South African wine legend: Giorgio Dalla Cia

There’s the buzz of his winery and distillery below us, the sound of a Stellenbosch day coming from an open window, and a breeze occasionally scented with the aroma of coffee floats up from the adjacent Pane E Vino, the family’s food and wine bar. But all my attention is on the legend in front of me, so magnetic is his presence.

Not only was Giorgio once knighted by the Italian President in 1986 for his achievements in the South African wine industry, but this Italian-born distiller and winemaker is celebrated for making one of the first Bordeaux style blends in South Africa, the iconic Rubicon. A wine, which earned him the accolade of South Africa’s Champion Winemaker in 1980 as well as the IWSC Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Trophy (for the best blended red wine in the world) for the Meerlust Rubicon 2001. He also took home the 2005 title of Winemaker of the Year, which he was awarded in his home province of Friuli. Most recently Giorgio received the Living Legend Award at the 2016 Veritas Awards.

“I grew up surrounded by wine, brandy and grappa,” says Giorgio. His father ran a distillery and wine merchant business in Friuli, Italy, and from a young age, Giorgio was granted access to the backstage of this alchemic world. Not that it removed any of the magic of it for him, if anything it enhanced it. “When I was a little boy I was enchanted by how they could create this clear liquid from fresh fruits. I thought they must be some kind of wizards. I also wanted to be a magician. Though I didn’t know it at the time—it was already decided for me anyhow!”

Tradition dictated that Giorgio being the eldest had to follow in his dad’s footsteps. “In Italy tradition is more important than anything else—luckily it was what I wanted to do.”

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