Vergelegen

His enology studies led him first to Rustenburg where he learnt his craft as part of a golden generation of winemakers.

Spells at Bordeaux's Château Angélus and Napa's Screaming Eagle were followed by the top job at Glenelly before he was coaxed to Vergelegen Estate at the end of 2022 to take on and evolve their prestige portfolio.

I caught up with him at the majestic estate, and he explained why he decided to move on from Glenelly.

Glenelly was [laughs] as you say, was a- A truly phenomenal job and you're working, I was working for such a fantastic, uh, character in the wine industry and I learned so much from working with, uh, Made Lonkasa.

I was torn, to be honest, but I'd always said, um, that there were certain properties, uh, that I'd always had on my list that if they ever came up, I'd put my hat in the ring to see if I could, you know, go and work there, and this was one of them.

Because I'm, I love history, and I thought this property's, uh, history and, um, background and how it's intertwined into South Africa is fascinating, and I thought it would be amazing if I could just play a very small role in the Vergelegen story that is ongoing.

And it's always amazing to, for me to be able to work at a place that has, uh, more than 326 years of history, and you're just taking the small steps on a farm that's now become a, a legacy, if you want to put it like that, and is, uh, so important to, uh, this area of the country.

How do you go about putting your imprint as a winemaker? Because, you know, human input is an element of terroir, of course.