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Durbanville Hills tasting took place on the 17th November,2010 at the United Arts Club,
Martin Moore Chief Winemaker, Durbanville Hills, South Africa presented The following 4 wines:
Savignon Blanc 2010, Pinotage 2008, Merlot 2008, Shiraz 2008
Edward Dillon and Co. Ltd is the agent in Ireland for these wines and Paul O’ Flynn who is their Wine Development Manager was also in attendance.
Martin Moore
Martin was attracted to the art of wine making whilst growing up in Worcester, spending many a weekend on a farm – attentively watching vineyards coming into production and wine being produced at a small winery.
From this initial introduction into the world of wine making Martin has since produced award-winning wines at the ISO-accredited Durbanville Hills winery in the Tygerberg region of the Western Cape. But not before studying viticulture and wine making at university and expanding his knowledge of white wines under the careful tutorage of KWV’s Willie Hacker. From here he moved on to Robertson and into the world of sweet wines and brandy and as senior wine expert back at KWV he focused on perfecting what lies at core of every well-balanced wine – the art of blending. He can also blend sherries and ports.
At the age of 27 he was appointed senior cellar-master in charge of the white, red, sweet- and sherry cellars, taking over from Willie who then retired. It was also Hacker who made sure his charge had a thorough knowledge of wine hygiene and together they had their fair share of the cleaning to do, shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the work force, on Friday afternoons.
Thereafter Martin produced quality wines at Groot Constantia when it became a commercial business despite the dated equipment at hand. The volumes produced at Groot Constantia, however, was in sharp contrast to the 1,4 million litres he was accustomed to at the previous cellar.
With the construction of Durbanville Hills in 1998 Martin became the manager of its cellar and built it into the formidable winery it is today. It is here that he makes his wines using some of the best grapes the Western Cape has to offer.
“It is easy to produce wines here,” he says. “Everything is in our favour – great soil, enough rain for dry-land vineyards, hills and slopes facing the right way making them suitable to a variety of cultivars, and a wonderfully cool climate that allows the grapes to ripen slowly thus capturing the full flavours.”
Andrew O’ Gorman.