After container ship delays in Shanghai, a global pandemic, a cyclone in Mozambique and chaos in Cape Town harbour,
my book on the Tokara Wine and Olive Estate has finally arrived at my home.
Although it’s a large photographic book of 190 pages, printed on the finest art paper in China,
it is not a coffee table book, but rather a wine table book. It’s my 13th book,
which in one slow sip of wine sounds rather windgat. The book will not be on sale in any exclusive bookstores
and people without wine tables are advised against getting a copy. Collectors are not going to break down
my front door for a signed copy. This book was a gift to the owners of the estate, GT and Micky Ferreira,
whom I have known since our Stellenbosch varsity days in the late 1960’s.
It was this Mr. Ferreira, who, as head of RMB, offered me sponsorship to work on my first book in the mid-1980’s,
which was, for me, the beginning of my documented wanderings. Sometime later, I threw in Elvis and called it ‘Follow that dream’.
Due to the first Covid lockdown, during which I did the written text for the Tokara book,
the length of said text became a more comprehensive story than originally intended.
Tokara lies at the foot of the Simonsberg,
near Stellenbosch, on the Helshoogte Pass. It is one of my most favourite places and, without a doubt,
one of the finest estates on this planet. From its highest vineyards on the slopes of the Simonsberg,
the view extends to Table Mountain and pans across to Cape Point and False Bay.
Standing above the Wine cellars, the Stellenbosch and Groot Drakenstein Mountains fold towards you like a wave.
Watching these landscapes at sunset over the distant Atlantic, the colour glows with a golden softness that truly warms the heart.
This wine book was photographed over 2 years, with various visits to incorporate the colouring of the seasons,
the harvesting of the grapes and olives and the various moods of this farm’s unique gardens.
This was a labour of love and hopefully shows that this is indeed the fairest Cape in all the world.
The Tokara book can only be purchased at the Tokara wine tasting venue and the Tokara Delicatessen on the estate.
Obie Oberholzer
R600 (excluding courier charges).
Please email rob@tokara.com to place an order.