Kobie and Faisal
South Africa
Kobie's Wines
- South Africa
- 13Â wines
- 4Â styles
Cult wines from South Africa's Decanter and IWC award-winning winemakers
- Kobie was head winemaker at South Africa’s ancient Spier winery, with the oldest wine cellar in the land. Faisal was the business brains that transformed Spier into the nation’s most medalled winery in the 1990s.
- They bought a vineyard right next door to Spier, and for years sold them their grapes, which went into Spier’s top-of-the-range boutique wines.
- Angel backing now means they use their own grapes to make a range of game-changing wines that have become cult classics at Naked. If you like trying new wines that make you go, ‘where has this been all my life?’, you’ll love Kobie & Faisal.
Vineyard Location
Kobie and Faisal's Story
Kobie and Faisal's Story
"Hi Angels,
My name is Faisal and I work alongside Kobie to make sure you guys get the very best wines South Africa has to offer.
I got into winemaking through buying a small property in Stellenbosch soon after the New South Africa came into being in 1994. It was meant to be a holiday home but we decided to develop the vineyards which were very run down and see what we could do with them. 16 years later I am working we are making about 50,000 bottles of wine a year!! Once the vineyards were improved (that took 5 years), we started by selling grapes to some of the boutique wineries around us and found that they were going into their top award winning wines!! So we decided we should have a go at making our own as everyone says that great wine is made “in the vineyard”.
Over the last 10 years I have learnt a lot! Kobie and I work together – he does much of the day-to-day during harvest whilst I do the keep things on track between harvests, look after the planning and business side, and we co-operate on the blending and finalisation of the wines for bottling and release.
There are two things I think really make the job of winemaking the best in the world.
Firstly- it goes on in the most beautiful parts of the world imaginable, Stellenbosch and the Cape generally are totally spectacular. The food (and wine of course) is spectacularly good, the ocean is next door (and surfing is my passion!!), and the sun shines much of the time. What more could anyone want?
Secondly – wine is a product everyone has some interest in, so it’s a wonderful way to socialise, meet people and share a common interest.
The only thing that isn’t so good is It is very difficult to make any money out of it!!
Unsung heroes at Moerbei include our vineyard manager Lodewyk and his No.2 Koos, who keep the vineyards in top condition 52 weeks a year! They are ably assisted buy 3 dogs Casper (a Rhodesian Ridgeback), and Timmy and Maya (both Jack Russells), whose job it is to keep the birds off the grapes at harvest time!!
Best wishes,
Faisal"
