Markus Ehehalt is a former long-term Bosch engineer from Stuttgart in Germany.
He purchased the Manley Wine Estate in August 2020, and everyone on the farm is very excited about all the new changes that are planned to take place within the following couple of months.
Markus has a great wine background and as a child, he used to help around in his grandfather’s workshop in Baden-Württemberg where his grandfather was the local village cooper. During his younger days, he witnessed many exciting operations in the German wine industry. Baden is a region (“Anbaugebiet”) for quality wine in Germany and is located in the historical region of southwestern Germany.
With great love and appreciation for wine as an adult, Markus completed an assistant sommelier course before spending more than four months at the Karl Haidle VDP winery just outside Stuttgart under the mentorship of their winemaker, Moritz Haidle, during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in Germany.
He recently did an internship at a German cooperage and single-handedly built his first two barrels with Swabian oak, something that his grandfather will surely be very, very proud of!
Clearly, Markus was suited from the very beginning to own a wine estate and be part of the global wine industry. Upon a former visit to South Africa, he fell in love with the beautiful countryside and Cape Winelands Region, and of course, we cannot blame him for that! Tulbagh was his village of choice and after careful consideration, he decided to acquire the beautiful and already well-established Manley Wine Estate.
Markus and his business associate, Elias Kuhl Mihopulos, also a German entrepreneur from Stuttgart, are eagerly planning major renovations and structural changes in the coming year to uplift Manley Wine to a high and upmarket private cellar and boutique wine farm with luxury bed and breakfast accommodation.
All the Manley employees and management staff are very happy about the new ownership and all the exciting changes that are planned to take place. Winemaker Joshua van Blommestein has received free reigns in the cellar and is eager to further create premium, world-renowned wines that will put Manley Wine Estate at the top list of the best South African wineries.
We wish Markus en Elias only the best with this great business endeavor and to this, we can only say, “Prost!”
Welcome to South Africa, gentlemen!