𝗩𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 – 𝗔 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗙𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘀𝗰𝗵 𝗛𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀

Over the past three decades I’ve spent much of my life on the road across Southern Africa—quietly collecting moments that never made it into brochures.

I’m turning those days into a 12‑volume series:𝗔 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 – 𝟯𝟲𝟱 𝗗𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮

One book per month. One chapter per day. Each a single, real moment.

So far I’ve shared: 

A September morning with Southern Right whales in Hermanus.

A low‑level flight home along South Africa’s West Coast.

This week’s excerpt steps into my own family story in the Cape winelands:

𝗩𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 – 𝗔 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗙𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘀𝗰𝗵 𝗛𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀

18 September (short excerpt)

“Some wine farms you arrive at as a guest.Others you arrive at like you’re driving into an old family photograph.”

We turn off a main road in Stellenbosch onto a smaller lane that threads between blocks of cabernet and chenin. At the end of it, half‑hidden by trees, lies a place that anchored my mother’s family for most of a century.

Stellenrust.

In the late 1920s my great‑grandfather, Richard Stuttaford, bought and consolidated land here. The tract was then known as Rustenburgh—confusing in a valley that already had another major estate called Rustenberg. To fix the constant mix‑ups with mail and deliveries, he renamed the farm in 1928: Stellenrust, “finding rest in Stellenbosch”.

On this September day, I bring guests “home” there for a private barrel tasting and a simple lunch on the lawn next to a 30‑metre pool fed by the river. We taste young cabernet straight from French, American and Eastern European oak, see how the same juice becomes three different accents, then sit under the trees with roast chicken and salad while I tell them about long summer days in that river‑pool and early dinners in the kitchen where children ate separately from adults.

If you’d like to read the full draft chapter, you can 𝗕𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 here:

👉 https://lnkd.in/ewhnakkN

And if this kind of journey speaks to you, you’re very welcome to travel along with me—one chapter at a time.