If you want to keep the peace when you tell your significant other that you’re too busy starting a wine business to hang out on the weekends, take a cue from the founders of MAN Family Wines and name the winery after your sweetheart. MAN comprises the initials of Marie, Anette, and Nicky, the wives of José Conde and brothers Tyrrel and Philip Myburgh.
The men started making wine together in 2001 in South Africa’s Agter-Paarl region. They’ve come a long way from the first 300 cases they produced in a tractor shed; today, they produce over 200,000 cases annually, which are available in 45 countries. But that doesn’t mean they’ve lost sight of what inspired them to embark on their adventure: the desire to create classic, affordable wines for everyday enjoyment. “Keeping the winemaking simple and straightforward also allows [us] to honestly express their terroir,” says Tyrrel.
Tyrrel and José are involved in the day-to-day operations of MAN, bringing with them a solid foundation of hands-on experience garnered from working in their families’ wineries. However, a winemaking background does not guarantee success in a new venture. How did MAN scale up successfully?
“Firstly, we focused on varietals best suited to our region, e.g., Chenin Blanc,” says José. “Where we sourced grapes, we prioritized good relationships with the growers so that we could foster continuous improvements in the vineyards. Having confidence and security about one’s grapes really adds to the strength of a brand.” The fruit comes from predominantly dry-farmed vineyards whose growers preserve precious water resources by bypassing irrigation, achieving more intense flavors as a result.
That confidence in quality, from the vineyard to the cellar, is the foundation for MAN’s focus on the consumer; per the company’s mantra, which appears front and center on its website, it aims to make “everyday wines for wine geeks.” “We approached wine from a consumer’s perspective,” says Tyrrel. “We tried to avoid the wine producer’s ‘silo,’ which can appear disconnected from the everyday wine experience.”
He emphasizes the importance of offering consumers “a notion of deliciousness”: “South African wine has this interesting balance between New World fruitiness and Old World restraint. The whites, especially the Chenin, are quite fruit forward, but they also have a tangy acidity and a backbone of minerality to them.” That combination ensures the Chenin Blanc’s versatility when it comes to food pairing: “It is a very flexible, adaptable food wine,” he notes. “You can pair this wine with just about everything. . . . For example, I was just at a restaurant and had a Thai mango-papaya salad. This can be a difficult dish to match with the acidity and spice, but the Chenin handled it well. It is a variety that is full of surprising matches.”
MAN’s portfolio of white wines also includes Chardonnay, which is blended with small amounts of aromatic Muscat and Viognier to “add intrigue on the nose without resorting to much oak,” says José. As for the Sauvignon Blanc, he calls it “one of our underrated wines. We have developed long-term relationships with excellent Sauvignon Blanc growers in Elgin and Stellenbosch. These cooler-climate sites give nice citrus and tropical fruit notes but at moderate alcohol levels. We blend [the wine] with a bit of dry-farmed Sémillon, so the style is more white Bordeaux than New Zealand.”
However, it was a red wine that launched MAN Family Vineyards, specifically Pinotage, South Africa’s signature red. “Of course, being South African, we have to make a Pinotage,” says José with a laugh. “We have had a different approach to Pinotage compared to many, if not most, South African producers. Since the ‘parents’ of Pinotage, Pinot Noir and Cinsault, are both generally lighter wines, we back off the extraction by pressing it early and finishing it off the skins. We also blend in 8%–10% of partially whole bunch–fermented Grenache, which adds to the freshness.”
MAN has expanded its range of reds to include Cabernet Sauvignon, bringing a South African touch to this international variety. “We think the Coastal Region in the Cape is really one of the great underrated regions for producing Cabernet, [which] has the bright up-front fruit of the New World but with a structure that is closer to Bordeaux,” says Tyrrel. And what does he pair with a MAN Family Wines red? “If you ask a South African for a red-wine food pairing, they will likely offer just one word, ‘braai.’ Braai is a universal word for meats cooked over flames, and it is the national obsession.”
The look and nomenclature of MAN’s core lineup of three whites and four reds also reflect its South African provenance. Self-taught artist Georgina Taylor, a native of KwaZulu-Natal, created the label illustrations depicting indigenous flora and fauna. The aforementioned Chenin Blanc is labeled Free-Run Steen Chenin Blanc, a reference to the fact that the grape is often called Steen in South Africa. And the Pinotage is named Bosstok in honor of the bush-vine vineyards that are commonly found in the Agter-Paarl region of the Cape Coast. Bush-vine Pinotage grows close to the ground, producing lower yields of concentrated and flavorful grapes.
The founders’ strong relationship to one another, their long-term partnerships with grape growers, their connection to South African culture, and their winemaking know-how—not to mention their sustainability certification from IPW (Integrated Production of Wine)—have fueled MAN’s upward trajectory. Still, Tyrrel believes one key element is the most critical to its success: “Building a good team of people has ultimately been the most important factor. Producing wine requires a strong, passionate, dedicated team—from the growing to making to bottling and labeling and something as seemingly prosaic as shipping accurately and proficiently. Teamwork makes the dream work.”
