GERALD IMRAY
Like millions of others, Natasha Jacka went stir-crazy during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, until it dawned on her that there might be a great opportunity in having nowhere to go.
Jacka used the pandemic and the suspension of her studies at an agricultural college to plant her own vineyard at her family home in South Africa. It was a way to fast-forward her dream of becoming a winemaker by bringing it, literally, within reach. Nothing in the wine world moves too fast, though, and it was four years before the first harvest and vintage.
Jacka’s debut wines from grapevines that she planted, cared for and harvested in the yard of her parents’ sea-facing home in Cape Town also stomping the grapes herself were greeted with high praise by critics.
"It could have been so much work, and if it doesn't deliver, you know, then you just feel... I can't imagine how I'd feel," Jacka said. "I wasn't looking at it like, 'oh, this is going to make a fortune,' or anything like that. This is a labour of love."
Christian Eedes, editor of South Africa’s respected online publication winemag.co.za, called the project "a triumph of hope over good sense," given the difficulty of producing fine wine and turning a profit from such a small vineyard. Jacka squeezed 1,400 vines into two blocks in her parents’ garden, which had once been part of a smallholding. One batch was for a white blend, the other a Syrah red wine varietal. That is a tiny number considering regular wine farms usually have more than 50,000 vines.
"There's plenty of space in the world for craft and handmade," Eedes said. "It's the opposite of mass-produced. It's made with thought and care, and is typically hard to come by."
The pandemic struck at the height of Jacka’s ambition. She was 27 and, tired of working for grumpy chefs, had left a job in the restaurant business to study viticulture at an agricultural college in the winemaking town of Stellenbosch. She was following her passion when the pandemic reduced her world to the boundaries of her parents’ home in the Cape Town suburb of Noordhoek. Then, she saw potential.
"I was actually looking out the window, and I thought, imagine if there were vines here," she said. "It was a small spark."
After getting her family’s buy-in, the heavy lifting began. Jacka cleared the ground, procured the vines, and planted each with a wooden stake. Her parents helped, though her mother was soon banned from planting after putting a vine upside down. There were also curious neighbours to reassure and an unexpected challenge from a miniature horse called Spirit, who found the vines tasty.
"We lost one or two vines," said Jacka, now 32. "It was hard to make it horse-proof as well."
Jacka’s Noordhoek project has since inspired a larger winemaking career. Her Alinea line includes five other wines produced from grapes sourced from across the Cape Town region. She is still looking forward to the next vintage from her home vines, where she continues to play the role of picker, stomper, labeller, sales rep, accountant and delivery driver.