Irishman Edwin Doran lives the dream as a Wild Geese wine producer in the Fair Cape!

And old friend, now business partner André Badenhorst has worldclass winemaking in his pedigree for generations

Edwin Doran was born in Leixlip and educated in Belvedere College where he was introduced to rugby which, together with food and wine, became his life’s passions.

In July 1974, Edwin set up a travel business in Twickenham which grew into the world’s largest sports tour operator. After nearly 35 years, he sold his company in November 2008 and, continuing to live the dream, bought a 400 acre wine farm in the Voor Paardeberg with his close friend, Andre Badenhorst, a name very familiar in South African wine circles. André was born at Groot Constantia where his father was general manager for 46 years. He spent much of his life  

A keen wine enthusiast, Edwin built up a very interesting private wine collection over the years and then sold it to pay for the new cellar with its 20 stainless steel tanks.

In their wisedom and to their good fortune, they appointed the young and very talented Martin Lamprecht as winemaker. I met Edwin & Martin in Cape Town to taste their wines prior to bottling their first vintage. They came with a few plastic bottles and I thought  'what's this about?.' However, on tasting, I was really impressed. We even did a little bit of blending trial runs.  Doran’s style focuses on their top quality fruit combined with judicious use of oak with delicacy & finesse.

Edwin Doran considers himself a very lucky man to have his hobby as his occupation and was really chuffed to have had the worldwide launch of his Doran Family Wines on Irish soil at the Dubolin Bay Wine Experience in 2013.