- Natasha Williams is the winemaker behind the top-rated Lelie van Saron wines.
- As a Cape Winemakers Guild Prot gè, Lelie is experiencing a coming home of sorts.
- As a black-owned brand, Lelie van Saron is leading the charge, with several other industry peers, to change the narrative about black-owned wine brands by taking responsibility for the full value chain and securing the quality of the wine to compete on a world stage.
"I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters." - Song of Solomon, Chapter 2:1-2.
Saron is a town in the Western Cape at the foot of Saronsberg in the Tulbagh district, a mission station established by the Rhenish Missionary Society in 1848. Saron is Afrikaans for Sharon, the Mediterranean coastal plain between Joppa and Caesarea, seen as a place of great fertility in the time of Solomon, and thus the great metaphor in the Song of Solomon.
Though a decidedly Biblical turn, especially given the subject matter (though wine and religion have gone hand-in-hand for eons given the monks' involvement in the vines in Medieval France), it is fitting given the woman.
Natasha Williams is a Lelie van Saron, a colloquial term used to denote a young girl from the small rural town at the foot of Saronsberg, and she does symbolise the great abundance promised in the Song of Solomon. Though, you'd be mistaken for underestimating her grit, talent, and ambition.
Lelie comes home
While she embodies everything you'd expect of a Lelie van Saron, Natasha is also part of a fraternity of black-owned businesses that are busy earning the respect of the wine industry, both at home and abroad.
I met her, as you know, at the Vineyard Tales tasting a few weeks back at Bosman Winery in Wellington, where she had been making wine for over 9 years. She recently started a new position at the newly established Hasher Family Wines in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde, on the land of the old Sumaridge wines.
When I interviewed her again (digitally this time) this week, she said she had the feeling that Lelie was coming home. Coming home because her own Lelie van Saron brand of wines, which include a Chardonnay, Syrah, Sparkling wine and Red Blend, have all been made from grapes sourced from the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Bosman farm, De Bos.
Added to this, her partner of 8 years, Wade Sander, previously Associate winemaker at Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines and now part-owner and winemaker of Brunia Wines, also recently purchased land with his family in neighbouring Sondagskloof. Something she also wishes to do in the future. Thus, a literal homecoming of sorts.
Not what you'd expect
Natasha is soft-spoken with an underlying grit and logic that excites me. She says that one of her biggest challenges was getting a job for her final year practical. Having studied for four years at the University of Stellenbosch and having been accepted into the Cape Winemakers Guild Prot gè Program, her demure demeanour made people question her ability to deal with the harsh realities of cellar work.
She says it was Sjaak Nelson of Jordan Wine Estate who finally gave her the opportunity in her final year (himself from Tulbagh), and it was both the Jordan Chardonnay and Syrah that inspired her Lelie van Saron wines.
However, her specific focus was on the cool climate expressions of these grapes. Natasha's background is not what you'd expect of a winemaker. Raised in a religious household they never really drank wine at home. In fact, she says when she eventually decided to get into wine, her mother was definitely a little distraught.
Though, I believe she shouldn't have worried, given her daughter's personality and talent. Natasha says she grew up on the back of a bakkie with her father and grandfather farming cattle, and her mother an entrepreneur of note, who ran a tuckshop out of their garage. Her wine label is based on a doily her mother made as a girl (a skill passed down from her great grandmother). Handmade pieces she sold to her teachers for R1 a set to earn her first pocket money.
A change in the wind
Winemakers, aside from the creativity and passion, are usually also scientists, and Natasha says she grew up watching the Discovery channel and her dad warning that one day she'd be boarding a research ship to Antarctica. Though now it would be pointless for her to go there given the lack of grapes.
During our tasting with the Vineyard Tales group, Natasha, in her quiet way, took control of the situation, having been tasked with setting up the tasting. I was gripped by her detailed and analytical approach to the wine. When she mentioned the importance of being a black-owned brand that takes responsibility for the full value chain, unlike some black-owned brands in the last 10 years who would merely purchase bulk wines and place a label on it, I could tell she meant business.
She, with her Vineyard Tales peers, understood that in order to change the narrative around black-owned wine brands, which in the past might not have been representative of the best quality, they had to take on the responsibility of conceptualising, farming, making, designing, and selling their wines themselves. To ensure that before anything else, the wine is judged on quality to contend as a top-rated black-owned brand on an international stage. Which given the members of this group, people like Banele Vakele of Tembela Wines (also working for Duncan Savage), Mahalia Kotjane of Lievland, Rüdger van Wyk of Kara-Tara and Stark-Cond , Wade Sanders of Brunia Wines, Ricardo Cloete of Bellingham Wines, and Clayton Christians of Cape Classics - I feel a shift in the wind.
Look, winemaking is hard work, and it's not about the money (at least not at first) because yearly, any profits you have should really be spent on the vines and planning for the future of the vines and the wine. Natasha says the lack of generational wealth is still a prohibitive factor in growing a business like this and is part of the struggle of being a black-owned brand. I do think the industry is diversifying and recognising South Africa's talented new winemakers from all backgrounds.
Recognition earned
The Lelie van Saron never raised her voice but just did the work and earned the recognition. I knew Jancis Robinson MW was in the country for the Trophy wine show and read her feature on the Hemel-en-Aarde winemakers, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a separate article on Natasha's Lelie van Saron wines, all of which she had rated 17 points, basically the equivalent of a 95-pointer in her 20-point scale.
Lelie's Syrah proves the relevance of Syrah in the heartland of SA Pinot Noir, with Jancis noting: "Syrah plantings are increasing in the Cape South Coast. Transparency and real Syrah character!" Jancis concludes: "Lelie van Saron, and Natasha Williams, are definitely names worth watching." This, coming from the (arguably, because I know a few others) pre-eminent Master of Wine in the world, is a huge accolade and tells of how far Natasha has come in earning the respect of the industry.
Though Lelie van Saron's wine is world-class, it also represents a culture, another subset of South African life, and tells the story of the little town of Saron. As we talk, Natasha says she wants people to drink her wine with a Bobotie or other traditional dish that dispels the idea that fine wine can only be enjoyed with a French dish dripping in butter (though no one is upset about the butter). Our culture is so rich, and Natasha's story, and her wine, make me hopeful that we will come to celebrate and support our diversity in ever more meaningful ways in the future.
For now, I suggest you start with the wine as I start hounding the next Vineyard Tales member for a story. Natasha's wines are available via Wine Cellar here.
