Tanya Jovanovski, co-franchisee for Rawson Auctions in the Western Cape, announced this week that she and her team have been mandated to sell, on silent tender, the 63 ha Topiary Wine Estate and its winery, located just outside Franschhhoek.
Outlining the background to this sale, Jovanovski said that 20 ha of the farm is under vine and 4,5 ha under plums. Before 2005, she said, the farm sold all its grapes to the Franschhoek vineyards and with new ownership, the emphasis has shifted from achieving maximum volumes to producing high quality grapes (currently 60 – 90 tons per annum) that make it possible to produce top quality wines.
In 2006 the owner started producing wine at their newly built winery under the Topiary label. The red wines are matured in oak barrels in the winery’s underground cellar for just under one year and then bottle matured for a few more years before release onto the market. In addition, small volumes of bulk wine are provided to utilize the excess grapes.
The first Topiary wines were released in 2008 and included a Shiraz, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a blend of Shiraz and Cabernet as well as a dry Rose made from the two red varieties. In 2007 a Méthode Cap Classique sparkling wine was handmade from the young Chardonnay grapes. Despite their youth, this proved to be Topiary’s biggest success and a five star rating from the Platter Wine Guide for the 2008 and 2009 vintages has ensured this product was rapidly sold out.
Since 2008, says Jovanovski, the wine products have achieved regular awards such as Michaelangelo, Veritas and Old Mutual medals (including two golds and five silvers) and the winery has also twice seen its other sparkling wine (Topiary Blanc de Blancs) achieve a five star rating by Platter. SAA also bought out the entire vintage of the 2006 Shiraz for their first and business class cabins and the winery’s market is, she said, highly selective and these wines really fit the bill.
The farm has ample water supplies with an allocation of 128,000 kilolitres drawn from a pipeline between the Theerwaterskloof and Wemmershoek dams and all the vines and plums are watered through drip and microjet systems. Pumping is not required due to the pressure from the pipeline.
The winery was built in 2005 and the tasting room and offices were completed in 2007. The winery is designed to process up to 150 tons of grapes and is currently equipped to process approximately 60 to 90 tons of grapes and has a sophisticated grape sorting line which includes a Diemme destemmer, sorting table, crusher and a Diemme wine press on wheels. A variety of tank sizes provide a flexible processing environment with a complete cooling plant, wash room, chemicals/yeast storage room and a wine maker’s office. An atmospheric barrel cellar and dry store room are temperature controlled and built to size to handle the wines from 150 tons of grape.
“The winery tasting room,” says Jovanovski, “provides a spacious facility to entertain guests and has a large patio overlooking the gardens with topiary plants and beautiful views out to the Simonsberg, Groot Drakenstein and Wemmershoek mountain ranges.”
A small kitchen and toilets (including handicapped-access and facilities) are included in the building together with a sales office and administration office.
The tasting centre and gardens are also used as a functions venue and the kitchen size could be easily expanded to achieve a full restaurant facility. The gardens are being developed on the theme of topiary plants and already include about 30 varied plant designs.
The main home on the farm has three spacious bedrooms and two bathrooms, a kitchen, a scullery, a laundry, a family room, two patios and a swimming pool. A separate cottage has two rooms, a kitchenette, two bathrooms and a patio. Both premises will be vacant on transfer. The other residential buildings on the farm include a three bedroom manager’s house, and three semi-detached labourers’ cottages with six family units in all. Currently 11 labourers are employed permanently by the estate. There is also a farm shed for tractors, chemicals, equipment and a manager’s office.
Looking forward, said Jovanovski, the emphasis will be to build on the five star successes of the Topiary Blanc de Blancs and in expanding the Chardonnay wine vineyards. The potential for further Chardonnay grape production is exceptionally good. Plans to build an export market need to be executed with focus possibly on the high growth Chinese and Indian markets.
The purchaser of the property would, said Jovanovski, be in the strong position of taking over an experienced management team, including a farm manager and a wine maker and his assistant as well as a sales and administrative manager and the services of a consultant viticulturist.
Jovanovski commented that all too often vineyards and winery sales come about because the owners have had inadequate resources to develop the estate appropriately.
“Here at Topiary we are in a very different position,” she said. “This estate has been professionally and comprehensively developed under the guidance of competent, qualified staff. The purchaser will, therefore, be buying a successful, on-going concern with potential for further growth. This is an exceptionally good offering, providing all that’s required for an upmarket lifestyle with a productive wine business.
The auction will be by silent tender and the tenders will be read on Wednesday 30th October at 12 noon at the Rawson Property Group’s head office at 222 Main Road, Rondebosch. Jovanovski said that she expects tenders to be from between R20 million to R25 million.
The Consumer Protection Act regulations stipulate that all bidders be registered and that they bring certified copies of their identity documents and proof of residence. Rawson Auctions have not asked bidders to pay an auction fee, but their terms and conditions insist on a 5% deposit on the purchase price and a 10% auctioneer’s commission, plus VAT, being paid on the fall of the hammer.
