Blind wine seller is tasting his way to excellence

“When I lost my vision in 1996, I was invited to a blind wine tasting club, Wine Insights. That was purely for blind people because the winemaker, Hermann Kirschbaum from Buitenverwachting, believed we tasted better. Until last year, we would meet every first Monday of the month and be spoiled by various winemakers, some who were the best of the best.

“Then, in 2016, I started to sell wine and work on a commission basis for some wine farms. It became too big and I eventually started my own company, Winebrands, to handle it.”

It was only after a client said to Lombard he only dealt in award-winning wines that it became clear to him he needed to invest in his already substantial knowledge and formalise it, which he did through the Cape Wine Academy.

He recently completed his diploma, which covered wines of the world, wine trends around the world, South Africa’s place in the market and, of course, the inevitable wine tasting.

Jacques said he had lived with diabetes for most of his life and it eventually took his sight.

“But now it’s under control, I ride the Argus every year on a tandem bicycle, I exercise twice a week and follow a full programme to stay fit.”

Of course, this made studying difficult as nothing was in Braille.

“My assistant had to read the course material to me over and over,” Lombard said.

Studying had to take place during the working day, which meant no sales, no calling of clients and, if clients called, the study session would be interrupted.

However, he persevered and eventually passed his diploma with 82%, the highest in his class.

It isn’t that one’s remaining senses improve if one is lost, you just use the remaining senses better, Lombard says.

“Now, I think about what I smell, and think about what I taste.

“Sit in front of your Hi-Fi tonight and close your eyes. You will smell what’s going on in the kitchen, you’ll hear the cars, you’ll hear the birds outside, you’ll hear all the instruments in the music. Try it,” he urges.

Lombard is that guy who can tell where a wine was cultivated, what year it was bottled, the tannins and even the sugars. But it’s difficult to pin him to a specific favourite wine.

“Each area has a specific wine with its own outstanding cultivar.

“One farm may produce an excellent sauvignon blanc, whereas in a warmer area there would be a better shiraz, all because of the soils they are grown in.”

But the more expensive wines were “definitely” the better wines, he claimed.

And aside from being an investment, the more one tasted and learnt, the better your palette would develop, which would naturally lead to buying better wines.

One of the investment-grade wines Lombard sells is the Kanonkop Estate Black Label Pinotage.

Winemag.co.za gave it a rating of 95/100 and noted the “nose shows red and black cherries, plums and hedgegrow fruit, fynbos, tilled earth and attractive oak-derived characteristics including vanilla and cinnamon – it’s deep and very alluring”.

It’s a different world for those of us who believe the difference between good or bad wine is whether it has a cork or screw top.

Lombard’s aim is to eventually become a winemaster and join the panels around the world where the very best wines are gathered and tasted.

At a young 49 years old, being a winemaster is high on his bucket list – and he’s using the lockdown to further his studies.

“I can’t sell wine, but I’ve used the time to work on my winemaster programme, so the lockdown couldn’t have come at a better time for me,” Lombard said.

“Everyone gets a hiding in life, but we mustn’t go and sit in a corner. Get up, do something, even it’s small, steady, steps.

“In a year’s time, you’ll be further along than you realise.”

– amandaw@citizen.co.za

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