THE CAPE WINEMAKER’S GUILD’S PROTEGÉ PROGRAM
Helping Educate and Equip People of Colour in South African Wine
The Cape Winemakers Guild (CWG) was founded in 1982 to create a forum for winemakers to share wine knowledge among its members. For years, members met with a focus on evaluating wines from around the world through a tasting group format to help shape their winemaking knowledge and palates. The membership includes 40 to 45 winemakers throughout the Cape, each admitted by invitation, who have produced quality wine for a minimum of ve years and is an integral part of daily cellar operations. But just as the identity of South Africa has shied since the Guild’s inception, so have the goals of the membership. In 2006, the Guild launched the Protégé Program, a project that allows aspiring winemakers to work sideby-side with members of the Guild. All participants receive an opportunity to work with dierent members of the Guild over three years. The internship is a targeted three-year program that oers skills, practical experience, knowledge sharing, and mentorship. In 2014, a Viticulture Protégé Program was launched in conjunction with Vinpro. The hope is that the membership of experienced winemakers can impart wisdom and knowledge to a new generation of winemakers and grape growers. Rüdger van Wyk, the winemaker for Stark-Condé wines in Stellenbosch, was a protogé in 2014. He remembers the interview process being a rigorous, nerve-wracking experience. Upon being accepted to the program, he joined up with winemaker Abrie Beeslar at Kanonkop Wine Estate. “It was a huge stepping stone for me to have that experience,” says van Wyk. “I still talk to Beeslar about things, especially red wines. He changed my whole way of thinking about winemaking when I was there, and it has shaped how I make wines at Stark-Condé.” Following his internship with Kanonkop, he spent some time with Nitida, a small producer in Durbanville. In 2014, he and other participants in the program were invited on a trip to Burgundy. The six-week experience included the opportunity to work harvest alongside Burgundian producers and travel to other regions of France, including Bordeaux, Champagne, and the Rhône Valley. “To experience the contrast from Bordeaux to Burgundy and knowing how things were done at Kanonkop was such an eye-opening experience for me,” says van Wyk. “That trip alone was like an entire college education. It was interesting to hear the dierent perspectives for each wine style and the grapes for each region.” There are many winemakers in the Guild whom van Wyk has never ocially met but have positively impacted him. “It’s little things like how they walk and talk during a wine tasting, their comments, and how they handle people. All of those things were very intriguing to me in the beginning and very inspiring. Many of them have been mentors to me without even knowing it.” To date, 34 participants have completed the three-year internship, and seven are participating in this ongoing program. Of the graduates, 18 now either hold leading winemaking roles or have their own winemaking projects. As part of the project, the Guild hosts an annual auction of wine lots produced explicitly from each of its member wineries for the CWG. These unique wines are made in small quantities—usually no more than two barrels—and are auctioned each year to raise money for the Protogé Program. In October 2022, the annual auction oered 513 lots and raised more than R13,985,500 (approx. $768,000 USD), resulting in an average bottle price of R1,227, an overall 30% increase on funds raised in 2021.