OUR STORY
The Dickens Family
Both winemaking and storytelling hold subtle nuances that can be brought to life only by a skilled and passionate creator. The creation of either calls for patience, perseverance and a certain amount of brilliance. A good wine like a piece of perfect prose should be savoured, contemplated and enjoyed fully. Our vision is to build a wine corpus that stirs emotion in those enjoying it, and evokes an anticipation to keep exploring the narrative.
The idea behind every wine is to tell a story, and winemaker Lionel Dickens was inspired to tell his family story through this medium. The Dickens' story spans centuries and continents, with a family history of his grandfather George Alfred Dickens immigrating from England to South Africa with his family.
MEET THE WINEMAKER
Lionel Dickens
As a child Lionel always had a passion for nature and fell in love with the dramatic landscapes and rugged coastlines of South Africa, marked by mountains and blue skies, and ideal climate for producing perfect wines. Having worked for many years in various areas of the wine industry, Lionel Dickens has started to write a new chapter in the cellar. His wines take their inspiration from the classical tradition – made with minimal intervention to reflect balance, elegance and most importantly, an interesting story of origin.
Lionel knows every aspect when it comes to producing a bottle of good wine. After 28 years in the wine business and his worldwide travelling experience, he knows what our wine consumers are looking for in a top-class wine.
A NEW CHAPTER
The Dickens Novel Range
The first batch of Dickens Wines was born in Paarl in the Western Cape. All the wine was exported to Germany, France and England. Today we create wine from each region of South Africa and we tell the story of our Family History through our wines.
Like a timeless novel, these wines possess a certain verve and staying power – ever evolving to show a new dimension each time they are revisited. You have to drink the wine to explore the story.