Elma van Graan, the assistant wine-maker at Solms-Delta, likes to tell the story about the day her faith wavered. Because of her good school record at Luckhoff High in Ida’s Valley she had been given a very responsible job, straight from school, in the laboratory at Boschendal (by Hilko Hegewisch). But after a while Elma felt a calling to become a missionary. So she enrolled for three years at a theological college. On graduating she felt she could better carry out God’s mission by working close to His creation, nature, especially the wondrous grape-vine. She went back to her very important lab job, testing (for example) the grapes for sugar content and for PH levels to determine whether they were harvest ready. As she told her fellow workers, “50mls can determine the fate of 200 000 liters, so no mistakes are permissible.”But, mistakes can happen. A few days after her return, an apprentice plumber cross-connected a pipe carrying water to cool down the wine, and a pipe carrying fermenting wine to a vat. Elma suddenly saw, before her eyes, her glass lab tubes turn from clear water to wine, while in the workers’ restroom wine gushed from the shower (making for very long showers!) and the sprinkler system started spraying a very young pinotage over the lawn.
Fresh from her Bible classes Elma remembered Jesus’ miracle at Canaan and her faith wavered for a moment. Luckily the fault was quickly detected and “Elma’s Miracle” never made the history books.
However, another sort of miracle saw her being offered a scholarship to study wine-making in the United States. But she first had to pass a tough examining panel that was very strict about punctuality. On the way she had a puncture and arrived despondently at the rooms 30 minutes late, thinking she blown it. “Oh hullo,” said the secretary, “You are one hour early.” “What?” gasped Elma. “Yes, the panel has been on a conference call with a bad line and is running an hour late.” Needless to say, she got the scholarship, and that little miracle landed her in Virginia, where she learned to cope with wine-growing in hot, humid conditions.
In 2008 she went to France for further study. She gets stars in her eyes when she speaks about the true dedication of French wine-makers, steeped in tradition, regarding every vine as unique, treating God’s nature with respect and honouring the process of “growing wine.” On her return she was appointed assistant wine-maker at Solms-Delta, becoming deeply involved in the process of transformation in the Franschhoek Valley, which is the hallmark of our philosophy. A long journey for the little girl from Pniel, via the missionary seminary, through Virginia, and then France, to become one of the few women wine-makers in South Africa.
Elma is married to a school principal and they have three children.
Prof John van Zyl – retired professor of communications (Wits) now living in Franschhoek with his wife, Charlotte, who is administrator of the Delta Trust and Solms Wijn de Caab Trust.
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