MAN Family Wines: Grapes, Grit and Growth - A South African Wine Story

Tyrrel Myburgh, co-founder of MAN Family Wines, began his journey in 2001 alongside his brother Philip and friend José Conde with a simple vision: to create high-quality, affordable everyday wines. Coming from a family deeply rooted in winemaking through Joostenberg Wines, Tyrrel brought both passion and practicality to the project, often taking the lead in building trust with local grape growers. His early focus on sourcing the best fruit, rather than relying on flashy equipment, laid the foundation for MAN’s collaborative approach with farmers—many of whom are now shareholders. Today, Tyrrel continues to champion South African wines, guided by his belief in their quality, authenticity, and global potential. 

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In what ways does your dry farming approach shape the flavor profile and quality of each vintage?

The berry size is smaller with dry farming and the yields tend to be a bit lower. Both these factors contribute to more flavor and extract in the ultimate wines. It has to do with smaller berries having a higher skin to juice ratio and most of the flavor compounds tend to be in the skin.

Can you describe how your winemaking principles—sustainably grown, true to varietal, well-balanced, and consistently high quality—are implemented throughout your process?

Wine is what you would call a “combination of 1%’s”. The soil, the location and the season of course play a major role but all the other things add up and have a major influence on quality. An extreme amount of focus and planning goes into each step from planting a vineyard all the way through to bottling.

What unique characteristics of the Agter-Paarl terroir most influence the personality of wines like the Jan Fiskaal Merlot?

Agter-Paarl is part of the Paarl wine region. The winters are wet and cold and the summers are warm and dry. In most years there is more than enough sunshine to ripen our Merlot and the Jan Fiskaal Merlot therefore has lovely plumb aromas and flavours. The area is also very windy and it gets cool at night so the wine always has a lovely savoury quality.

What challenges and strategies have you encountered in expanding your international distribution while maintaining consistent quality?

The wine industry in South Africa and internationally is facing many challenges. These range from tariffs to decreasing wine consumption and many more. Our main strategy in overcoming these challenges is to focus on our core principles and to carry on producing wines that offer extreme value and quality. We believe that although the wine market will shrink and grow with the times it is here for the long term as it is such an intrinsic part of our lifestyle and culture. As long as we make a very good product there will be a market for our it. At the same time we are adapting to market demands and we are putting a lot of effort into improving our environmental sustainability. Examples of this include a move towards organic vineyard practices and renewable energy. We believe that our wines will improve and importantly increase their ability to reflect the soil and the site as we move towards a greener way of farming and making wine.

How does the philosophy behind your tagline, "Everyday wines for wine geeks," shape your branding and customer engagement efforts?

Many fine wines have priced themselves beyond the reaches of people that love wine. They have positioned themselves as luxury goods. We tell people that they can get as much enjoyment from our wines even though they are affordable. The comments we get from happy consumers seem to validate our efforts.

From an industry perspective, how do you see consumer preferences shifting in South African wine markets, and how is MAN Wines adapting to these trends?

As mentioned previously consumers are demanding  “greener wines” and we are adapting to this in several ways e.g. organic viticulture, solar energy and lighter bottles. A preference towards wines that display regional identity is also becoming more important and our sales of Chenin Blanc and Pinotage seem to reflect this. 

If you would like to find out more about MAN Family Wines, please visit https://manwines.com/, ​​www.joostenberg.co.za, www.lievland.co.za and www.stark-conde.co.za