Three of the four cousins: Phillip, Bussell and Neil Retief
Third-generation family winery Van Loveren has grown from a 22-hectare Robertson farm into one of South Africa’s largest independent wine companies, now farming 1 400 hectares and owning brands including Neil Ellis, Survivor, Landskroon, and Zandvliet. Run by the "Four Cousins", Hennie, Bussell, Phillip and Neil Retief, the business has thrived on shared ownership, diversification, and an ego-free partnership model that spans farming, winemaking, marketing, and distribution.
“Die lank en die kort van dit…” / “The long and the short of it”– Oom Nico Retief keeps saying in an attempt to try and summarise the sprawling family history of the third generation Retiefs of Van Loveren and Four Cousins (and many other things).
I met Oom Nico and Tannie Shan (who with his brother Wynand are the second generation Retiefs responsible for Van Loveren’s winemaking legacy) at their house, behind Christina’s Bistro at Van Loveren in Robertson, after my interview with their nephew, Phillip Retief, now CEO of Van Loveren Wines.
Christina’s is located in the original Goudmyn F farmhouse, where Oom Nico, his brother Wynand, and two sisters were born.
Their house today is where the young men used to sleep, though admittedly much changed since then.
The young men in question (Nico and Wynand) also the fathers of the Four Cousins, Hennie and Bussell (Nico’s sons), and Phillip and Neil (Wynand’s sons). The creators of the 2000s runaway success, the 1.5L sweet wine brand of the same name.
The original 22ha Robertson farm was purchased in 1937 by a Paarl-based Retief for his son and his wife, Hennie and Jean Retief. It was named Goudmyn F, and because Ouma Jean was superstitious, believing the F to stand for Fools and Failures, they soon renamed it Van Loveren, after her ancestor Christina van Loveren.
Ouma Jean loved gardening, and the gardens at Van Loveren remain a tribute to her. She even brokered a love match through her gardening club, introducing her eldest son, Nico, to Tannie Shan Bussell of Montagu.
The wickedly funny, informal spirit of the second generation Retiefs (Nico and Wynand), are not what you’d expect of a company that has grown exponentially within the last year, acquiring the production facilities at Overhex Winery (a producer cellar), a majority share in Neil Ellis, Landskroon and Survivor Wines all in 2025, not to mention existing brands like Zandvliet, Christina, Tangled Tree, Four Cousins, Almost Zero, and Rhino Run. A kind of hybrid family-run corporate, with some real heart behind the scenes.
Today, the business farms 1 400 hectares across Robertson, Worcester, Paarl, Stellenbosch and the Swartland, a scale achieved in just 25 years.
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