. We cut back on volume for the 2021 vintage because we didn’t know what the future held and just battened down the hatches and waited for the storm to pass. The silver lining of that sh*t storm was that we started making our Capitoline Wolf range which we have grown in volume tremendously over the past few years.
Can you tell us more about the Capitoline Wolf wines and why that name?
Hard lockdown meant we could not sell our wine for many months. We had increased our tonnage for the 2020 harvest but were forced to make some hard decisions about the fate of the wines we had made, not knowing when we would be able to start selling Monday’s Child. We could either cast the wines into the proverbial “river” of bulk wine and slink into the shadows, or we could channel some of the new wines we had made into an experimental range in a now, very different climate. And so the Capitoline Wolf range was born. Dedicated to the legendary wolf who saved the brothers, Romulus and Remus, when they were cast into the River Tiber, these wines played a significant role in keeping our neophyte wine business afloat during difficult times. Like the legendary brothers who went on to found Rome, the Capitoline Wolf wines consistently punch above their weight, telling a fascinating story about the origin of the grapes.
What is important for you when making wine?
To start with, we search high and low for vineyards that excite us, whether they are situated on an exposed rocky, shale site, or if they are really old and have had their roots in the ground since Pa fell off the bus. Each block has a story to tell, and each year we get to work with the fruit, we get to know the block a little bit better. Our growers are very important to us, and we work hard at investing in the dedicated individuals who grow our precious fruit. We know farming is not easy and strive to build a meaningful relationship while paying fair prices to encourage our growers to keep South Africa’s old vines in the ground. We hope to secure and purchase certain blocks in their entirety in the near future, which will allow us to be directly involved in preserving our vinous heritage and improving soil health. Freshness in our final wine is front of mind when making picking decisions. We like to handle the grapes as gently as possible as we guide the berries from bunch to barrel. Extended maturation on lees not only enhances complexity, but also naturally protects the wine from oxidation while aging in barrel. We also love whole bunch fermentations and the ‘crunch’ it brings the wine’s character. We aim for purity of fruit, undeniable luminosity and a wine that is elegant, honest and undeniably moreish. Lastly, I want everyone to find the joy I do in these special varieties that are so versatile and expressive of place. I don’t like to tinker too much when making our wines. Purity and nuance are the name of the game. This means natural ferments, big old barrels and as little fiddling as possible.
Tell us why you recently moved your cellar to the Simondium Guild.
We moved our production to the Hemel-en-Aarde in 2021 because Wayne started working for a brand in the area and we had been renting space at Karibib. At that stage, we were small enough to move around easily without a big cost. Later since most of the grapes we buy comes from Boland and surrounds – the drive to get the grapes back to the cellar in was becoming a problem cost-wise, time spent on the road and our carbon footprint. We looked at our options in the Boland and Painted Wolf kindly offered up space in their cellar before they joined Jordan. When the deal went through between Jordan and Painted Wolf we jumped at the opportunity to take over the lease and finally had a space we had control over.
Your focus is heritage varieties like Chenin, Cinsault and Pinotage. Why?
We have an incredible history, and I am so proud of my heritage as a South African. We have these varieties that have helped to lay the foundations of our wine industry, and we wanted to shine a light on them. We want the rest of the world to see that these humble varieties make expressive, vibrant wines of such character.
Do you have any plans to extend this? Maybe a Cap Classique?
We definitely want to have a look at expanding into some fun new wines. Now that we are settling into a new space we hope that with more direct sales we can grow that part of our business.
What are your suggested food pairings for some of your wines?
Monday’s Child Chenin works really well with that plump Sunday roast chicken on the Weber served with garlicky baby potatoes in too much butter. Personally, I love to have a glass or two of Tuesday’s Child with a steak tartare or, if you are into liver, it goes really well with a gebraaide skilpadjie with some Mrs Balls peach chutney. Saturday’s Child is a perfectly pink duck breast’s best friend. A little bit of 5-spice works so well with the vibrant red fruit and spice in the wine.
Last word?
We are so passionate about taking this incredible raw material that speaks of place and time and produce wines that are pure but unpretentious. We are not bound by wine of origin; we love to experiment and want to share all of this with consumers. Please do come and visit us at the RMB Simonsberg Wine Festival or at The Simondium Guild, where you can sit amongst the barrels in our cellar, and taste some lekker wines with myself or someone from our tiny production team.
Visit the RMB Simonsberg Wine Festival on Saturday March 29 and Sunday March 30 from 12 noon to 17h00 at the Plaisir Wine Estate and taste the McFarlane Wines (amongst others) that will be on offer, including: Capitoline Wolf White; Capitoline Wolf Rosé; Capitoline Wolf Red; Monday’s Child Chenin Blanc; Tuesday’s Child Cinsault and Saturday’s Child Pinotage 2023.
Tickets available from Webtickets.
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