OnTap Magazine

I follow a brick-laid path around a small fountain, and through a pair of French doors into the restaurant. Once past the reception area, with framed family photos – many of them black and white – hanging on the wall, I enter a large dining room, with a bar off to the left and a tastefully decorated seating area equipped with a fireplace to the right. The arched ceiling boasts a timber beam truss, which accents the whitewashed walls and creates a pleasant, open-air ambience. Straight ahead, a set of wide glass doors leads out onto the red-bricked patio, with those undulating grassy greens and vine-laden fields just beyond. Vivian Kleynhans (born Brutus), founder of Seven Sisters, immediately greets me and we take a seat by a window. She proceeds to share with me her story, and that of this first-generation wine farm, named after the siblings she was once separated from. BIRTH OF A BRAND When Vivian was 18-years old, her father lost his job at the factory where he worked in the (then) small fishing village of Paternoster on the West Coast. “Despite having been a loyal employee of 25 years, this job loss also meant we were stripped of our [factory-owned] housing,” Vivian tells me. The 10-person family was not only forced to leave their home, but their town as well, and soon enough, each other. She and her eight siblings – seven girls and one boy – were sent to live with various relatives who could accommodate them. This was the early 80s and opportunities for a family of colour, like the Brutus family, were limited. As the years went by, Vivian managed to complete her studies and began a career in human resources. One day in 2003, she happened to hear the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs give a speech encouraging people of colour to get involved in the wine industry. Intrigued, Vivian did some research and realised this Minister was right: wine was big business in the country, and one that had excluded people of colour from its higher echelons for hundreds of years. Inspired and determined, she acquired an entrepreneurship diploma from the University of Cape Town, and completed a wine management course from Stellenbosch University Business School. Then, in 2005, she launched her own wine brand. The brand brought the siblings back together for the first time in over two decades and provided a shared vision: Seven Sisters was born. SUCCESS OVERSEAS Vivian worked hard on her new brand, initially purchasing quality wines from reliable farms. She found interested importers in the United States, such as Whole Foods, a popular high-end supermarket. In 2009, she struck a deal with American Airlines, which according to Vivian was a “significant financial breakthrough.” That same year brought another windfall: the family acquired a plot of The seven Brutus sisters and brother John. The back patio is ready for a tour group. The brand brought the siblings back together for the first time in over two decades 40 | Summer 2022 | ontapmag.co.za