So I’ve always liked to garden. When I was in high school I was once asked what I’d like to do for a living and I said “grow tomatoes”. The idea still appeals. But what does gardening have to do with farming? Well they both involve growing things and they both have a really strong aesthetic appeal. I think of growing vines as gardening on a larger scale.

I love how the vines look. It doesn’t matter what season it is, they are always beautiful. And we do a lot of gardening around the vines – there are three really big gardens on the farm and we are always looking for a spot to plant another tree.

One autumn evening in 2012 we were invited to dinner with Caroline and Peter Thorpe, Jo’s sister and brother-in-law. They pioneered wine-growing and wine-making in the Plettenberg Bay area in the early 2000’s and had been doing very well for a decade or so. As we climbed out of the bakkie at the front of their house, I asked Joanna “Maybe we should also do a bit of wine?” That was six years ago.