Winemaker Seth Jex [Credit: Fort Berens]
For any winery, succession is one of the most delicate moments in its evolution. Consumers may focus on the name on the label, but behind every bottle are countless decisions shaped by the people guiding the vineyard and cellar. When a respected winemaker departs, uncertainty can often follow.
At Fort Berens Estate Winery, however, the transition from Alex Nel to Seth Jex feels less like a changing of the guard and more like the continuation of a carefully plotted journey.
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Winemaker Alex Nel.
When we first met winemaker Alex Nel at Fort Berens Estate Winery back in 2022, our story carried a simple, powerful title: Perseverance Pays Off. At the time, Lillooet’s pioneering winery had weathered heat domes, the growing pains of a young wine region, and the usual roller coaster that comes with farming in a place that tests the limits of viticulture. But none of us could have predicted just how much more perseverance the next few years would demand.
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Our first visit to Fort Beren’s Winery in Lillooet, British Columbia in 2021 was nothing short of a revelation.
A most unique terroir.
Not only was it surprising that this remote location was capable of growing grapes, but in the right hands, those grapes could be turned into high quality wine. When owners Rolf de Bruin and his wife Heleen Pannekoek needed a new winemaker, their search lead them halfway around the world to an even more remote place in South Africa.
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Rolf de Bruin.
The word ‘pioneer’ gets bandied about a lot, but it truly takes vision to open the first commercial winery nowadays in a region with barely any viticultural history. It certainly wasn’t the first place Rolf de Bruin and his wife Heleen Pannekoek had considered for a winery when they emigrated from Holland, but heading into their 11th harvest, they’re already making their mark on BC’s rapidly developing wine scene at Fort Berens.
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