There’s nothing slight about Yogi de Beer’s amphoras. Each giant stoneware vessel requires 250kg of clay, takes weeks to shape and is fired in a kiln the size of a small garage. They are in big demand from wine makers.
De Beer crafts his vessels by hand in his pottery studio in Hout Bay, Cape Town, aptly situated in an old winery. His stoneware can breathe, allowing for the micro-oxygenation that barrels impart, but without any flavour seeping into the wine.
They’re not "classic Grecian or Roman-style amphorae with the pointy bottoms", he says. "Just my take on them: a large bottle essentially. And it’s important to me to make a decent-looking pot."
Justin van Wyk of Constantia Glen, a recent convert to maturing wine in neutral stoneware, says the vessels are big. The Bordeaux-style winery’s 2017 Constantia Glen Two blend includes a 5% "dash" of Sémillon aged in a 600l amphora.
Although the small quantity of clay-matured wine is not really discernible in the 68% Savignon Blanc, 32% Sémillon blend, Van Wyk has complimented the "texture and mouthfeel" of the wine the stoneware produced. The 2018 rendition, Van Wyk says, will contain 10% of amphora-matured wine.
Stoneware isn’t a new wave in wine making. Amphoras date back to Greek and Roman times and Georgian qvevri originated about 8,000 years ago. Traditionally, vessels were made of more porous terracotta and sealed with beeswax.
e Beer started making "wine jars" about nine years ago, after being approached by Duncan Savage, then at Cape Point Vineyards, who started experimenting in about 2006.
"The idea was to move away from an oak barrel, which heavily influences the flavour of the wines," Savage says. "We spend a lot of time fine-tuning vineyards in an attempt to showcase the terroir and variety, one doesn’t always need the taste of a tree in France."
Producing 24 amphoras a year dovetails with current demand, says De Beer, and suits the exacting, attention-to-detail methodology of niche, high-quality wine makers. "I’m still making all the pots myself, I don’t use an assistant. I’d rather supply the smaller boutique kind of winery and have a personal relationship with them."
He will work up to an 800l or 1,000l amphora, if it fits in the kiln.
"The early years had lots of challenges but I think that Yogi has nailed the classic South African amphora," says Savage.