About Us and Our Vision
Love grows in interesting ways and ours happened to be with grapes.
Stellies Wines was created by the two of us, Lorna and Patrick, in 2020. We met each other on a job in 2016, fell in love and now live in Los Angeles, California.
With the enormous variety of anything you could desire in Los Angeles, we have found a severe lack of South African wines on the shelves, which really disappointed us.
When we do find a bottle, its tucked away somewhere, no-one can tell us information about that wine or the farm from which it came.
So we decided to do something about it...
We’ve decided to educate people about South African wines by introducing them to some of the best boutique South African vineyards.
We want the wines to be accessible to all but just as important, we want our customers to know the story behind the wine they are buying; the rich history from which it has grown, where the farm is located and the people behind making it.
Our future vision is for South African wines being in every collector’s cellar, boutique bar and high-end restaurant across the U.S.A.
While we get to that, let's raise a glass and cheers to enjoying another brilliant day.
What Makes Us Unique?
We work with family run, boutique farms. Some dating back 9 generations.
Each farm has a dedicated page on our website where people can learn about the farm and order their desired wines.
Meet the Owners
Patrick Dupree
is a cinematographer, photographer and graduate of WSET. He first visited South Africa in 2016 for a TV production. An avid wine lover, once the production wrapped, he decided to take a trip to the Western Cape. It was there that he quickly fell in love with the wines of that region.
Lorna Daniel- Dupree
is also in the film industry as a camera assistant and photographer. Born and raised in Durban, South Africa, she moved to Cape Town for 5 years, where she completed her Bachelors Degree. Being in the Western Cape, a new world of wine was presented to her and she developed an intrigue and passion for wine.
Behind the Name
We decided to call our business Stellies Wines for various reasons.
1) Stellies comes from the colloquial term or nickname for Stellenbosch.
2) Stellenbosch is the most well-known wine-producing area that tourists know about (even though there are many more wine regions in South Africa to explore).
3) Our personal connection. Stellenbosch was our first getaway destination as a couple. From there we explored the other wine regions such as Franschhoek, Paarl, Constantia and more.
4) On our journey to educate the consumer about all the wine regions of South Africa, we thought we would use a fun nickname, that people may already know.
