When Suzaan Laing came to New Orleans from South Africa to earn a master’s degree at Tulane University Law School, she expected to go home afterward. Instead, a pandemic, a law career and a wine list of small-production South African vineyards combined into one of the more unlikely import businesses on the Gulf Coast — and its wines keep showing up at Alabama events benefiting conservation.
The Accidental Importer
Laing is a trademark attorney, licensed in both the United States and South Africa, and that profession turned out to be the door into the wine trade. Before leaving South Africa she had helped a long list of wineries register and protect their trademarks — which meant she knew the producers, and the producers knew her.
When the pandemic shut down international travel in 2020 and stranded her in the United States, she decided not to wait it out. She founded South to South Wine Importers in New Orleans, bringing in South African wines from vineyards she had worked with directly. “I knew most of the producers since I had helped each of them trademark their wineries,” she says. “South African wines are well thought of and highly valued throughout Europe and Asia but were not well known in America. South to South was the name that seemed to fit.”
The name is a double meaning: from the Southern Hemisphere to the American South. South to South distributes throughout the Southern United States, with its base at 2301 Julia Street in New Orleans.
Alabama’s Door: ABM Wines
In Alabama, South to South’s wines travel through ABM Wines, founded by Seth Hargett and Ree Segars of Summerdale. Seth is an experienced chef in his own right, with stints in New Orleans kitchens including Mister B’s and Emeril’s, followed by years as the fine dining chef at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear. Three years ago he and Ree opened ABM Wines with a mission to introduce select wines not previously available in Alabama, traveling the state to call on chefs at fine dining establishments — and occasionally leading small wine tours to South Africa itself.
“Seth and Ree at ABM Wines represent us in Alabama, and the wines selected for the event are indeed special,” Laing says.
A Conservation-Benefit Tasting
The South African connection has found a natural home on the Alabama coast through benefit wine dinners styled as “South Meets South” pairings, co-hosted by Frank & Co Jewelers and Saunders Yachtworks and held at the 8-Reale Speakeasy at The Wharf in Orange Beach, with proceeds supporting The Nature Conservancy in Alabama.
The format brings the coast’s food world together in one room: Admiral Shellfish Company of Fort Morgan supplying freshly harvested oysters, pecan-wood-finished Scenic 98 Old Fashioneds from Judge Roy Bean Spirits founder David Gibson, and a sand-sculpting demonstration by Janel Hawkins, founder of Sand Castle University in Gulf Shores. Chef Tino Fries — a Michigan native who cooked his way through Arizona, Wyoming, the Pacific Northwest and Colorado with his wife Courtney before returning to Orange Beach, where the couple runs the Dragonfly Travels personal-chef concept — builds a menu of locally sourced seafood, meats and sweets designed to match the wines course by course.
At the evening’s heart sit five small-production South African varietals, introduced by Laing herself. And in a nod to the partner organizations, the cause is concrete: The Nature Conservancy’s coastal program, including its work to restore Robinson Island in Orange Beach, a popular barrier island damaged by Hurricane Sally.
Why It Fits the Coast
Wine dinners benefiting environmental causes are a natural pairing on a coastline where the economy runs on clean water. Saunders Yachtworks, the northern Gulf Coast’s largest yacht maintenance operation for vessels up to 120 feet, has built environmental responsibility into its operations for years. “We need clean water for boaters to enjoy time on the water,” says CEO John Fitzgerald. “A healthy fishery leads to a vibrant fishing habitat. What is good for all of the creatures in the sea is also good for the people! It’s what keeps us in business.”
For Laing, the connection is simpler: good wines from places that care about their land, poured for people who live off their water. “We’ve been importing South African wines from the vineyards I know and love, and distributing them throughout the Southern United States,” she says.
From a trademark lawyer stranded by a pandemic to bottles on tables from New Orleans to Orange Beach, South to South has carved out a small but distinctive niche — one pairing dinner, one oyster and one Chenin Blanc at a time.
The First South Meets South Dinner at Crown Hall
The “South Meets South” name dates back to spring 2024, when a Gulf Coast food and dining newsletter marked two years of publication by announcing its first annual Summer Splash Wine Dinner Series. The opening event of that series was held Thursday, May 30, 2024, at Crown Hall in downtown Mobile, and organizers billed that first edition as South Meets South: curated South African wines paired with Southern-inspired cuisine drawing on South African flavors that also turn up in Southern cooking.
The evening was a partnership with Bay Gourmet Catering and Events, which owns Crown Hall, and Absintheminded Enterprises, a wine distributor. Bay Gourmet founder Sarah Clark and Chef Jayme Richburg were scheduled to explain how each dish was built to accentuate the featured wines. Suzaan Laing of South to South Wine Importers in New Orleans, a native of South Africa, was set to join, along with Seth Hargett, an experienced chef and wine expert.
Other participants announced for the dinner included:
- David Gibson, founder of Judge Roy Bean Spirits
- Allie Nielsen of Vine + Branch, which makes faux flowers and other decor
- Admiral Shellfish oysters on the menu, alongside specialty cocktails and designed table settings
In a nod to the newsletter’s name, seats were priced at $98 each, with a goal of 98 guests, and reservations and sponsorship tables were handled through Eventbrite. Organizers also said at the time that additional themed wine dinners were planned for the Eastern Shore, Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, and Pensacola that summer.
The Gulf Coast’s first taste of the format came in May 2024, when the inaugural “South Meets South” wine dinner was staged at Crown Hall, the Bay Gourmet Catering and Events space in Mobile. Bay Gourmet — founded in 2001 by Sarah Clark, with chef Jayme Richburg running the kitchen — built a South African menu around Southern favorites: molasses and rosemary bacon skewers, cornmeal-dusted okra spears with crawfish gravy, and a bone-in ribeye beef braai grilled in front of the guests, finished with a chocolate fondant potjie pudding cooked in a cast-iron Dutch oven on the coals. Admiral Shellfish Company of Fort Morgan supplied the oysters for fire-baked dukkah oysters with herb butter, and Allie Nielsen’s Andalusia-based Vine+Branch, a luxury faux floral design studio, provided the tablescapes. David Gibson’s Judge Roy Bean Spirits mixed a signature Old Scenic 98 cocktail to greet arriving guests, with South African Pierre Jourdan Brut as the alternative welcome pour.
The evening set the template the dinners have followed since: Laing introducing each South African pour, regional chefs and small producers handling the food, and a sold-out room of 75 diners. For a region that celebrates its oysters, its bourbon and its hospitality, the South African pairing has proved a natural fit from the very first plate.