I grew up in a small town in the Breedekloof Valley called Rawsonville. The area is mostly known for bulk wine production so grapes have always been around me. After school I worked for 2 harvests at a big Co-Op winery after which I went to Elsenburg where I studied viticulture and oenology. Between 2010 and 2016 I worked for 3 different wine estates.
I’ve always been a big Loire fanatic. The freshness, vibrancy and ability to age on their whites really appealed to me as well as the reds with their focus and precision. What also intrigued me was how the fruit profile on these wines keep changing as they age.
A couple of years ago my roommate from Elsenburg, Reenen Borman, and myself took our wives on a trip to France which included the Loire valley. At Domaine de la Chevalerie, the winemaker Stephanie opened a 1989 Cab Franc that just took my breath away. Right there I decided to start my own wine brand.
We came back from that trip, I resigned from my previous job and in December 2015 we registered Van Loggerenberg wines.
For all our wines that we produce we use some of the best vineyards in the Cape, farmed by really passionate and talented farmers. For me the most difficult part of making great wine is deciding when to pick the grapes, because we don’t use any enzymes or fining agents, our margin for error is really small.
I want people that drink my wine, whether it’s in New York,Tokyo or Durban, to experience the fruit that we use. The most important is to showcase these fantastic parcels of vineyards.