Martin Moore

Shakespeare must have had in mind someone like Martin Moore, that maker of superior wines and equally good food, when in his tragedy Coriolanus he had one of his characters say: ‘With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls’.

Martin was attracted to wine-making while growing up in Worcester, spending many a weekend on the farm of family friends, helping in the vineyards at harvest time and in the small farm cellar.

However, he could easily have ended up in the meat industry: on leaving school he applied to both KWV and the now defunct Meat Board for a study bursary. Both awarded him one, but fortunately the letter from KWV arrived first. At Stellenbosch University he majored in viticulture and oenology before joining KWV to fulfil his bursary obligations. He gained wide experience and learnt much, especially from the legendary Willie Hacker. When the latter retired, Martin, then 27, was appointed cellar master in chief of the KWV's white, red and fortified wine cellars.

His love of cooking dates from his student days and grew into a passion over the years, stimulated by his exposure to especially French winemakers working for a vintage at the Cape. From this also flowed his interest in food and wine pairing.

In 1992 he was seconded to Groot Constantia of which the status was just then being changed from a government experimental farm to a commercial undertaking. He was used to producing wine in large volumes under state-of-the-art conditions, but now he had to learn to produce hand-crafted wines with the antiquated equipment he inherited. His tenure at Groot Constantia also brought him closer again to the vineyards.

After six years Martin felt he needed a new challenge. When he saw Durbanville Hills advertising for a winemaker, he applied, got the job and has been there ever since. When he arrived, the cellar was still in the planning stage, so that he could help create the cellar he wanted.

‘It is easy to produce wines here’, he says. ‘Everything is in our favour – great soil, enough rain for dry-land vineyards, hills and slopes facing the right way making them suitable to a variety of cultivars, and a wonderfully cool climate that allows the grapes to ripen slowly thus capturing the full flavours.’

• Martin Moore writes a monthly email newsletter, which Grape has kindly been allowed to make use of for this slot on the website – the full newsletter and back issues are available on the Durbanville Hills site.

• Click here for the Durbanville Hills website