CAPE TO CAIRO - 1
He is just introducing a group of tourists from Australia, Britain and Austria to the mysteries of wine tasting - including the spitting. We are in the middle of holiday season on the Cape and groups visit Nelsons Creek Wine Estate in South Africa’s famed Western Cape wine region every day.
This group has tried three white wines and is now nipping away at the rosé. The mood is relaxed and cheerful. Time for Victor to crack his favourite joke: "You know", he says with a straight face, "there‘s still apartheid at Nelsons Creek". The tourists shift uncomfortably in their seats. "And you know why ? Because we still separate the black grapes from the whites". Victor bursts into laughter and all the visitors join in.
Correcting past wrongs
This picturesque region is famous for its Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Merlot, but on one of the barrels are the words "New Beginnings" (below)
This is South Africa's first black wine label, with wine by black winegrowers. "New Beginnings" says Victor with a broad grin "is a new beginning for the blacks in South Africa". It is also a new beginning for South Africa's wine industry, which was until recently completely white-dominated. New Beginnings is an extraordinary success story: Nelsons Creek was bought by lawyer Alan Nelson in 1987. He had ambitious goal: To turn the run-down farm into an award winning wine estate. He offered his black workers, some of whom had worked at Nelsons Creek for decades, a deal: If they would help him produce a top vintage, he would give them nine hectares of land to grow their own wine. In 1996, Nelsons Creek took the top trophy for its Chardonny. Alan kept his word: He not only assigned 16 of his workers a chunk of prime land, but also allowed them to make use of his machinery and the wine cellar. That was when Victor Titus joined the team, and today he is the main force behind the black empowerment drive. Alan Nelson’s initiative has made a great change in the lives of the people on his farm. One of the shareholders is Arthur Jacobs (below right).
"Matured and bottled in new South Africa"
He says New Beginnings is a unique opportunity to correct the wrongs of the past. "Under apartheid my dad was paid in kind, wine in most cases. For that the whites made him work from dawn till dust. New Beginnings allows to start all over again in a new South Africa". In the meantime a second generation of black wine-growers is coming of age. Sollie Hendriks sports a T-shirt with the words "Love Your Wine" in big letters. At the moment he works a cellar assistant, but is determined to move up the career ladder, assuming he can find the money for a five year course at the University of Stellenbosch.
"Matured and bottled in new South Africa" proclaims the New Beginnings label. Only recently a white South African was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Perhaps there will soon be a black "Wine maker of the year" !
Nelson's Creek, Cape Town, 7th November 2003.