When we moved to East Texas, we had to adjust to finding new past times. What we were used to doing on weekends in a mountainous, coastal, eclectic city was not available in the sleepy town in the Piney woods of East Texas. Wouldn’t it be nice to visit a vineyard, I thought. Vineyards in Texas? Vineyards in flat East Texas? That seemed like it was not even possible.
To give you a little background, Our family grew up in the Winelands of Cape Town. The whole family was in the tourism industry. My mom was the general manager of a family owned, boutique, 24 room guesthouse and my father managed holiday homes for international homeowners. My sister and I were homeschooled for most of my school years. In addition to the curriculum, life and its experiences became our classroom. It was not uncommon for school projects to be fitted between day trips to see tourist attractions when VIP guests were in town. I have calculated many math problems in the office of our family guesthouse.
Service to others was a consistent theme in my growing up. I have helped make beds and cook breakfast when the staff had to call in sick. I watched my mom make calls and change plans at the flick of a wrist when the weather meant canceling cable car trips up table mountain. My dad would pick up guests from the airport in the middle of the night and bring them to their holiday home, making sure everyone was settled and knew how to use the coffee maker in a strange kitchen. Hospitality is at the core of our family.
it’s a family affair …
Nearly 17 years after landing in the USA, and nearly 25 wineries popping up over the last 10 years, we have our wish! Something to do on weekends. Being entrepreneurs, and loving people as much as we do, a brilliant idea began to hatch… We (yes I have convinced Mom and Dad to come along for the ride) have decided to bring that level of service and attention to East Texas and its wine lovers. We are going to do guided wine tours in the east Texas area. We will work with handpicked vineyards and estates, passionate winemakers as well as top notch establishments that share our love of customer focused experience. There are over 25 wineries scattered throughout the many curtains of pine trees in East Texas and we can’t wait to show them to you.
