Nelson Wine Estate is a family wine farm in every sense of the word where most of the members of the Nelson family are involved in the running of the business in one way or another.

Youngest daughter Jo-Anne, before qualifying as- and becoming a very successful dentist, could be found manning the tasting room on many a Saturday morning. Tall, blond and beautiful yet with a quiet and humble disposition, Jo-Anne reflects the Nelson family’s commitment to excellence. For eight years of her life Jo-Anne practiced up to six hours a day until she became South Africa’s No 1 rhythmic gymnast. Having got to the top of her sport, Jo-Anne then, to the amazement of everyone and the dismay of her coach, hung up her ribbons and ball and retired from gymnastics, to dedicate all of her time to her studies and to the family farm.

Next there is Lisha. Also beautiful, Lisha loves animals and farm life. She studied  BSC Oenology and Viticulture at Stellenbosch University and obtained her degree cum laude. After completing two seasons with well-seasoned winemaker Mike Dobrovic, she spent another season at the Stone Street Winery in California. She was appointed as the new winemaker at the Estate at the end of 2007. Lisha has an incredible dedication to her work and to the reputation of the Estate. She is certainly destined to become known as  one of South Africa’s best winemakers, a tag that is already assured when regard is had to the various reviews received on her wines since production started in early 2008.

The Nelson’s only son Daniel is a computer boffin and ran his own computer business in Paarl for a number of years until his dad Alan asked him to help out on the family farm. Since then Daniel has had to turn his hand to almost every aspect of the family business. From administration, to taking care of the bottle maturation cellar, the labelling of the family wines, and attending to export clearances and dispatch, Daniel helps out almost everywhere. Daniel is also an avid motorcyclist and is most at home on his BMW 1200 GS carving it up on some dirt road out in the wilderness.

Then there is mother Marguerite. The kindest and loveliest of them all. Born and bred in the arid Karoo to a sheep farming family and having seen her family suffer when the rain stayed away, Marguerite vowed never to marry a farmer and went to Stellenbosch University to study medicine. There she met Alan, a city boy from Johannesburg, whose only goal in life it was to own a wine farm one day. Marguerite still practices medicine on a part time basis at the local Paarl hospital where she is dearly loved by patients and staff alike. The rest of the time she is at Alan’s side and an incredibly important part of the farms management team. Hardly a decision gets taken on the Nelson Estate without the wisdom and insight of mother Marguerite having been sought out and applied. She can frequently be seen with Alan at exhibitions and shows proudly showing the family’s wines with the sweetest of smiles on her face.

Finally there is Alan. Driven by incredible passion, Alan has always wanted to be a farmer. Born the fourth son to a middleclass working family there was no chance of inheriting a farm and so Alan set about a course with only one object in mind and that was to one day own his own wine farm. It is a truly amazing story of guts and determination that starts with Alan qualifying with Ba LLB law degree (cum laude) at Stellenbosch university. Over a period of thirty years and working up to eighteen hours a day and sometimes even through the night, Alan built up a highly successful law practice as an Advocate in Cape Town, specialising in a number of areas of law, such as anti trust law, administrative law, construction law; medical malpractise and of course in legal matters pertaining to the wine industry. Despite his total commitment to the law and his clients’ cases, Alan’s passion was always with farming. He used his first salary cheque to buy a horse with which he rode longingly through the vineyards of neighbours surrounding a small dilapidated farmhouse that the family rented on a tiny smallholding near Kraaifontein.

As soon as they could afford it the Nelson’s bought their first vineyard in Stellenbosch. It was only four hectares in extent but enough to make them sure that this was the life for them. Saving every penny that they earned the family in 1987 started to bring their plans to fruition when the family acquired Nelson’s Creek.

A huge amount of research went into buying the family farm. Weekend upon weekend Alan and Marguerite did the rounds with many agencies searching for the perfect farm. Alan’s dream was to make the best wine in South Africa and after reading every book and article about wine that he could lay his hands on and travelling to other wine growing countries, he knew that terrior and micro climate were extremely important. With limited resources the farm also had to be close enough to Cape Town so that Alan could continue to practice law in order to earn enough money to develop the farm and to pay the bond.

Alan knew that he had found the right area when he learnt that Gunter Bröessel, surely South Africa’s most well known winemaker, had purchased a small farm in the Agter Paarl region in very close proximity to Nelson Creek. He also drew comfort from the fact that deeds office entries indicated that the farm (originally named Wittenberg) was one of the first to have been selected in 1692 by the French Huguenots on which to farm wine grapes.

The Nelson’s could however never at the time have known that the mini region in which their farm was located was destined to become one of, if not the very best region in the world for the production of wines of exceptional quality. Since acquiring the farm, grapes produced in the mini region in which Nelsons’ Creek is located have achieved truly outstanding achievements.