Pair savour sweet joys of their Moeng Winery wines
TWO South African youths, one of them born and raised in the Eastern Cape’s rural hinterland, are taking the country’s wine industry by storm.
Not only are they set on dominating the national winery landscape, they are already planning to capture the whole continent – and ultimately the world.
Moeng Winery, a 100% blackowned company, was established by 26-year-old Prince Moeng, who hails from Mahikeng.
Despite garnering huge interest among Moeng’s circle, it failed to gain the kind of commercial value he was hoping for – until he bumped into Tsolo-born Chumile Goqwana earlier this year.
The 32-year-old Goqwana is the daughter of former health MEC, Dr Bevan Goqwana, and managing director of Glocal Media, a company specialising in marketing media and communication.
Their meeting though had nothing to do with wine, according to Goqwana. In fact their discussion centred around a proposal he had for a film. But they also discovered that they shared a similar passion for rare and fine wine and ended up joining forces.
“In South Africa, although a predominantly black country, there is still very low black ownership of land products and commodities,” Goqwana told the Saturday Dispatch.
“When I look at it, part of the problem is that as black people we are never taught to think beyond studying and looking for a job. As a result we don’t own that entrepreneurial drive.”
Already Moeng Winery has managed to release its two signature blends – Moeng One (Merlot) and Genesis (Pino Gricio) – which retail at R300 a bottle and are available on order.
The pair have also been frequenting fairs where people are allowed to taste the two blends.
If they like them, they then place an order.
“Interest is growing,” said Goqwana, who also revealed they were planning to release 10 more blends by next year that would cost anything between R40 and R150. “Those will be in retail stores.” Goqwana said they are currently sourcing their grapes from a farm in Cape Town. They have, however, managed to secure their own land, where they are growing their own grapes.
She declined to give details about the location of their new farm, saying they would reveal all at a later stage.
She said they currently did the final blend of their wines in Johannesburg.
Goqwana added that they started producing 50 bottles a month and that during the festive season they would increase their output to 800.
Recalling how she fell in love with wine, Goqwana said she had never tasted alcohol in her life until between 2003 and 2006 when she was studying advertising in Cape Town.
At the time, they were asked to help design an advert for a popular wine brand.
For a first-timer like her, the wine actually tasted bad but her palate eventually became accustomed to it.
Now that their business has hit the ground running, Goqwana and Moeng are already in talks to have some of their products sold in Mozambique while they are also in talks with stores in Namibia.
“Those [wines] will be named after kings and queens of Africa. We are about promoting black excellence and our products are aimed at inspiring black people who aspire to achieve excellence.”
Goqwana said after taking over the African continent, they are hoping to export some of their products globally.
But that is not their only goal as they are also hoping to help groom the next generation of black wine-makers. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za