One of the many exceptional privileges afforded to those with an interest in South African wine is the realisation that the country enjoys an advantage over other wine nations that almost seems unfair. Here, the seamless integration of breathtaking natural beauty across so many wine farms, combined with those same aesthetic marvels’ ability to produce wines of superlative quality, stands as ready proof that the Cape is, in truth, the most wonderful of wine countries.

The Stellenbosch estate Tokara has for well over two decades been known as one of the region’s – and the country’s – great properties, occupying a splendid stretch of ground against the heights of the Simonsberg. GT Ferreira, the well-known South African businessman, bought the land in 1994. The site, perched atop the Helshoogte Pass, was without vines but blessed with a spectacular position. Ferreira’s vision was to plant vineyards, make wine, and establish an exceptional destination — a place to visit, to live in, and to while away time over good wine. The cellar was built in 1999, and the first wines began rolling out in 2005, from the 2003 vintage.

Since then, Ferreira and Tokara have never looked back. From day one, the wines have carried a message reverberating from the elevated cliffs of the Simonsberg to the world: that Tokara is not merely another billionaire’s playground, but an estate built on winemaking excellence, proudly playing its part in South Africa’s premium wine sector. That reputation has been earned above all through fine Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, along with a beguiling white blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.

From the outset, Tokara was also a sought-after stop on Stellenbosch’s famous wine route — a place to taste wine in a setting with the kind of elevated view over vineyards, mountains and valleys that makes you wonder whether you’re not dreaming. There’s an excellent restaurant too, and, as has become tradition at modern cellars, striking artwork around every corner.

Consistent quality, paired with an address whose distinctive signature radiates excellence without dulling the pulse of a genuinely human place, has made Tokara one of the foremost wine destinations in the Cape winelands.

All of this sounds rather grand, even faintly regal. But if there is one crown set atop the Tokara name, it is the wine called Telos. This red, made since 2015, stands as the absolute embodiment of the ethos and vision Ferreira wanted Tokara, and everything it represents, to convey.

And that’s precisely what the name means: Telos, Greek for the end result of a particular vision and purposeful process.

“Initially we suggested to GT that this special wine, Tokara’s flagship, should carry the name ‘GT’,” says Karl Lambour, Tokara’s managing director. “There aren’t many occasions on which GT rejects an idea immediately, flatly and without a second thought, but this was one of them. So it was back to the drawing board, and the name Telos was put forward, to a rather warmer reception.”

Put simply, Telos is the best wine that can be made from the grape variety with which Tokara most identifies, and which has proven itself the most suitable cultivar for the Simonsberg soils on which the farm sits: Cabernet Sauvignon. Since the first vintage in 2015, Telos has been made with a Cabernet Sauvignon component of at least 90%, which, depending on the specific vintage, is rounded out with small additions of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec.

Aidan Morton, now retired but the viticulturist who established Tokara’s vineyards, says that although the Telos wine only saw the light of day in 2018, the idea of such a flagship wine had been embedded in him and his team from the farm’s earliest years. “From day one, the Tokara team held onto the idea that one day we’d make a single wine that represented GT’s vision, and that would also be the best wine Tokara is capable of putting in a bottle.”

Five vintages of Telos exist to date, and last month the Tokara team hosted, for the first time, an occasion at which the quintet could be tasted together — 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Getting to know this wine through one or two vintages has always, in itself, been something of a privilege. Having all five Telos vintages laid out side by side, and holding a conversation with and about each one, was the fulfilment of a dream. One of those occasions after which I told Lambour that a day like that again makes you feel fortunate to be involved in the wine trade at all.

As for Telos’s geographical origins: the Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in question sits at 400m above sea level, on a steep 35% slope. The soil is that famous Simonsberg weathered granite, and with the vines facing west, the plant and its fruit are fed by the even energy of late-afternoon sun.

“When it comes to making Telos,” says Tokara winemaker Stuart Botha, “I always say that nature has no interest in human expectations. The philosophy behind making Telos is therefore one of minimal intervention, giving the fruit’s exceptional quality the chance to carry through to the finished product by essentially letting the grapes manage themselves.”

At harvest, the grapes are sorted both mechanically and by hand. Fermentation is spontaneous, with no addition of cultured yeast. Sugar is converted to alcohol, and the skins lend tannin, structure and body. Once fermentation is complete, the wine spends 22 months in French oak barrels.

When five vintages of a wine with such a formidable reputation and luxurious image are set before you, it can be difficult to keep your judgement on an objective footing. But wine of real quality — the good, the sublime, the outstanding — has a way of quieting that inner conflict, overwhelming the senses until the taster simply recognises that what’s in the glass is exceptional.

You forget the name, who made it, and what it costs (R5,600 a bottle, since you asked), and give yourself over entirely to the pleasure of it.

Running through the five Telos vintages is a golden thread: a rich, layered splendour. Yes, every button gets pushed on the dashboard you’d expect to find on a top Bordeaux from France. There are deftly sprinkled handfuls of tannin, taut shards of fresh vitality bouncing off deep red and dark fruit flavours, with faint whiffs of cigar box and pine needle: all the accurate, classical notes that someone with far more imagination than me could wax lyrical about at length.

But what Telos offers is that extra touch of luxury. Just as the Tokara estate brought an elegant, refined dose of luxury to the Simonsberg, so the Telos wines carry a supple, velvety texture that gives them an inviting, seductive quality.

While that golden thread of elegant flavour runs through all five, differences in the respective vintages’ climatic conditions have given each of the five wines its own distinct personality.

The Telos 2017, made in the heart of that Cape drought, is a particularly refined and classical wine, with lively, complex flavours and attention-seeking tannins that lend it a proper old-world character, one that will send Bordeaux lovers into thigh-tingling raptures. The 2019, by contrast, is a delicate, fragile wine, whose initially light mouthfeel and easy tannins allow the juicy flavours of mulberry, cherry and blueberry to come through with expansive deliciousness.

It was, however, the 2015 vintage that convinced me that Tokara is here responsible for one of — in my humble opinion — the very greatest wines ever to spring from a vineyard planted on a clearly blessed piece of South African soil. Yes, 2015 is known as an exceptional vintage thanks to near-perfect weather conditions through the growing season. Add to that Tokara’s Simonsberg terroir and the thoughtful, careful practices in the cellar driven by the vision behind the Telos label, and the result is a wine in which nature and human skill meet in near-perfect harmony.

It’s a wine that has you wondering, from the very first sip, where and when you’ve ever tasted anything so delicious, so beautiful, so beguiling, questions that are fleeting the moment you realise that this, Telos, is a wine and a moment you will never forget. It might just be the kind of wine you’ve spent your whole life searching for.