In South Africa, wine exports have grown from less than 50m-litres in 1994 to more than 400m-litres in 2008, employing 250,000 people on vineyards and related industries. There are still only about a dozen black winemakers -- a figure the South African government hopes to change.
Mzokhona Mvemve: South African Wine Industry Encourages Black Vintners
In 2001, Mzokhona Mvemve worked for the Cape Classics winery as an assistant winemaker. He only dreamed of owning his own winery. By 2005, after completing his studies in Viticulture and Oenology at Stellenbosch University on an Indaba Scholarship, Mvemve launched Sagila Wines with Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc wines using a R100,000 grant from the South African Wine Industry Trust.
Mvemve, one of South Africa’s first qualified black oenologists, is among the blacks benefiting from the South African government's controversial Black Economic Empowerment program. The program promotes diversity, in part, by using a scorecard in the private industry. Scholarships and grants are encouraged by the South African government under the program as a tool to assist in black economic development. Mvemve collaborated with winemaker Bruwer Raats to produce the MR de Compostella brand, a Bordeaux blend, which scored its fourth consecutive '93 points' in the Wine Spectator magazine.
Heritage Link Brands: Increasing South African Wine Imports from Black Winemakers into the U.S.
Even with government encouraged economic programs, the division created through years of apartheid policies creates significant challenges for new winemakers of color. Though not born in South Africa, Selena Cuffe, a Harvard-educated African American, is determined to help bridge that divide through Heritage Link Brands (heritagelinkbrands.com), a U.S. wine import company.
Cuffee helps black and mixed-race South African vintners secure U.S. export deals, market their brands and develop overall strategies to increase distribution through the California-based wine import firm she operates with her husband Khary Cuffee.
“Most of these vintners are new to the wine business--new, in fact, to business,” Cuffe stated in an Inc. magazine interview . "All own, at minimum, large stakes in small companies, something that would have been impossible 14 years ago, when apartheid banished black commerce to impoverished homelands.”
Cuffe started her business after meeting South African winemakers Malmsey and Diale Rangaka, also respectively a physician and professor. In 2005, Cuffe fell in love with the family-owned winemaker's Rosé at a Soweto tasting. The Rangaka's M'Hudi wines (mhudi.com) are produced in the Western Cape wine land and is now nationally distributed in the U.S. through Heritage Link Brands through such stores as Sam's Clubs.
Thandi: A South African Winery Collective Fights Misconceptions
In 1995, the 250-family South African winemaking collective launched Thandi (thandiwines.com), Xhosa for “nurturing love”. In 2003, Thandi produced a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Its Chardonnay and Chenin became the world's first certified Fairtrade wines.
“There's still a misconception that anything from black-owned manufacturing has to be inferior,” said Thandi wine producer Vernon Henn. “We have always focused on quality and tried to redress misconceptions about black-owned labels.”
Vivian Kleynhans of the family-owned Western Cape vineyard produces the Seven Sisters brand (sevensisters.co.za) states: "We are a tiny minority but we are here to stay, so they will just have to accept us."
General Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only and should not be substituted for legal or tax advice.
Vanessa Cross - Vanessa Cross is a freelance writer who writes about international trade, business law and small business development issues.
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