A LIFE WELL LIVED

To celebrate autumn, I wanted to write a happy story about perfectly ripe apples and pears being plucked straight from an Elgin Valley orchard (rather than from a controlled-atmosphere storage tank) that would lead neatly into a recommendation for a cool-climate Elgin wine. But instead it’s a sad Elgin story, because I’ve just heard that Oak Valley winemaker/viticulturist Pieter Visser has lost his battle against lymphatic cancer.

I only met Visser a few times but was always charmed by his self-deprecating sense of humour, the twinkle in his eyes, his award-winning wines. And making wine (which he taught himself to do) was only one aspect of his 21 years at Oak Valley: as a qualified horticulturist, he was instrumental in developing the estate’s remarkably wide range of sustainably farmed products, including grass-fed beef, acorn-fed pork, cut flowers, roses and deciduous fruit as well as wine.

A keen mountain biker, “Vissie” also developed the Oak Valley trails that have turned the little village of Grabouw into a cycling mecca. And the awards he won for his wines are nothing compared to the deep friendships he forged. It breaks my heart to think of his childhood-sweetheart wife Elzaan and their daughter Melisse, but he would have nurtured them more tenderly than any plant he ever grew, so I’m certain they will go on — and thrive.

“Pieter is a legend in the Elgin Valley,” said Andrew Gunn of Iona Vineyards in a Facebook post earlier this week. He’s a legend outside the valley, too, and to celebrate his very well-lived life, I recommend buying a six-bottle case of his favourite Oak Valley wine — the Pinot Noir 2012 — and drinking one bottle every year to taste how vibrant raspberry, wild strawberry and maraschino cherry flavours acquire hints of earthy mushroom and smoky bacon. R1 200/case.