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From a young age Lourens van der
Westhuizen has dreamt of making his own wine in the
old cellar on the farm. It is from his single-handed
determination and desire to Hand-Craft top quality
wines that Arendsig wines have taken flight.
In 2002 he completed a diploma course at Elsenberg
with viticulture and agriculture as his main subjects.
In 2003 he worked the season as a winemaker’s
assistant at Glen Carlou, where he gained practical
experience and knowledge from Walter and David Finlayson.
Later that same year he worked the harvest at Copain
Wines, in California. Copain processes their own wines,
as well as acting as a production facility for ten
other cellars, which made the time he spent there
both exhilarating and exhausting. What intrigued Lourens,
however, was that the vineyards were all managed organically,
wine was fermented with wild yeast, clones of varieties
kept separate and all the cellar processes were run
on a gravity system, with no pumping of wine. There
was also attention to detail when choosing oak casks
for the wines.
With this experience behind him Lourens returned to
Arendsig determined to combine all that nature has
to offer in making his personal, Hand-Crafted range
of wines. He is not only winemaker but also viticulturist
and marketing manager so is involved at every stage
of his grapes journey from vineyard to table.
“Nature has created enjoyment and discovery
in my life, where I can live to the extreme and enjoy
good company. I want to do this with my skill and
the gut feeling that God gave us sole winemakers”.
“I have only been making my own wine since 2002.
Over time I have learnt and I have created. I have
learnt how to never stop learning, and I’ve
created wine by grace of a precious gift, that of
being a sole winemaker.”
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