Rein Ernst (29) grew up in the North West, near the Botswana border, on land that was mostly devoted to sheep, cattle, maize and sunflower cultivation. His earliest memory of the Western Cape is the jagged mountain ranges with vineyards at their foothills. “I knew this was where I wanted to be one day,” he says.

He briefly considered studying engineering but ultimately chose the open air of the farms he grew up on. “I made sure to be indispensable to every farming team I joined and soon took responsibility for the various operational and logistics needs of a farm-to-table fresh meat business that spanned an entire value chain.”

After moving to the Western Cape, he was introduced to the world of wine at a Noble Vice Wine Festival, where the enthusiasm of small-batch Swartland producers proved to be infectious. He applied for a position at the Cape Town Wine Hub, a wine logistics provider, where he absorbed as much as he could about the wine industry and worked his way up to head of operations. “One of the first and most memorable moments in my career was shortly after I started working in the industry, when I attended a one-on-one tasting at Painted Wolf Wines,” he says. “Cofounder and intrepid adventurer Jeremy Borg regaled us with stories of his passionate wildlife conservation efforts, while introducing me to Roussanne and Old Vine Chenin Blanc for the first time.”

His time at Cape Town Wine Hub taught him everything he knows or couldn’t learn on his own, he says. “I learned everything, from how to wax and label bottles by hand to operating labelling, bottling and disgorging machinery. The directors, Tanja Beutler and Flagan Mitchley, gave me an in-depth crash course on wine exports, logistics, warehousing and tertiary production, and I got to understand the behind-the-scenes procedures and quality measures needed to support producers in the wine industry. Cape Town Wine Hub was my guiding light in the world of wine.”

As the custodian of over one million bottles of high-end wine, spanning about 1 400 different products from 80 boutique and large-scale wine producers, Cape Town Wine Hub instilled in him an enduring appreciation for what happens behind the scenes and out of the limelight. “Logistics is an often overlooked but essential part of the wine supply chain,” he says. “I’m immensely proud that I could play an essential role in the value chain of so many unique products.”

Some of his most memorable moments include the riddling and disgorging of Cap Classique. “These might just be the most impressive and awesome processes in wine production,” he says. “I’ve had the privilege of planning and overseeing the riddling and disgorging of several different products, and it never disappoints.”

On a mission to expand this knowledge and experience, he recently accepted a role as operations manager at Under the Influence, a modern wine exporter focused on new export markets. He’s also enrolled for a BSc in plant science and Cape Wine Academy course.

He believes the industry’s future is bright. “The South African wine industry is currently undergoing maturation and changing its focus from large-scale, low-value production to a larger number of unique, higher-end wine producers,” he says. “Combined with the rising popularity of low-intervention wines from specific regions of origin, this creates unique sensory experiences. We are on an extremely exciting trajectory.”

Rapid fire Q&A

  • Red, white or bubbles? White wines – Chardonnay, Verdelho, Swartland Chenin Blanc . . . Pinot Noir and Grenache Noir. I was never really going to choose between white and red ;-)
  • One thing that always makes you laugh? My dog, Gruff. He’s my source of endless amusement. I think he exists to be silly.
  • Who in the wine world inspires you most? Franco Lourens of Lourens Family Wines, Danie Carinus of Carinus family Vineyards and Pieter Walser of Blank Bottle Winery.
  • Your hidden talent outside of wine? I enjoy playing the piano I tend a majestic garden.
  • One word that describes the SA wine industry? Impassioned.

Social media

LinkedIn: Rein Ernst