Month: August 2022

My Mom

Thinking back to September 2008 at Pinnacle Point Golf Estate, when I informed my mom the first wine under Bizoe label will be named after her. This week we are releasing 13th vintage of the Bizoe Henrietta!

Just like that, 13 vintages has flown by. Bizoe Henrietta 2020 is slightly different in blend components than most of the previous ones. Normally I have a 70/30 split in my mind between Semillon and Sauvignon blanc. The 2020 will be a 80/20 split dominated by Semillon. I believe it’s one our best yet!

The story has been told before but just remind some of you why the name Henrietta is on this special bottle. Bizoe Henrietta was the first wine I have released into the South Africa and the World in 2008. The same Bizoe Henrietta 2008 that received a Gold Medal from International Wine Challenge in 2009. With big dreams and no money to start a business, I got a loan from my dad. Dad, a dentist in Benoni, with no wine background then, surely someone had to persuade him to help me. I am sure today Henrietta played a massive role in persuading the old man to help.

In writing the back label for the wine, I found out what Henrietta means. Translated back to German it translates to ‘ruler of the house.’ There couldn’t be a more fitting name for mom (sorry pa). The mother that everyone’s dream off, the lucky ones that has her as a grandma and of course Estalet that has her as a “mother-in-law”. It’s an honor for me to release the Bizoe Henrietta 2020 in the world!

Let’s all lift a glass to Henrietta Neethling, and thanks for what mom has done for me!

Childhood Memories

This is what I love about my Bizoe journey. It takes you to new places and places you haven’t been for years.

The past week I spend time in KwaZulu-Natal visiting Duncan Sutherland. Duncan owns a company Vine Vintage that does our sales and distribution in KwaZulu-Natal. Growing up I remember during the April holidays we always would go to the “sea” like the rest of Gauteng. Our “sea” was at Umdloti on the North Coast of Natal. It brought so much good memories back driving through Umdloti. I had to stop and take a picture to share on our family WhatsApp group. That just made me thank wine again for taking me across the country.

While in KwaZulu-Natal it wasn’t all about the past. We had a lovely time at Wineology in Salt Rock. Amazing little store with some interesting wines owned by Vanessa and Peter. Wineology is at the Sage Centre. Trip down the N3 towards Pietermaritzburg to pour wine at the Parkline Wine Festival. On our way stopped at Meander Fine Wines at the Piggly Wiggly Centre in Lions River. 

Back in the vineyards we started pruning the vines. That time of the year standing in the cold and cutting back vines to create a new vintage. Makes me think of John 15:5 “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me”.

Just mind boggling to think how great this process is of creating a wine. Pruning something now that somebody will be able to enjoy for the next 20, 30, 50 years. Just never know what a new vintage will bring to the table. What I do know is that it will end up on a table and be enjoyed by friends!

Next up is a trip to UK to visit our friends at Davy Wines UK for their Southern Hemisphere Wine Show in London.

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