Behind the vine

Natasha Williams - Lelie van Saron - Hemel-en-Aarde, South Africa

When do you think you fell in love with wine, enough to make a career of it?

To be honest, wine was never in my cards. I come from a household where alcohol was taboo, so I didn't grow up with wine on the table. My first exposure to wine was at university, and I still didn't know I was going to study winemaking. I knew I wanted to do something in science, and coming from a small rural town, I knew it had to capture the natural world as well. Ironically, the year before we finished school, a career counselor visited, and I remember we all took a 2 hour exam that was meant to show us our potential career path. I am thinking that I want to be a scientist or accountant, and when I met the counsellor he had only one thing to suggest - he told me I should consider the Stellenbosch University winemaking course. He said you would be perfect as a winemaker. I walked out really upset, and thought it was a waste of time, winemaking as a career! I kept it in the back of my mind, but it seemed like a far out idea.

I did go to Stellenbosch University, and studied molecular biology. In my first year I realised maybe being in a lab is not fully for me. I met a girl who was studying winemaking, and at the end of my first year, I took the leap of faith and switched courses. For the first few years, I thought what am I doing?! It was so far out of my comfort zone, but it really fed the curiosity I had inside of me. In my final year, we had to do cellar work and when I started getting my hands dirty, I understood what it meant to make wine, when you start living and breathing the process, not just reading about it. It came to life when I did my first harvest.

What story does your wine tell?

I work at the Bosman Family Winery where I have exposure to many wines and wine styles and varieties, but I also wanted to make something that tells the story of me, myself and my wine journey. The story of how I've learnt to make wine relevant to me, my lifestyle and my culture. That's why my own label is called Lelie van Saron.

Lelie van Saron is an Afrikaans phrase. Lily, the flower represents purity and humility. It speaks to my approach of wine making. Saron is paying tribute to where I come from - which you always need to know to know in order to know where you're going.

In a nutshell, there's a quote from Maya Angelou - 'A Woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and only herself '. I think my wine speaks about that. I make wine that showcases the purity of fruit and showcases origin and a sense of place and what we can expect from that variety. I’ve never been boxed in to making only one thing. I’ve had the opportunity to experiment a bit more and understand the most natural way of making wine. As someone coming from Stellenbosch, we are geared to investigate and research things. It’s about how we can use the grape and the wine itself to bring across what we want to. Myself and the grapes work together, using minimal intervention, to facilitate the process of making wine.

What misconceptions about wine do you think people should forget?

For me, the biggest thing is to change minds with education. I think in certain cultures, we still can't enjoy a glass of wine without the misconception of: 'what are you doing, it's taboo, you aren't supposed to do that’. I grew up in a multicultural family with different religions and both sides have objections to consuming alcohol. For me, it's a cultural thing. We need to show we can consume wine responsibly, and there is a place for wine in our everyday. Maybe not for every individual, but there's a place for wine around every dinner table across every culture.

What great things about wine do you think people should remember?

I have learnt the great things about wine through my own experiences. The biggest influence on me was when I went to California for my first internship experience. There were 8 interns: a girl from Chile, guys from Argentina, from Spain, from England, etc. I remember walking into a cellar with cellar workers and farm workers, and everyone is welcoming you like they’ve known you for 20 years. For me, this was such a huge change in my journey in winemaking. It opened my eyes to more cultures and to the power of wine to bring people together. I even impacted how I viewed our consumption of wine in South Africa. It showed me what wine can be in your culture and in my culture.

Wine is community building. It translates across borders and languages. You might not know what the other person is saying, but you are bonding. That is the biggest thing I take away from wine: the beautiful connection we have with people who you wouldn't normally cross paths with. I know people from Korea and California just because we were able to connect around a bottle.

What is a piece of advice you would give to a woman interested in breaking into the wine world?

I only have experience in winemaking in the wine world, so I would say - it's an interesting time to enter the wine industry. Our consumers are excited to try new things. People are more open-minded. The entry of the journey is easier, but you have to have passion. I've learnt that wine has become a lifestyle - cook with, enjoy almost daily. It consumes your life, but in a good way. You learn you aren't limited to one aspect. You may study winemaking, but you get involved in product development, marketing, managing people, skills development. You realise that you wont' be confined to one box in the wine industry, but you can be a jack of all trades. You get your hands dirty and you realise you need a piece of equipment and then you are inventing it yourself! There are no boundaries, you will continue to learn forever.

Who is a woman in wine you think everyone should know about?

Corlea Fourie. My first job was an internship at another cellar. My first job after I graduated was at Bosman Family Cellars as their junior winemaker. Corlea was my head winemaker back then and she promoted me to winemaker. I was coming from varsity, and knew very little about the industry, and what to expect as a woman in the industry. She played an instrumental role in my development as a winemaker and as a young woman in the industry. She taught me so much about how to stand firm and project confidence in yourself in a male-dominated space. I admire her knowledge of the business, her tenacity, and her finesse in the workplace. Over the past 6 years working next to her, I have learnt so much from every conversation. I can't tell you how I'd end up if I'd stood next to someone else.

Where can women find your wine?

In South Africa, I sell mostly through my site. In the UK, at The Sourcing Table. In the US, through VS wine imports. I have a very small production and quantities which is mostly sold to London and a bit to the US.