Marnelle talks about origins of Kiepersol through her father. Kiepersol Texas Podcast- ep 3 Hosted b

Kiepersol Texas Podcast

Marnelle talks about origins of Kiepersol through her father. Kiepersol Texas Podcast- ep 3 Hosted by Michael Roth . . . . Topics: The holidays are here, we have great opportunities for gifts or reasons to come visit the vineyard while we have the Lights of Kiepersol . Marnelle talks about the significance of the #3 and why it's so important to her family. Marnelle - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Birthdays falling on the 3rd day of the month and a little superstion. . Michael wants to get to know more about Pierre, since he was such a foundational part of creating Kiepersol and the fact everyone talks about Pierre. Marnelle talks about the difficulty in being able to talk about Pierre, since it is close to 3 years of his passing because it still hurts. "Just talking about it, it's almost like a watermelon grows in my throat." . Marnelle talks about how we don't have a #6 tank in our wine production facility because of superstition and loathe for the # 6. . Pierre taught lessons from the Bible to his daughters. Marnelle recalls one lesson of honoring your mother and father. "I know there is one point where you stop hurting and start being proud to honor your loved ones (parents) who have passed.... And, we're getting there." . "We've done Vintner's Dinners where we've had guests, stand up and toast to him. I just have to get out of the room in those moments. It is still raw." . "My Dad, as a founder, laid an amazing foundation for my sister, myself and this team!" . In 1984, we left South Africa and migrated to the United States. "Pierre use to say, "I am running away from a broken heart." Because my mother passed away in South Africa. " . Our upbringing was allowing us to observe that a man act in both parental roles as he raised us and help us know who our mom was and how to honor her. "It most certainly is time for us to start honoring him (Pierre)." . Pierre and his family moved from Groblesdal, South Africa . You can read about his history in the book "Story of We" https://shop.kiepersol.com/collections/merchandise/products/the-story-of-we-book . He told us "I wrote our story, girls." . We lived it, but at the time, we didn't know that we were poor. We didn't know why we ate peanut butter or canned soup every day. We were too young to have perspective on our situation. All we knew is that were protected and warm and love and we were recipients of "Toys of Tots", we didn't know how poor we were. . Marnelle, "If you're going to leave your country for good, there is one country you're going to come to. If you're going to come to the USA, you're going to come to one place, Texas." When we came to the U.S., Dallas the TV show was popular and helped encourage us to move. "When we moved my dad was the most patriotic man I ever knew. When we were flying in, I remember so vividly, my dad woke us up and pointed out the Statue of Liberty to us from the plane. " I was 5 years old at the time. . . Pierre and the family first went to Texas, then got a job in California, the journey back to Texas. The journey is all documented in the Story of We. . When we landed, my dad told us that we were not going to speak in our native language, Afrikaans, but it was English from then on. "I learned English from Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse cartoons. We assimilated and didn't look back." . Pierre didn't just come to the USA and start Kiepersol. So Marnelle discusses the journey and companies that Pierre worked for and started along the journey to Kiepersol. . Once Marnelle graduated high school, she told her dad, "I want to be a farmer just like you." . Marnelle talks about Dirk, her grandfather, Pierre's father, who is the inspiration behind us creating Dirk's Vodka with the excess grapes. We were the only winery or seller of alcohol in Smith County Texas. Since an election put a ballot of "Wet/Dry" to the vote, we decided to encourage people to vote Wet. We decided anything can put in a bottle and compete on a global market for wine, we w