Spanning the state for Northeast Living segments always provides me with the pleasure of meeting some of the best people, and places, which make living here so great.
This week, I was introduced to Mary and Van, from Knauth & Visser, LLC, located in Branford, CT. They’re a lovely married couple who first met while working on a private mega-yacht. They fell in love not only with each other but with the wines they discovered together. The first time they jointly experienced South African wines was when he took Mary – who is from the small town of Mystic, Connecticut – to his homeland in the Western Cape of South Africa. They returned to the States to get married and created a distribution company as a way to show their passion and love for South African wines. Today, Knauth & Visser LLC is a family wine-importing and distribution company specializing in quality, affordable South African wine.
I consider myself a bit of a wine connoisseur, so I arrived excited to meet them and get to work on this new assignment. Van was a real natural on camera, with his good looks and great hair – plus that South African accent. Mary was delightful and her knowledge and beauty lit up the room (we almost didn’t need any TV lighting!)
We talked, drank, and I learned all about South African wines. Although we did not finish any of the bottles – in order to keep tasting new ones – I returned home with some and later that night was able to relive the 2003 Grandehurst Pinotage we shared together.
South African wines have entered my life and now I’ll be looking for them and asking for them by name. I love hosting Northeast Living and “wine not?” as the people I meet are always so MARvelous!
