The name Marie Furter might not come up much in conversation, but if it weren’t for this feisty woman working in wine over 70 years ago, it’s very likely no-one would be drinking Zonnebloem today.
Marie was just 21 when her father, Willem, owner of the farm, Zonnebloem, in Simondium, died unexpectedly on January 7, 1940. Weeks before harvest and without any formal training, she was forced to step straight into his award-winning shoes. There is no record of her grief or her qualms about such responsibility being foisted on her, but we do know she proved herself immediately.
Her maiden vintage earned three trophies on the 1940 Cape Wine Show, when she also distinguished herself by racking up the highest total score of any winemaker in the competition. Relying on the help of her father’s good wine making friend, Frank Myburgh, she also drew from what she had learned watching her father in the vineyards and the cellar. Her feat was more than beginner’s luck. In 1942, she won another three trophies on the Cape Wine Show, and once again, the highest number of points.
No matter how good she was though, hers was a time when wine making was considered more of a man’s job, so it fell to Marie to teach her brother-in-law, John de Villiers, to produce wine and maintain Zonnebloem’s name. By passing on the reins, she could also focus on her new role as the wife of Maurice Crouse.
John, married to Marie’s younger sister, Francina was a fast learner. In 1943, he bought the farm from Marie’s widowed mother and applied the De Villiers family crest to the Zonnebloem label, as well as its motto: La Main a l’oevre, meaning the “hand that works”.
Over the next few years he amassed many trophies and prizes for Zonnebloem, including top honours in 1946 at the Cape Wine Show, when he was dubbed wine King of the Cape. He also brought home several first prizes from the Wine Show of the British Empire in London.
Such was the standing of Zonnebloem by that time that his wines were served to the British Royal Family when they visited South Africa in 1947.
But Marie’s role wasn’t over yet. In 1948, aged 32, John died in a car accident. She and Maurice returned to the farm where this time she taught her husband to make wine. They scored the highest marks on the 1949 Cape Wine Show and continued to win accolades and awards for many years, until they stopped making wine in 1963, with what is now Distell, assuming all wine making for the brand.
It is a fitting tribute to this courageous and talented woman that in a new century, Zonnebloem’s viticulturist and two winemakers are all women.
Annelie Viljoen is a viticulturist and grape buyer who sources fruit from the Cape’s top vineyards for Zonnebloem, working with a network of over 30 suppliers. The first woman in her company to hold such a senior viticultural position, she previously taught viticulture at Elsenburg Agricultural College.
Elize Coetzee, who worked at Flagstone before joining the Zonnebloem team in 2005, has been responsible for making Zonnebloem’s white wines since 2010, while Bonny van Niekerk, who also joined in 2005, after working harvests in Germany and California, has been making the reds since 2007.
A talented trio, they are Zonnbloem’s “hands that work” now, winning awards on international and domestic shows, more than three generations after Marie. What better way to celebrate Women’s Month than with a bottle of Bonny’s plush and succulent 2010 Zonnebloem Shiraz/Mourvèdre/Viognier with notes of ripe plums, berries and pepper, or Elize’s elegant Chardonnay from the 2009 vintage. Partially barrel-fermented, its lime and mineral notes offer very appealing refreshment.
Posted: winestyle.biz
