Jeremy Borg

Jeremy was born in 1960 in in Johannesburg. As a young boy he moved to Malawi and was sent to school inZimbabwe. His years at boarding school in Zimbabwe forged a bond with nature as he explored the bush in his free time. He also meandered around Malawi on his bike during the school holidays. These childhood experiences built the foundation of a lifelong love and passion for Africa, its wilderness, fauna, flora and people. His parents entertained a lot and instilled in him an appreciation for good food and wine.

Jeremy completed a BSc (Hons) in Economics at Brunel University in the UK, after which he opted to explore his passion for food and wine. In the years that followed, Jeremy worked at a number of high-profile restaurants in the UK and USA, eventually opening his own small gourmet pizza restaurant in California.  Pizza Rustica was rated one of the best in the San Francisco area.

Jeremy’s path then took him into the wine trade, first selling wine for small California wineries and then as part of the winemaking team at Rosenblum cellars, where he developed basic winemaking skills. He also attended UC Davis for short winemaking and viticulture courses.

In February 1994, Jeremy visited family in South Africa. His sister, Amanda was working as a wildlife film maker and had met Emma at Lloyd’s Camp. She knew that the camp was looking for a cook and had volunteered his services. Jeremy’s home visit resulted in an abrupt change of paths after Emma interviewed him and recommended him to the boss.  By accepting this job and going to work in Botswana, Jeremy realized that he had always felt slightly alien in the USA, but back in the bush, he felt at home. Africa had reclaimed one of its own.

In December 1995 Jeremy & Emma were married under an acacia tree in Savuti. Shortly after, they moved to Paarl, South Africa. On that wedding day they made a pledge to give back to the African bush in some meaningful way.

Paarl became Jeremy and Emma’s new home. Jeremy returned to the wine industry, working for Fairview.  During seven inspirational years heading up the sales and marketing team at Fairview, Jeremy self-funded his post grad degree in wine business at Adelaide University. He then set up a wine consulting business.

The first wine was made in 1995, Borg family Shiraz. Making it was a group endeavour, with friends rallying round to find a few open fermenting bins, a couple of barrels and cellar space at Black Pearl wines. The wine was bottled and corked by hand, starting them on the path to becoming full time wine makers. Painted Wolf Wines Company was born in 2007.

Jeremy aims to make wines that are as interesting, exciting, and individual as wild dogs. The pawprint of the company has spread to five continents, with Painted Wolf wines being sold in 16 countries. A  portion of turnover is donated to select conservation organisations.  The organisations which are chiefly supported by Painted Wolf Wines are the Tusk Trust in UK, which supports numerous African wild dog initiatives in Zimbabwe and Botswana; and locally in South Africa to the Endangered Wildlife Trust who Painted Wolf donations help fund The Wild Dog range expansion program. Painted Wolf also contributes to the conservation of other endangered species, and to a charity called Children in the Wilderness. The total sum donated to date exceeds R3,5 million to conservation and a further 500k to social upliftment projects.

Wine making accoladed over the years have included the prestigious Old Mutual trophy wine show top producer for the year in 2019, top 100 wines globally in Wine enthusiast in 2013, Diners club wine maker of the year- runner up 2016 and most recently acknowledge by Decenter in UK with the top rated SA Syrah and highly rated Pinotage. He was also the recipient of an EWT Cheetah award for contributions to conservation in 2015