Story of Van Loveren Vineyards and 'Four Cousins', SA's top-selling bottled wine
The local market is big enough… We made a conscious decision to focus on the local market… We focus on South Africa; we’ve done well here…
Phillip Retief, CEO - Van Loveren Vineyards
We had it fairly easy. We worked hard, make no mistake… When the next generation comes in, it’ll be different… We try to encourage them to get a university degree… and travel the world… and work elsewhere…
Phillip Retief, CEO - Van Loveren Vineyards

The Retief family has been making wine since 1937 when they bought the Van Loveren farm near Robertson in the Western Cape.
Wynand and Nico Retief started making wine for wholesale and bottling it themselves in the 1960s.
The Retiefs created the famed “Van Loveren” brand in 1980.
It took a year to sell 500 cases.
The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield interviewed Phillip Retief, CEO at Van Loveren Vineyards, for his weekly “ShapeShifter” feature.
Philip Retief is part of the third generation of Retief winemakers, at it since the 1990s.
In 2000, the four Retief cousins introduced the “Four Cousins” range of wines.
Today it’s the top-selling bottled wine in South Africa.
Listen to the interview in the audio below (and scroll down for more quotes from it).
We are two sets of brothers… We affectionately refer to ourselves as ‘The Cousins’… We are a good example of how to farm in a family business environment. We’re doing a lot of things right… We’ve had very few bust-ups…
Phillip Retief, CEO - Van Loveren Vineyards
The fourth generation… will be a bit more challenging…
Phillip Retief, CEO - Van Loveren Vineyards
... It was the driest it’s ever been… All farmers learned something from this drought… We’re now more savvy…
Phillip Retief, CEO - Van Loveren Vineyards
We want to diversify into other categories of liquor… The craft gin market is very exciting…
Phillip Retief, CEO - Van Loveren Vineyards
…We are the producer, under license, for the [Zulu] King…
Phillip Retief, CEO - Van Loveren Vineyards
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