ABOUT

I moved from Stellenbosch to London back in 2014, and after working a few harvests abroad, realised that the wild idea of wanting to produce some of my own wine wasn't totally impossible. In 2018 I returned to South Africa, bought a few tons of fruit, rented some cellar space, and made the first Yo El Rey wine, 1800 bottles of a blend of Syrah and Grenache Noir.

 

Yo El Rey means "I, the king", and was inspired by a teenage Pablo Picasso who signed an early self-portrait with this tagline. It became a mantra of mine as a young man, and I scribbled it on all of my notebooks and exam papers. For Picasso, it was a reminder for him to believe in his talents and to trust the process, and it took on the same meaning for me. It became a reminder to believe in both myself and my dreams, and to never, ever give up on the journey.

 

Yo El Rey started as just an inspired idea, and as with any brand, it's evolved. The more I have worked with and been exposed to natural wines, the more I feel a deep conviction to move the style of winemaking I embrace in this direction. And that then also embodies the ethos of working with fruit that has been farmed without any chemicals or agricultural products used in conventional farming. As of the 2023 vintage, all of our fruit is organically or sustainably farmed, and there are now four wines that will be released in that vintage.

 

– Angelo van Dyk