Tom Lubbe Wines

"I do it out of love," says winemaker Tom Lubbe, of long cellar vigils, driving endless back roads in search of grapes, picking small `eyes' out of selected vineyard pockets and dashing back to his winery in Cape Town's city bowl. His artisanal approach harks back to Old-World winemaking, through hand-selecting the grapes to using native yeasts, this influence reflects his time in Bordeaux working for and being inspired by Alexis Lichine.

His wines reflect his values, assisting the vine in producing perfectly mature fruit (he assesses through taste rather than science) by shunning systematic herbicides and pesticides, preferring to employ natural products such as garlic as a pesticide. This is all aimed at delivering the best possible lees to work with. Lubbe spends two thirds of the year at Domaine Gauby, where he is involved on a project with Gérard Gauby that is producing some notable blends.