2018 Stark-Condé Cabernet Sauvignon - Jonkershoek Valley

I blogged about this South African wine about a year ago and at that time, I wanted to do some research into the Jonkershoek Valley where the Stark-Condé Vineyard and Winery are located. I went to their website: Stark-Condé to learn more about them. While I was in the midst of doing this, I happened to ask my husband why he purchased this Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa. His explanation was rather interesting. He mentioned that our friends asked us if there was a winery that they should be visiting when they went to the Stellenbosch region in South Africa. My husband did the research and came across Stark-Condé as one of the wineries our friends should visit. They went there and were very impressed. So, my husband went to our local package store and asked if they could get some of this wine and they were able to, so we now have a local supply.
The Stark-Condé story begins with Hans-Peter Schroeder who was raised in Stellenbosch but spent much of his life abroad. Schroeder's first occupation was as an officer in the merchant navy and he went to Japan many times in the early 1960s. In his desire to learn the Japanese language, Schroeder decided to live in Japan and attended the International Christian University in Tokyo where he completed a four-year business administration degree and met his future wife, Midori Maruyama. Schroeder and Midori got married in 1965, but due to the South African apartheid regime’s Prohibition of Mixed Marriages, they could not go back there to live.
In the 1980's with the end of apartheid looming, they decided to go back to South Africa, purchased the Oude Nektar farm in 1989 and focused on growing grapes. This explains the Stark part of their brand name, which comes from Schroeder's mother Franziska Stark who was the first of the family to settle in Stellenbosch. She is remembered for her fierce independence and insatiable curiosity.
The Condé contribution comes from Jose Condé's tribute to his Cuban father. Condé is from Independence, Missouri, the son of a Cuban father and an Irish-American mother. His interest in wine started when he went to New York after being awarded a scholarship to study art. One of the Japanese clients of the design studio Condé worked for, asked him to move to Tokyo for a year to help with international projects. There, Condé met Marie Schroeder on his first night in Tokyo. He married Marie Schroeder, the daughter of Hans-Peter Schroeder and Midori Maruyama. The Condés decided to move to South Africa to be closer to Marie’s parents. Condé’s intention was to open a design studio in Cape Town. However, once he was in South Africa, the wine bug bit and he pivoted to becoming a winemaker.

The Jonkerschoek Valley is an ideal location to grow Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes are farmed organically and the winemaking is kept as simple and as natural as possible. The grapes that went into the 2018 Stark-Condé Cabernet Sauvignon were hand picked, meticulously sorted and small batch fermented with natural yeast. The wine was matured in small French oak barrels for 18 months before being bottled, with no fining or filtration, in December 2019.

References:
1. Stark-Condé Website
2. Peter Kenny, On his first visit to Japan as a mariner..., UPI Archives, March 20, 1993.
3. JOSE CONDE - WINEMAKER AT STARK-CONDE, Wines of South Africa.