Nongcebo Langa

DELHEIM

She isn’t the only Cape winemaker to have grown up in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal province, but Nongcebo Langa is definitely unique in one striking respect: Noni, as everyone calls her, is a 28-year-old Zulu woman who was recently appointed as winemaker at a leading Stellenbosch estate. No one has ever achieved that.

Her interest in wine was piqued by a careers talk given by the department of agriculture at her school. It offered her two things: ‘the thrill of a challenge and the chance to travel the world’. A brilliant student, she won a scholarship to Stellenbosch University, where she completed her undergraduate and master’s degrees in oenology.

Offered a job as an intern by Delheim’s head winemaker Roelof Lotriet, Langa became a full-time team member in 2019 and winemaker earlier this year. ‘People sometimes ask me if Noni was a Black Economic Empowerment appointment,’ says Lotriet. ‘Then they start talking to her and realise how smart she is.’ As well as Lotriet, Langa cites Ntsiki Biyela of Aslina as a mentor and inspiration.

At Delheim, Langa helps to make the Aslina wines as well as the estate’s increasingly impressive, terroir-focused range from its Simonsberg vineyards – the Vera Cruz Pinotage (see below) and Edelspatz Noble Late Harvest sweet wine (2019, £24.99/37.5cl Direct Wine Shipments) are both worth seeking out. So far, she’s only worked overseas in California, but when I spoke to her, she was about to head off to the Pfalz in Germany to ‘learn the art of Riesling’.

She’s finally travelling the world.

Delheim, Vera Cruz Pinotage, Simonsberg, Stellenbosch 2017 95

£32-£34.99 Jackson Nugent Vintners, Roberts & Speight This single-vineyard Simonsberg Pinotage is consistently among the best examples of the Cape’s native variety.

Smooth, plush and concentrated with raspberry, blueberry and damson fruit, a sheen of sweet oak and a backbone of finely judged tannins. Powerful but not overbearing.

Spent 18 months in 300L and 500L French oak barrels, of which 35% were new. Drink 2023-2029 Alc 14%