Nicholl’s appreciation for wine, his active search for new, exciting vintage releases, and his involvement in the industry as a public promoter for South Africa’s wines, has officially listed him as the company’s first Wine Ambassador.
This online wine purchasing platform was designed with wine enthusiasts like Nicholl in mind. Founded by business partners Nicolò Stortiglione Pudel and Vincent Bührer, it is a curated luxury online experience for lovers of fine local and international wines. The platform allows consumers access to a virtual cellar filled with premium wines and spirits, shipped directly from the safety of wine cellars and perfect storage conditions at fine wine importers.
It is one of South Africa’s first collaborative responders to wine consumers’ demand for a collective online wine-buying experience – shipping products directly from South Africa’s top wine merchants like Wine Cellar and Reciprocal, as well as the cellars of the country’s most acclaimed wineries.
Pudel comments; “Port2Port was founded with wine enthusiasts in mind, by collaborating with major retailers and wine farms directly we provide everyone in the purchasing chain with an added benefit, the consumers pay the best price for wine stored in optimum conditions, and the producers and suppliers win too by paying less marketing and distribution fees.”
“I don’t like it at all,” jokes Nicholl, “it’s enormously distracting. If you’re looking for a quick, simple way of viewing an excellent selection of fine wine, and having it delivered quickly, then this is the perfect place.” He adds, “I also really like that a lot of the wines on offer are a bit older, and thus ready to drink if required. There’s also a nice selection of international wines – although I am more loyal to the South African offerings.”
“We are enormously happy that avid and entrenched wine enthusiasts like Dan Nicholl are turning to Port2Port as a trusted, national platform to indulge their love for wine,” adds Pudel. “We know that each purchase from Port2Port is the first step in creating a special moment, as our first Wine Ambassador, we look forward to assist in sharing many great wine moments with Dan and like-minded wine lovers.”
A love affair with wine
An avid wine enthusiast, Nicholl’s foray into the world of wine was kick-started when, during a vertical tasting hosted by Guy Weber from Stellenzicht, the energy behind winemaking unfurled a lifelong commitment to enjoy wine on a more transcendental level. Says Nicholl; “That was the first time I really understood the stories and passion behind making wine, and how it was so much more than simply something to drink.”
This initial introduction to the world of wine has since grown into an enthusiastic pursuit of quality wine, the stories that accompany them, and the moments which immortalise them.
Some of the greatest wine moments Nicholl recalls include a steak and Malbec pairing in Ruca Malen in Mendoza, discovering a bottle of Kleine Zalze in a wine bar in a back alley of a village in Malta, raising R15-million for charity as host and auctioneer at the annual Cape Wine Auction, and drinking a bottle of Ernie Els Proprietor’s Syrah with his wife, Dimitra’s, family at her village in the Peloponnese, Greece for his daughter’s Christening.
The consequences of his vinous pursuits are stored in his well-stocked wine cellar: about 800 wine bottles, some of the more precious being a Meerlust Cabernet 1978, as well as wine from various wine regions he and his wife have visited. These include Napa Valley, Waiheke Island and Queenstown in New Zealand, and Santorini in Greece. For Nicholl, wine is more than an object maturing in the cellar. “It’s the memories attached to the wine that are really valuable,” he says.