The concept came to life when Ernst Storm and Tiaan Bezuidenhout got together and enjoyed a bottle of South African wine. Sitting around a kitchen table with a glass in hand, they reminisced about their time spent in South Africa and the exceptional wines from the Western Cape. With twenty plus years of experience in the wine and hospitality industries, they knew that these unique, high-quality South African wines needed to be shared with other wines enthusiasts. And so, Cape D’Or was born!

Both from the Western Cape, Ernst and Tiaan, met in Santa Barbara, California. Tiaan moved from the Winelands of Stellenbosch, South Africa to California as a management consultant for one of the Big Five consulting firms. He left corporate America twelve years ago, to successfully start his own businesses financing wineries, startups and importing South African wine. Similarly, Ernst grew up in South Africa and completed his viticulture studies at Elsenburg Agricultural School, in the Western Cape. After leaving South Africa to work a Northern Hemisphere harvest, Ernst settled in California. He is the owner/winemaker of a successful wine label as well as the winemaker for several other wineries in Santa Barbara County.

Cape D’Or Wines is the story of these friends.