Kevin Grant the animal lover had originally wanted to be a biologist. The only place to offer a B.Sc. in mammalian zoology in the mid-1980s was the University of Pretoria.
'Tukkies' was an Afrikaans-language university, a challenge for someone born the son of a banker in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Blantyre, in the British Protectorate of Nyasaland before it became Malawi in 1964.
As it was for someone despatched southwards to Cape Town as a seven-year-old to boarding school at 'Wetpups' [Western Province Preparatory School, a private boys' primary school] and then on to Rondebosch Boys’ High during his teen years.
But me impish, independent little boy 'who'd absolutely LOVED boarding school' had never had much of a problem adapting to new environments.
More importantly, he befriended a guy who had twin uncles in Pretoria, each with his own home cellar and who had the most amazing wine collections thanks to constantly trying to outdo each other with their latest acquisitions. So we used to visit and drink all sorts of fabulous wines: those great vintages of Cape reds from the 1970s and 1980s; the Meerlusts, Rust en Vredes, Rustenbergs, Groot Constantias!'
In the meantime, he'd decided to go into research. His honours thesis was on 'porcupine parental care'. 'I learnt that they're great dads and mate for life.' By which time he'd also learnt that mammalian research work was largely confined to the north of the country and the south is where he wanted to be. Then his required two-year national defence force stint was spent 'as an older recruit training all these young guys from the Cape who all seemed to be from wine farms!'
All of this galvanised him into enrolling at Elsenburg Agricultural College in Stellenbosch for a cellar technology course at the ripe old age of 28. Graduating as Dux student, he was offered a job as assistant winemaker at Delheim under cellarmaster Philip Costandius [a Guild member]. handling the 1991 and 1992 harvests.
'Winemaking isn't rocket science.'
He has fond memories of living during this time in the 'pool house' on Warwick wine estate, owned by the late Stan Ratcliffe and his winemaker wife Norma, one of the first woman winemakers in the Cape and a former Guild member, now an honorary member.
'It was far nicer than any digs I'd been living in until then. And Stan and Norma were the kindest, most hospitable people. Of course, all my mates and all the other young winemakers would come and visit me there and we'd have great parties. That's when I probably started getting into cooking, of sorts.'
Kevin declares himself unequivocally passionate about the Karoo; wife Hanli hails from there. But for her husband it harks back to nostalgic memories of boyhood car journeys across the semi-arid vastness, stopping off at quaint little towns along the way.
They've committed adventure campers, 'preferably in unfenced game reserves' and mostly during school and student holidays when children Alexander, Genevieve and Matthew are home from boarding school. But they also make time to head off to the remotest parts of the Karoo, to celebrate a birthday or anniversary: just the two of them.
Abalone and wild mushroom risotto recipe by Kevin Grant paired with Ataraxia Chardonnay wine....
Karoo lamb shanks with creamy samp recipe by Kevin Grant paired with Ataraxia Serenity wine....