Ken Forrester Wines - 21 Year Celebrations

In November 1993 we decided on a massive gamble to relocate our family and our lives and to risk everything we had, to purchase an historic, but totally dilapidated, ruin on 50 hectares of vineyard land, in Stellenbosch,” explains Ken. “You may recall this was almost on the eve of the first democratic elections held in South Africa, Mr Mandela was tipped as the new President, Chris Hani had been assassinated, the mysterious ‘Third Force’ was hard at work and there was a fair amount of chaos in the country. Lots of smart folks were leaving in their droves, but we chose to invest, grow a business and stay.” With the help and support of many friends and neighbours the Forrester family sold their restaurant interests in Johannesburg, renovated the historic manor house (built in 1694) and relocate the family. “It’s been a truly wonderful 21 years. Our girls have grown up with the concept of open space and the challenges of farm life, swimming in the dam, irrigation water, boreholes, raising horses, cows, dogs, geese, ducks and chickens, not to mention the jackals, otters, the porcupine, the grysbokke, duikers, owls and literally hundreds of other assorted birds. “For the wines we’ve been fortunate enough to have had literally hundreds of accolades and awards. There’s something rather special about toasting the sunset with the wine from the land and we honestly feel that we live somewhere very close to paradise. Well blessed indeed!”