The Road Less Travelled We sit down with ROLLO GABB from Journey’s End TELL US THE STORY BEHIND JOURNEY’S END Journey’s End was the first vineyard that my family purchased back in 1995. At the time, it was only 20 hectares, had no running water, no house and no winery, but my father saw the beauty and potential and was taken with the incredible view. Journey’s End is one of the most southerly planted vineyards in the Stellenbosch winelands, overlooking False Bay—which means our vineyard benefits from the cooling and cleansing south easterly wind, the ‘Cape Doctor’. Since then, sustainably and ethically producing premium, delicious wines and having fun while doing so, has been at the very heart of what we do. HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INTO WINE? My father, Roger, started a UK wine business called Western Wines in 1980, as an importer of wines from around the world. Western Wines went on to build some very well-known international brands, including Kumala in South Africa, Da Luca from Italy, Isla Negra and Cono Sur from Chile—with it also accounting for 55% of all South Africa wine exports from 1995-2006. Aged 15, I used to be packed off to do harvest in Burgundy for Patrick Javillier, taking the train all the way to Beaune from Shropshire, UK. I then went to university in Manchester, where I spent most of my time running nightclubs, including the famous Hacienda. I realized the wine industry was for me so I started working in Oddbins—a London retailer. I then went to Wirra Wirra, McLaren Vale, Australia to work a vintage, followed by vintages in New Zealand and Italy. After that I worked for my father at Western Wines until its sale in 2006. I took over Journey’s End in 2007, and it is now a 120-hectare estate with our range of wines available internationally in over 30 markets. WHAT IS THE MOST REWARDING PART OF YOUR JOB? Aside from making delicious wines that are broadly well received by our customers and press, looking after our community—the team, their families and the wider local
community—is extremely important. Likewise, the environment; we are solar-powered, Fairtrade certified, WWF Conservation Champions and carbon negative. We have ongoing community and sustainability initiatives that we are constantly expanding. To bring together our community projects, we launched the Journey’s End Foundation in August 2020, largely in response to the pandemic and the increasing poverty and hunger in the local community. We began a meal programme, in which we fund all the equipment, ingredients and fuel for supplies for six soup kitchens. We now provide over 30,000 meals a week to those in need. WHAT SETS JOURNEY’S END WINES APART? We’ve always been innovative and experimental. In the vines, the Cape Doctor wind that comes in from False Bay is cleansing and cooling which leads to fresh, clean profiles coming through from our grapes. In the cellar, our winemakers, Leon Esterhuizen and Mike Dawson, are super dynamic and as well as using classic methods, they are also very progressive. We use carbonic maceration on some of our reds, we use concrete eggs and amphorae clay pots on some of our whites, and also a combination of layering traditionally treated grapes with grapes treated using these alternate methods. WHAT’S THE AWARD YOU’RE MOST PROUD OF? We are lucky to have won many awards recognising the quality of our wines and winemakers. But I think what I am most proud of, is being named Ethical Company of the Year by The Drinks Business Green Awards in both 2020 and 2021 for our ongoing work supporting
