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Brandvlei, Northern Cape.
My father was a sheep farmer. We are a family that loves gardening, and that love of plants drove my passion towards viticulture.
Cape West, Thé Blend, we did the first bottling in June 2022. Then I also enjoy our Namaqua Sweet Red.
I taste wine every day so when it comes to picking my own wine, I am picky. I look at wine in technical terms, I imagine what the vine looked like, and I think about what processes it followed to get into my glass.
I review and manage critical control points within the winemaking chain, with the aim of improvement and increased process efficiency.
I started in December 2003, so this year I will be 19 years.
For the first 11 years at Namaqua, I was outside where I worked on the vines. I enjoy the freedom that comes with working in the open air. Then I went to work in the laboratory. I was always interested in the chemical processes that go into the art of winemaking.
I like seeing processes come together by problem-solving and having the end product in mind.
Due to the diverse climate and soil, the Olifants river region has enormous potential to produce cultivar wines. I want to see in the future that we also get recognised for the expressive Cultivar Range that we produce.
I grew up on a wine farm, and was intrigued with the process of winemaking, I visited a wine cellar during harvest time, and that sparked a passion in me.
Yes, wine farming and wine making has always been my passion.
Yes, I studied at Elsenburg Agricultural College.
It was during my studies when I was able to make my very first wine, all the way from the vineyard to a bottle.
That you only get one chance every year to make wine from your selected grapes, so it has to be excellent.
The satisfaction of a good end product that the consumer enjoys.
I want to see the wine business in South Africa grow as a healthy business to invest in.
Personally I still want to make an International awarded wine.
My parents were farmers and my love of wine started from an early age as I watched my parents work.
I’ve always had a passion for farming in general, but I first thought about it as a career when I finished highschool.
Yes, I studied at Elsenburg landbou college
I have been making wine for the last 28 years of my life, 25 of which have been with Namaqua Wines.
It was the first time that I won double gold at the Veritas for one of my wines. Another memorable moment was when I was able to make wine in the South of France.
Vir my is dit om elke jaar, die verskillende “brands” van Namaqua, kontstant te hou, dat die klieënte gelukkig kan wees en bly koop.
Wine is a lively product that keeps you on your toes, you can think that everything is under control one moment but the next everything is chaos and you have to start from scratch. I also love that I get to work outside in the open air.
To always put Namaqua Wines first and to keep our loyal supporters happy to ensure that they keep choosing our wines.
Kalahari Upington Askham
My father worked in Agriculture and it was his job to advise farmers on how they can best use their land, keeping key elements like weather patterns and soil quality in mind. In those days even the distance from the farm to a market was considered. In 1980 my father noticed a boom within the South African wine industry and encouraged me to pursue a career in winemaking.
As a winemaking student my life then revolved around “wine, women and song” but with time I matured and once I began to actually make my own product I uncovered a real passion for it.
I studied at Elsenburg from 1996 until 1998.
2022 is my 27th year making wine. I have worked for Namaqua Wines for the last 6 years, before that I made wine in Grootdrink, Stellenbosch, Italy and France. I keep a personal diary where I note my findings and experiences, and of course, there is a Springbok on the cover as I am an avid Rugby fan.
In all honesty, there have been many proud moments, there was a time when a lady at a recent wine show said “dis nou lekker wyn die” translation, this is a nice wine! I have also won a few awards but my proudest would be The Pichon Trophy – for the best-blended Redwine in the world ( Meerlust Rubicon 2001 ) and the renowned 2008 The Bilton – for the most expensive Red wine in South Africa (R3,000 per bottle)
In winemaking, there isn’t a lot of stress, the only stress that I can think of is when you have to leave at the end of the workday and your FILTER is running the nightshift.
Wine won’t remember you, people will”. Once a year I get the chance to make a wine, and then for the remainder of that year, I nurture that wine and eventually, it gets bottled. Then the public gets to taste and buy the wine that I created. I pride myself on making a wine experience that someone really enjoys.
This is the hardest question but it is actually the easiest to answer, at a certain point in your life you don’t have “wine goals” but rather life goals, you want to move into cellar management, where you manage people, facilities and even start new wine brands.
I grew up on a wine farm in the Olifants River valley in Vredendal. I guess you can say it’s in my blood.
Yes, since I started my studies I loved what I was doing.
Yes. I studied BsC Viticulture and Oenology at the University of Stellenbosch.
Receiving awards is always special and makes you proud of your work but for me, it is more special when my product does well in the market and knowing that people must be enjoying it. That makes me proud every day.
In a winery, everything is fast-paced and you have to make quick decisions with a product that can sometimes be very unpredictable.
In a Wine cellar there is never a dull moment. Working with grapes that are different every year is a nice challenge. No day is ever the same as the day before and there’s a curveball around every corner that keeps you on your toes. The best part is that winetasting is part of my job description.
At the moment for me it is to make a positive contribution to the business of Namaqua Wines. To help the winemaking team take Namaqua to a new level in the wine business and always produce wines in styles that our consumers are happy with.
From as long as I could remember I have always had an interest in the art of winemaking.
Yes it is, I love everything about it from nurturing the vineyard to checking on the wine and tasting it as it matures and to keep records of how the flavours develop.
Yes, I studied at Elsenburg Agricultural College.
For 39 years.
I have won a few awards and those have been the highlight of my career. However there are 2 awards that I am partially proud of namely, SA Champion Sauvignon blanc – SA Champion Ruby Port
At this moment “loadshedding” because it completely stops production, we have to carefully plan when what happens to ensure that we don’t lose any product.
I love making wine that people enjoy.
To nurture and turn grapes into the best possible product for our consumers