Banele Vakele

SAVAGE WINES AND TEMBELA WINES

‘I never wanted to work in an office,’ says Banele Vakele. ‘I wanted a career where I could use my senses and be outside.’ If that sounds fairly straightforward, there aren’t many people living in the Khayelitsha township who have become winemakers. It was at school, where he won a scholarship to the Cape Academy of Maths, Science and Technology, that Vakele became interested in ‘turning grapes into something with so many flavours’.

Like several of the best young black winemakers working in South Africa today, he did a degree at Elsenburg Agricultural College before winning a place on the Cape Winemakers Guild’s Protégé Programme.

Vakele completed spells as an intern with Louis Strydom at Ernie Els, Boela Gerber at Groot Constantia and then Duncan Savage at Savage Wines, where he’s now assistant winemaker. ‘Duncan changed my life,’ he says. ‘He’s my mentor, but he also became a father figure for me.’ Inspired by working harvests overseas in Oregon, Australia and Burgundy, as well as among South Africa’s new-wave producers, Vakele started producing his own wines under the Tembela Wines label in 2020 – a Verdelho and a Syrah, both from the Helderberg in Stellenbosch. In 2021, he swapped the Verdelho for a Chenin Blanc (see below), but reinstated it in 2022 as he ‘wants to make something that no one else is doing’. The wine industry is evolving for the better, he adds. ‘We need to change the narrative. We winemakers of colour need to make world-class wines.’

Tembela Wines, Chenin Blanc, Durbanville, Cape Town 2021 93

£29.50 Swig

From a 38-year-old bush vine parcel, this Chenin Blanc is a one-off, as Banele Vakele chose to make a Verdelho instead in 2022. Concrete egg-fermented before ageing in older wood, it’s leesy, textured, refreshing and dry, with lemongrass, pear and nectarine fruit, and a tangy finish. Refreshingly well balanced. Drink 2022-2025 Alc 13.5%