MODERN WINERIES OF SOUTH AFRICA

by Photographs by Craig Fraser, words by Hugh Fraser

2011, second published edition. Large hard cover with dust cover, 247 pages. Very good, clean condition. Over 1kg.

Here are 18 wineries breathtakingly photographed in their winter wear – skeletal vines, scudding clouds, landscapes softly grey rather than green, interiors sliced by low light. Here are those wineries’ architectural drawings of cellars, stellar restaurants, the public and private spaces. Craig Fraser’s inspiring eye finds appropriate accompaniment in Hugh Fraser’s well chosen architect’s words. It is a glorious book.

“Wineries in the Western Cape are always depicted basking in perpetual summer. By photographing the wine estates in autumn and winter the architecture is revealed, and is richly contrasted against the natural textures of earth, rock and bark, providing a raw but dramatic backdrop.” Craig Fraser.

“Good architecture and good wine have much in common – both are manifestations of science and technology, art and culture. . . Craig Fraser has been able to drawn down and distil the essence of each modern winery, using only the amazing quality of natural light measured by the time of day, his large square format camera and his eye to compose exquisite portraits of these magnificent settings.”

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Hugh Fraser was born in Johannesburg and trained as an architect. Given his fascination with travel, he was inspired to travel the world to record the built environment on film. At present he is employed by Glass South Africa to explore exciting new opportunities made possible by technological developments, and to ensure that buildings do not exist in a vacuum but serve as a reflection of the way we live. It could be argued that few buildings better embody this philosophy than those devoted to wine and all its alchemical processes, strikingly captured in the book Modern Wineries.