You’d swear they have the birds under contract. Sitting under the trees outside Creation’s tasting room, watching the swishing tail feathers of the sugarbirds and the trilling of the bokmakierie, it’s hard not to imagine a morning avian scrum, clipboard in wing, as they decide on the best flight choreography for that day’s entertainment. The chorus of frogs mingles with laughter and morning gossip as the Tasting Room team pick imphepho for the tables, its sage-like scent traditionally used to commune with the dream and spirit world.
Creation’s philosophy is as simple as it is obvious: nature. On a good day in Burgundy, you might see a rabbit. Here, the vineyards are practically bursting, teeming with insects, birds and small creatures. Hemel-en-Aarde boasts one of the world’s richest biomes, with more plant species per square kilometre than almost anywhere else on earth. While wine is a notorious monoculture, Creation works in nature, observing, adapting, pivoting toward the landscape’s natural flourishing inclinations. “Organic, biodynamic -that doesn’t excite me. What’s your contribution to nature?” says JC, winemaker and co-owner of Creation. “Biodiversity is critical. That makes sense to me.”
But nature isn’t limited to the vineyards. So many get stuck on the “agri” in agriculture. They can talk rootstocks and slope orientation and soils for days. Daaaaays. And yet, in all that time of clonal comparisons and soil pH values, the ecstatic gasps of “terroir!”, the “culture” part falls by the wayside. Yet, it’s the people, their approach and beliefs, that create the alchemy of turning a few vines on a hill into something as magical as wine.“Our aim is to be one of the most loved wineries in the world,” Carolyn, Creation’s other co-owner and marketing director, tells me. “It’s not complicated,” she laughs. “But to be loved, you have to give a certain amount of love.” In the wrong hands, it’s a mission statement that could be corporately trite. But then I spent two days at Creation and realised something quietly radical was happening underfoot.
Just as biodiversity creates a thriving symbiosis, Creation’s team forms a flourishing ecosystem that nurtures diversity and individual talent. There are no official job titles -everyone steps into a role wherever they can. And absolutely everyone is in charge of selling wine. “There’s nothing blocking you from being excellent. You just have to come and say, this is something I want to improve on,” says Joy, who works in Creation’s front of house. “You can do anything because we have a leader who backs us to be creative.” Daniela, whose intended two-year stint at Creation has since stretched into twelve, says: “Carolyn inspires people. She lights little flames. And then that flame can light another flame.”
While Carolyn jokes that this isn’t Hotel California (many team members have moved on to amazing opportunities, like Tinashe Musora, who went from a holiday job to becoming Creation’s Head Sommelier and now works for Princess Cruises after winning the IWSC Emerging Talent in Wine Hospitality Award, or Khail van Niekerk, who walked barefoot into Creation’s tasting room and now looks after one of the biggest wine and spirits suppliers to the Maldives), everyone I spoke to has no intention of leaving. “Sometimes I almost feel it’s too good to be true. Hopefully I can stay here until I go on pension,” says Gerhard, Creation’s viticulturist. A surprising number of team members have been at Creation since it first opened 24 years ago, affectionately nicknamed “the OGs”. They, in turn, guide first-time employees who have graduated from the Pebbles Project, a community initiative co-founded and supported by Creation that gives children and young adults from agricultural communities access to quality education, nutrition and health services. “I call them klippies,” says Joy. “Sometimes they even turn into rotse.”
I started wondering if I should work at Creation. No monocultures here: everyone comes together to joke around over staff breakfasts and lunches prepared according to Ayurvedic principles. There are Chi classes, monthly massages and visits from doctors who administer vitamins and booster shots. Educational opportunities don’t end with WSET courses. Joy was flown to Georgia -her first-ever overseas trip -to work on a world gastronomy project. To give the team the experience of excellent service, Carolyn took them to La Petite Colombe.
Everyone has a pair of Creation pink sun- or reading glasses, their shade matched exactly to Creation’s rosé. The rose-tinted view seems almost gimmicky until Daniela tells me she is on her fourth prescription pair (I don’t think I can convey the extent of this luxury to the non-bespectacled. I have had the same prescription sunglasses for five years, watching many a frame-shape trend pass me by). Beyond the walls of Creation, Carolyn and JC also minimise the number of taxis they take to work by providing staff transport, know every team member’s family setup, who’s sick, and whose teenager needs a holiday job. They collaborate with other Hemel-en-Aarde producers, universities and artists -“We share a lot of our IP,” Carolyn says. “All I want to do is share my knowledge and ideas and make sure that wine businesses thrive.” It’s not even lunch, and she’s already matchmade three potential businesses (none of them her own) just for the joy of seeing other people get a lucky break. It’s about generosity and reciprocity.
The Creation experience goes beyond wine. Step into the tasting room and the staff will be wearing their hearts not on their sleeves but their chests. “It’s about creating moments of joy,” says JC. “If somebody comes to your doorstep, you sit together, you open a bottle of wine, you have some food. There’s no need to hurry. Take the time.”
I, for one, will be donning Creation’s rosy outlook.
Words by Raphaela van Embden | Follow Raph on Instagram