There are plenty of upliftment initiatives to toast in the wine industry 20 years after the dawn of democracy
t first I thought winemaking was for white men. Now I’ve seen that it’s no longer like that,” says Andisiwe Ketsiwe, a young mother currently studying while working part-time as a waitress at Warwick Wine Estate. Her future goals are clear: “I want to make the best wine on earth.”
She might just do it, too, thanks to the Pinotage Youth Development Academy, a nonprofit transformation initiative which, as Ketsiwe explains, is “helping us do something with our lives in the wine industry”.
She also has the inspiration of her mentor, Stellekaya winemaker Ntsiki Biyela, who admits: “I did not choose this. I got a scholarship from South African Airways after I had been applying for bursaries to study chemical engineering, which is what I wanted to do. It was an opportunity. There is an opportunity for everyone who is passionate to get into the wine industry.”
The stories of Ketsiwe and Biyela are told in a series of short videos released by Wines of South Africa to celebrate 20 years of democracy. Beautifully filmed, they reflect in a very powerful way how individuals’ lives have changed thanks to various black economic empowerment ventures, bursaries and training programmes, as well as eco and social sustainability projects.
Take former gangster Glenstone February, who is working as a farrier on Waterkloof wine farm, where chickens, cattle, sheep and horses play an important role in biodynamic farming. “If it wasn’t for the animals that came into my life, I would probably be dead today,” he says.
Then there’s Last Mangachena, a Zimbabwean refugee who arrived at organic wine farm Waverley Hills near Ceres with R10 in his pocket. “I started doing garden work. Now I’m running the nursery. I’m the leader there. As long as you focus on what you do, the sky is the limit.”
Recently a philanthropic precedent was set in the SA wine industry when the inaugural 2014 AfrAsia Bank Cape Wine Auction raised an astonishing R7.05million for education and upliftment in the Cape Winelands. By all accounts it was an “extraordinary day” that saw “gents in stylish summer suits” and “ladies in flowing summer dresses” treated to a “gourmet feast” as they paid hundreds of thousands of rands for rare wine collections as well as exclusive gourmet and travel experiences.
Hopefully we will, in due course, hear more about the beneficiaries (Pebbles Project, MAD Charity and Click Foundation) than the benefactors, whose “astonishing generosity” on the day hints at a lifestyle most of us can’t relate to. By contrast, I can’t imagine anybody being unmoved by the individuals featured in the democracy series videos, which illustrate how far the wine industry has come since 1994.
Visit www.wosa.co.za to watch these stories, preferably over a glass of Biyela’s Stellekaya Cape Cross 2009 (R89). A wellbalanced, basket-pressed blend of 51% pinotage with 38% merlot and 11% cabernet sauvignon, it has abundant red berry flavours and a hint of coffee.