People
Dr. Yair Safriel (Co-Founder)
Lynne Safriel (Co-Founder)
Yair Safriel
Dr. Yair Safriel is a clinician,
clinical trialist, analyst, teacher and entrepreneur with a
passion for nurturing innovation and sharing it with others.
While a student, he also nurtured a passion for the wine cellar by
working as a cellar hand at Rustenberg, one of South Africa’s
preeminent estates which sold its first wine in 1692 and has been
bottling wine continuously under its own label since the late 19th
century. Etienne Le Riche was the chief winemaker at the time in
Rustenberg (who subsequently opened his own label making arguably
the best Cabernet in South Africa) and Hans Vinding Diers was
visiting assistant at the time (whose family owned Château Rahoul
and Château de Landiras in Bordeaux, Graves and now makes wines on
Noemía de Patagonia and on Argiano, Cinzano's Tuscany estate).
Later, Yair would go on to work at the University of Cape Town with
a grant from Duggie Jooste of Klein Constantia, mapping out the
genetic fingerprints of vines.
Yair
then moved to the United States and studied neuroradiology at the
State University of New York and then at Yale University. He became
a partner at a major imaging firm in Minneapolis and subsequently
founded a Radiology Contract Research Organization. Now living in
The Tampa Bay region of Florida, Yair is a partner in a major
radiological imaging firm.
The desire to be involved with producing fine wine never left and after a fortunate meeting and encouragement from a
South African merchant and winemaker, the opportunity arose to use
his contacts and knowledge to find wines from South Africa to bring
to the United States.
Yair likes reading cellar manuals and recommends reading "Making
Good Wine" by Bryce Crossley Rankine, "Concepts in Wine Technology"
by Yair Margalit and "Cooperage for Winemakers" by Geoffery
Schahinger.
| A DNA fingerprint from Yair's research at the University of Cape Town and Klein Constantia showing differentiation between Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Semillon, Chardonnay and Riesling vines. |
| Continue: Lynne
Safriel |
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Lynne Safriel
Quiet,
unassuming yet determined would describe Lynne. Lynne’s family
originally settled in Tulbagh, a town in the heart of the Cape wine
country and she still has close family who call Constantia home.
Lynne is actively involved in the community and sits on the
leadership board of a non-profit organization. She has a wickedly
astute palate for wine and her enduring philosophy is “We have to
produce wines that I can be proud to put my name on". Lynne is the
heart and engine room of Safriel House and is fanatical about
quality and our customers, focusing on quality from cellar to
bottle. By interfacing with the wider wine world, she brings the
wine lovers voice to our technical wine discussions and uniquely to
Safriel House, Lynne took it upon ourselves to take care of our
wines beyond our cellar by organizing temperature controls for our
wines while they are transported to our customers.
Lynne's favorite reads in wine are "The World Atlas of Wine" by Hugh
Johnson and Jancis Robinson and the classic "South African Wine" by
David Hughes.
