Why it matters
The producer
The Stark-Condé name joins two family names: Stark, from Hans Schroder’s mother Franziska Stark, and Conde, from José Conde’s Cuban-born father. Conde began making wine in 2000 with Cabernet Sauvignon from his father-in-law’s Jonkershoek Valley vines. Cabernet remains the thread through the range: the Stellenbosch bottling draws on several estate blocks, while Three Pines and Oude Nektar narrow the focus to individual higher sites.
José Conde trained as a graphic designer and once intended to establish a Cape Town studio. He still designs the wine labels himself. That visual continuity runs alongside a cellar built around estate fruit, French oak and wines generally bottled without fining or filtration.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Jonkershoek Valley is a Stellenbosch address, placing Stark-Condé within one of South Africa’s important Cabernet regions while giving it a cooler, elevated valley setting. Winter rainfall replenishes the vineyards, and southeast breezes moderate the growing season. Cabernet can therefore take its time on the vine, building dark fruit and tannin without losing the acidity that keeps the palate moving.
Elevation also separates the labels. Three Pines Cabernet comes from a 350-metre vineyard, while Oude Nektar Cabernet comes from the estate’s highest Cabernet block at 550 metres. The names on those bottles are not decorative: they point to distinct vineyard conditions and increasingly site-specific expressions of the same principal grape.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The estate practices organic farming, though completed estate-wide organic certification should not be assumed. In the cellar, natural yeasts, open-top fermentation for reds and manual punchdowns favour contact between fermenting juice and skins. For Cabernet, that work is aimed at extracting colour, fruit and tannin with enough texture to carry long oak ageing.
Red wines can spend as long as 22 months in French oak and are generally bottled unfined and unfiltered. The 2020 Estate Blend, for example, spent 20 months in 300-litre French oak barrels, around 30% new. The result is a Cabernet-led wine with oak-derived spice and weight, while the decision not to fine or filter helps retain a fuller palate and firm structural grip.
Wines to know
The range in view
Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon is the estate-level red: Cabernet Sauvignon blended with traditional Bordeaux varieties from across the farm. In 2020, the mix was 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Petit Verdot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Malbec. Expect a more layered red than a single-variety Cabernet alone, with dark fruit, floral lift, oak spice, tannin and a long finish.
Three Pines Cabernet Sauvignon takes Cabernet to the 350-metre granite site, where the producer notes floral notes and silky tannins. Oude Nektar Cabernet Sauvignon is the higher, stonier 550-metre expression, a Bordeaux-style blend aged for about 20 months in French oak, 70% new. Its longer sunlit ripening and higher new-oak share point toward deeper fruit, firmer tannin and more oak spice.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Stark-Condé Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon. It is the estate’s broadest Cabernet statement: fruit from four blocks, a Cabernet-led Bordeaux blend, 20 months in French oak and bottling without fining or filtration. The 2020 composition gives Cabernet the dark-fruit centre, Petit Verdot extra colour and tannin, Cabernet Franc aromatic lift, and Malbec additional fruit weight. Expect black fruit, floral notes, spice, firm tannin and a long, textured finish. It introduces the farm before the single-vineyard bottles narrow the view.