Ian Naude's winemaking career was a matter of happenstance. His father's dairy farm included some vineyards, and to put them to use he began as an apprentice winemaker. It was not long before he consecrated his career to winemaking, managing, despite South Africa's stigma of apartheid, to secure positions throughout the world's viticultural areas. For a decade, he worked harvests in France, Germany, Italy, Israel and the United States, including a few years in Sonoma with Robert Young and in the Columbia Valley with Hogue Cellars. Taking advantage of opposing seasons, he returned periodically to work harvests in South Africa. In the mid 1990s, he joined Savanah Wines near Paarl under the respected Nico Vermeulen. In 1998 he was appointed winemaker at Linton Park