The Culture of Wine
Jacques de Klerk is the director of winemaking and viticulture at Radford Dale, an Afrikaner amongst an assortment of international counterparts. From English-born Francophile Alex Dale to French-born Frenchman Edouard Labeye and Englishman Tom Prior. It’s as if their OTHERNESS only strengthened the South African identity of the brand. Like the way, we come to know ourselves through travel. I remember a particularly lonely winter in America when humming Buffalo Soldier under my breath was the only thing that gave me comfort {granted, I was a particularly dramatic teenager}. Thus fitting for the South African to be the one making the wine, though Jacques says their international influence has been invaluable in discovering his/their identity and continues to be the driving force in this particular brand. You see Radford Dale, like its people, is quite a few things.
The Sum of All its Parts
Apart from being a well-curated import company of intriguing under-the-radar and not-so-under-the-radar wines from France (Burgundy, in particular, being Alex’s speciality), New Zealand, Australia, and America (we continue to be inspired by their ever-evolving portfolio). Radford Dale is also a South African producer of wines from 37 different vineyards, from Stellenbosch, Elgin, Stanford, the Swartland, Voor-Paardeberg, and Paarl. And since conducting this interview, proud owners of Elgin Ridge, now called Radford Dale Organic, a 20 ha, organically certified farm, as the name suggests, in Elgin. Their journey, taking on an intriguing trajectory, which I feel almost foreshadows the future of the wine industry here in South Africa.
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