Meet Jo & Nick Lowe from The Grape Hustle – a small boutique wine agency based in the classic coastal town of Plettenberg Bay along the Garden Route. Their agency started in September 2020. Yes, that’s right… the year we would all rather erase from memory! But for them, it turned out to be a year to remember.
Here is their inspiring story…
“Our professional wine journey started in 2017 when we represented established wine estates in the Gauteng region of South Africa, but it’s not where our love of wine began.
Since 2012, after countless trips to the Cape Winelands and over 100 wine estate visits, our passion for wine began to ferment! We were introduced to the Cape Wine Academy’s range of courses and certificates, this is where the proverbial “bug” bit.
We decided to move to the Garden Route and start our wine agency amidst global uncertainty, alcohol bans & lockdown level fluctuations. Crazy, we know… but we wanted to share our appreciation for wine with others! Our ethos and vision was to bring great wines to the Garden Route that had not been seen here before and share the stories of these wines, wine estates & winemakers with anyone willing to listen.
We were extremely fortunate when curating our portfolio and getting to work with the wine estates and winemakers we wanted to represent. It’s important to love your product and believe in what it stands for and this is our mantra.
We truly believe wine is not about WHAT is in the bottle, but WHO it gathers around the bottle to share it! Creating memories and experiences you can share with others is key. We believe wine is as serious as you decide it to be and for us, it’s about stripping any pretentiousness and intimidation away and just enjoying what’s in the glass.
1 year in and it’s been an interesting ride… 8 weeks of alcohol bans, adjusted and re-adjusted lockdown levels, building new relationships and lots of travel. We wouldn’t change it for the world! The relationships we’ve built and the friends we’ve made has been humbling, but we can’t stop now – there are NEW wines to be tasted & NEW friends to be made!”
The Grape Hustle has just launched its exciting new online ordering platform in time for the festive season. If you are travelling to the Garden Route from around the country and don’t want the hassle of extra ‘baggage’ on your road trip please give them a like on their social media pages : FB & IG. Then jump onto their website The Grape Hustle to place your personalized order of some of the best wines the Western Cape has to offer!
Well done, Jo & Nick! We love the fact you have created this fantastic initiative along the Garden Route and we are BIG fans. Good luck with the rest of your ‘WINE’DERFUL journey.
You must be logged in to post a comment.