I remember when Tokara started up and they didn't want to make wine under the Tokara label because the vineyards were too young, and they used the Zondernaam label. 20 years later and now there is a legacy. Miles Mossop was the wine-maker for nearly 20 years and now a very confident and capable Stuart Botha has taken over and at the celebrations held on Wed 14th August, we were taken through their very cathedral-like cellar which is massive - and 3 stories deep. Cold, enormous, state-of-the-art cellar it is - with huge old foudres, massive steel tanks, smaller steel tanks for experimentation, a newish concrete egg and of course barrels galore. Stuart and viticulturist since inception, Aidan Morton, explained their wine-making approach and Aidan reminded us of the shocking fires we had in 2016. When Firstrand bank founder GT Ferreira bought the farm in 1994, he took his neighbour Gyles Webb on a trip through Europe exploring all the top end wineries for inspiration to build a cellar of note. The result was a spectacular cellar, restaurant and tasting room built on a relatively small footprint, by making it a 3-storey gravity-fed cellar. GT explained that money is not everything and he really wanted to have something that inspired the senses. There was much banter between neighbours Gyles and GT who clearly have a warm and delightful relationship. As Gyles so aptly said 'With your money, I can do anything!' The canapes and lunch were paired with their outstanding wines, including their newish very pricey Cabernet, Telos, (only 1000 bottles) which sells at about R4500, was simply sublime. At our table we had Roland Peens from WineCellar, who had already sold quite a few bottles, proving the need for top end wines. Congratulations to the Ferreira family and the passionate team at Tokara for creating and maintaining a winery, restaurant and wines which are stylish, timeless and top class. For a man who just wanted a red tractor (according to Gyles Webb), GT has surpassed himself.