January 22, Seven Sisters Wine Farm

Today we had the opportunity to go to Seven Sisters Wine Farm in Stellenbosch, and it exceeded our expectations! Seven Sisters is owned by Vivan, a first-generation wine farm, and one of the first Coloured-owned farms in Stellenbosch. They began construction in 2011, fully finished in 2015, and began harvesting in 2016. 

We got to explore the farm a bit when we got there, which included visiting Pedro and Ali (their rescue horses), playing piano, and admiring the beautiful white architecture of the farm buildings. Vivian’s son then showed us around the vineyard and explained some of their bio-sustainable agricultural practices. We all got to pick a grape from the vines for a taste! It was 95 degrees today, but we were informed that warmer weather harvests greater sugar content in the grapes, so we weren’t sweating for nothing. Also, it was so hot that Pinias even said it was hot, so we were not being dramatic!!

Vivian then gave us a presentation of her personal narrative growing up through Apartheid as well as her experiences being a Black business entrepreneur. She is the image of grit, strength, and resilience. Vivian grew up in extreme poverty with her six sisters and one brother (hence her brand) in a small town with no electricity and a 15 km barefoot walk home from school. She shared that her upbringing motivated her to become an entrepreneur. The goal was to get out of the cycle of poverty and selling wine was the way to make means to money, where at the end of the day “wine found [her]”.

She shared that she built her business on anger. Angry at Apartheid is just an underestimate, and wanted to ‘show them that we are as good as them’. Vivian started her wine business with nothing; she used other farms' grapes to create her first bottles of wine. Some good luck fell in her lap when a Harvard Graduate studying abroad fell across her wine stand and resonated with her story. With some connections in America, Vivian began going door to door in the US until she got some traction from businesses. She went “bottle to ground,” as she began to profit, she found some land, received some land from the government through a Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment program, and set down to slowly build the beautiful farm we see today. 

We were treated to a yummy authentic South African meal, cooked by Vivian’s younger sister who works on the farm. We all got to choose whether to taste a sweet white Moscato or a dry red Pinotage. Each wine name is dedicated to one of the sisters in honor of their personality, with Vivian’s being a Sauvignon Blanc. She taught us the “5 S’s” of wine tasting: see the wine, swirl the wine, smell the wine, sip the wine, swallow the wine. 

Vivian and her family also created the Seven Sisters Foundation, which was initiated during the struggle of Covid. Their foundation delivers food to the local communities. Vivian shared that her sisters prepare the food in their kitchen, healing from their childhood trauma together through helping others. She hopes to motivate others and show the people of South Africa that they can make change and overcome all the barriers that are set in front of them. 

We are very grateful for our experience at Seven Sisters Wine Farm and to hear Vivian’s story. Seven Sisters is now more welcome in the local wine industry; South Africa has grown from only 7 Black-owned wine brands to a current 110. 

We, of course, had to support the Seven Sisters, where most of us decided to purchase a bottle of wine!! What a fun day!