Starting with his Grandfather in 1945 in a town called Saxonburg, in the Stellenbosch area. Today, one of the known brands in South Africa. While his father owned a vineyard in the Stellenbosch area from 1950-1977, this was a grape growing vineyard and the grapes were delivered to a local coop.
 
I used to hit golf balls into the vineyard, Used to help pick grapes for pocket money to play golf, buy golf balls and golf clothes-well a shirt here and there. I also purchased my first set of golf clubs.
 
In 1994, I purchased a vineyard in the Paarl region. Read about Paarl. The estate is 300 acres (110 Hectare) of which 85 acres (24 hectare) is under vineyard. Originally on purchase about 40 acres were under table grapes (fresh produce) the grapes were shipped to the local coop.  Grape Varietals in the Vineyard today are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinotage, Shiraz, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot and Malbec.
 
In 1998, I approached Napa Wine maker Jason Fisher, then at Paradigm, now Cosentino to get him to make one harvest in South Africa in February and one harvest in Napa (in September / October) So Jason made vintages from 1998 to 2002. I had a benchmark of what the wine should taste like.

The California Wine Club is a monthly wine adventure that introduces its members to California's best artisan wineries. With three great wine of the month clubs to choose from, we offer a selection of wine to suit all tastes and all budgets. Choose from age-worthy Cabernets, Friday night pizza Zinfandels, the perfect Chardonnay to complement a special salmon dinner or even rare international selections for the real international adventurer!