bloomberg.

com

Jan 31

Banker Toasts Wine Award, Pours Money Into South African Farm
Enlarge image

Michael Jordaan

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-30/banker-turned-wine-farmer-hits-south-african-vintage-jackpot-interview.html

First National Bank via Bloomberg Michael Jordaan, Chief Executive Officer of South Africas First National Bank, is the owner of Stellenbosch wine farm called Bartinney.
Michael Jordaan, Chief Executive Officer of South Africas First National Bank, is the owner of Stellenbosch wine farm called Bartinney. Source: First

Love this

PDF?

Add it to your Reading List! 4 joliprint.com/mag

Page 1

bloomberg.com
Banker Toasts Wine Award, Pours Money Into South African Farm

Jan 31

National Bank via Bloomberg

Bartinney Tasting Shed

Enlarge

image

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-30/banker-turned-wine-farmer-hits-south-african-vintage-jackpot-interview.html

Rose Jordaan via Bloomberg The Bartinney tasting shed. The farm was owned by the Jordaan family from 1952 until 1993. When Michael Jordaan made his fortune in banking he bought the farm back in 2006.
The Bartinney tasting shed. The farm was owned by the Jordaan family from 1952 until 1993. When Michael Jordaan made his fortune in banking he bought the farm back in 2006. Source: Rose Jordaan via Bloomberg

Love this

PDF?

Add it to your Reading List! 4 joliprint.com/mag

Page 2

bloomberg.com
Banker Toasts Wine Award, Pours Money Into South African Farm

Jan 31

Enlarge

image

Enlarge

image

Simonsberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-30/banker-turned-wine-farmer-hits-south-african-vintage-jackpot-interview.html

Rose Jordaan

Rose Jordaan via Bloomberg A view of the Simonsberg, a range of mountains above Stellenbosch in the Western Cape of South Africa. The grapes in Bartinneys vineyard grow 550 meters above sea level.
A view of the Simonsberg, a range of mountains above Stellenbosch in the Western Cape of South Africa. The grapes in Bartinneys vineyard grow 550 meters above sea level. Source: Rose Jordaan via Bloomberg

Christoph Heierli/Rose Jordaan via Bloomberg Rose Jordaan and her three daughters in the vineyards at Bartinney, South Africa. Rose, previously an architect, manages the farm. Her husband Michael commutes to Cape Town from Johannesburg every week.
Rose Jordaan and her three daughters in the vineyards at Bartinney, South Africa. Rose, previously an architect, manages the farm. Her husband Michael commutes to Cape Town from Johannesburg every week. Photographer: Christoph Heierli/Rose Jordaan via Bloomberg

Banker Michael Jordaan is off duty and about to enjoy the fruits of his second job: wine farming. Jordaan, 43 -- head of FirstRand Ltd.s (FSR) retail banking unit, First National Bank -- arrives for dinner at La Cucina Di Ciro, a popular Italian restaurant in Johannesburgs leafy Parktown North suburb. Hes carrying two bottles of his wines, which he opens as soon as hes whipped off his jacket and tie.

Love this

PDF?

Add it to your Reading List! 4 joliprint.com/mag

Page 3

bloomberg.com
Banker Toasts Wine Award, Pours Money Into South African Farm

Jan 31

I am logical, rational, cash-flow-and-return-onequity- maximized, he says, raising a glass of white. A wine farm is exactly the opposite. Wine is irrational, the cash flow is bad, theres no return on equity. Jordaan is a banker who is using his wealth to indulge his passions. Other FirstRand executives have wine farms in the area. After two years in his current banking job, Jordaan got the chance to buy back the family farm, Bartinney, which had been sold by his dad. The business has long-term potential: His wine has already won an award. He hopes he has the timing right. Lenders were making a profit in 2006 as consumers borrowed money with interest rates at their lowest levels in more than a decade. Jordaans organization, the second largest financial group in South Africa, suffered through the 2008 global financial crisis which forced customers to slow debt repayments as the country slid into its first recession in 17 years.

With a wine farm, theres a product and I know where the grapes came from, what the weather was like during the year that it was made, how it was harvested, what process it went through and how much time it spent in the barrel, he says. And here it is and you can taste it and you can feel it. Jordaan, who is permanently tanned with a lopsided smile, has invested in vines, labor, infrastructure, French oak barrels and a wine maker, Therese de Beer.

Terroir Best
Bartinneys first cabernet sauvignon, harvested by hand in 2009, went on sale in July last year and scooped the Terroir Award for the best cabernet in the Banhoek and Jonkershoek wards of Stellenbosch, a region about 30 kilometers east of Cape Town and renowned for its red wines. The cabernet sauvignon is beautifully balanced with good tannins and sexy mocha chocolate overtones, according to Karen James, a South African wine merchant who tasted the Bartinney red. For a virgin vintage its a spectacular effort. Bartinney, which clings to the side of a mountain, belonged to Jordaans family from 1952 until 1993. His grandfather, also called Michael, was a physician in Namibia until he went to Stellenbosch, traveled up Hellshoogte Pass, translated as hellishly high, and bought Bartinney where he retired. A couple of years after my grandfather died my dad sold the farm and it was sad and I never thought Id have it back, but I dreamt about it, Jordaan said, adding that both of his grandparents are buried on the farm. And then about four years ago it came up.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-30/banker-turned-wine-farmer-hits-south-african-vintage-jackpot-interview.html

Memorable Vintage
At Bartinney the grapes kept growing and South Africas 2009 harvest, Jordaans first, produced probably one of the most memorable vintages ever, according to a report from South African Wine Industry Information & Systems. Thanks to extremely healthy grapes, a cool growing season and lower yields, truly excellent wines were made from all the noble cultivars. Jordaan, who has short, curly brown hair, says that while the farm isnt making any money, this isnt the whole story. Ive tried to rationalize whats good about it and what Ive found is, at the end of the day we bankers produce ethereal things, he says. I can show you on Bloomberg that earnings have gone up, but theres nothing you can touch.

Chardonnay, Sauvignon
Bartinney, which also grows and bottles chardonnay and sauvignon blanc, is a small piece of land relative to other South African wine farms with 27 hectares

Love this

PDF?

Add it to your Reading List! 4 joliprint.com/mag

Page 4

bloomberg.com
Banker Toasts Wine Award, Pours Money Into South African Farm

Jan 31

(about 67 acres), of which only 12 are under vine. Apart from the grapes, which are grown 550 meters (1,800 feet) and more above sea level, Jordaan and his wife have spent time and cash overseeing the planting of more than 6,000 trees, giving Bartinney carbon neutral status. After apartheid ended in 1994 the South African wine industry grew, with farms that used to grow grapes for cooperatives turning to producing their own wines. Add to that the economic boom of the late 1990s and the early part of the last decade, and a number of company executives made enough money to buy their own farms despite the capital-intensive nature of wine production. Other FirstRand bankers have been bitten by the same bug. Two of the companys three co-founders, G.T Ferreira and Paul Harris, have farms in the Stellenbosch region called Tokara and Audacia respectively. Jordaan, who commutes between Johannesburg and Cape Town most weeks, also sold the farm next door to Bartinney to FirstRands Chief Operating Officer Johan Burger. Wine can be very pretentious and complex but in the end, its what you like, Jordaan says. Its not what somebody else says. If you like it, thats whats good. (Renee Bonorchis is a reporter for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.) To contact the reporter on this story: Renee Bonorchis in Johannesburg at rbonorchis@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-30/banker-turned-wine-farmer-hits-south-african-vintage-jackpot-interview.html

Love this

PDF?

Add it to your Reading List! 4 joliprint.com/mag

Page 5