Tinashe Nyamudoka

WINE SPECIALIST & SOMMELIER @kumushawines, @sommoncall

It was the Rudera Robusto Chenin Blanc 2006 that started it all for Tinashe Nyamudoka. Made by Teddy Hall, known at the time as the king of Chenin Blanc, it was the first glass of wine that made sense to him, recalls Tinashe, now a renowned wine specialist and sommelier. ‘I wasn’t drinking much wine at the time but it was so round, ripe and full, and it had such a lovely sweetness to it… That was it for me.’

After spending more than a decade working as a sommelier in some of South Africa’s top restaurants, Tinashe took a leap of faith and, in 2017, launched his brainchild, Kumusha Wines. ‘It’s really about expressing who I am through wine. I had always seen it as a very Eurocentric concept, coming from a background where wine and fine cuisine were not really a part of our lives, yet I had begun to fall in love with it. I couldn’t seem to express that, and I knew a lot of people coming from my background who also struggled to make the connection. Kumusha was the perfect opportunity for me to talk about my “Africanness” in my own way.’ (The word kumusha, translated from Zimbabwean-born Tinashe’s home language, Shona, means ‘roots, origin and home’).

Somm on Call, a more recent business venture born from the crippling effects of the lockdown, is an online service bringing the restaurant floor into people’s homes. ‘By finding new and exciting wines and putting them on this platform, we hope to extend the sommelier service outside of the restaurant by taking a digital approach,’ Tinashe says. ‘It’s all about creating opportunities and scaling up. There’s always talk about how to transform the wine industry and how new entrants can make a difference, so I want Kumusha Wines really to make an impact socially and get the conversation going.’

Tinashe’s top wine pick? Kumusha The Flame Lily, a white blend.

Check out kumushawines.com