From Zondernaam to Tokara Director's Reserve

There are some wine events which are just in a different league, and being included in a vertical tasting of Tokara's Director's Reserve, presented by viticulturist Aidan Morton and winemaker Miles Mossop, is a real honour.

Miles and Aidan have been at Tokara for 17 and 16 years respectively, and were very privileged to have owner GT Ferreira's vision and deep pockets to allow them with almost unlimited access to the best technology, research and wine-making tools.  GT's vision was to create the best wine from the farm under the Tokara name, hence the first wines being named Zondernaam with the first wines under the name Tokara only being released later.

The wines we tasted at the vertical tasting at Jardine's restaurant in Stellenbosch (as their Tokara restaurant was closed for the winter break) were 10 wines from the Director's Reserve Red - a Bordeaux Blend, which has changed only marginally over the years since the first in 2003 (Just called Tokara Red then).
Everyone at our table had different favourites, but we were all unanimous that the wines were all still remarkable and fresh, and as Miles talked us through all the wines, it was very clear that wine-making is a serious craft with the attention to detail which Tokara takes with planting, pruning, irrigation, picking, sorting, ageing, oaking and blending.

Hat's off to Miles, Aidan and the team at Tokara for continuing to produce superb wines of consistent quality, style and provenance.

I don't envy Miles' successor when he leaves after the next harvest, as his are big shoes to fill, but at least the team he leaves behind is solid!

It was very evident from the tasting that Tokara really deserves all the accolades and awards which they have been gathering, the most recent significant one being the 2017 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show's Best Overall Producer.

I am sure that GT is very proud of his team - mission accomplished!