WOSA's Ithemba highlights transformation in the wine industry

Carmen Stevens

Carmen Stevens, the daughter of a clothing factory worker, became South Africa's first female winemaker of colour and one of the first two women to have her wines selected for the prestigious ABSA Top 10 Pinotage selection. Winemaker for Stellenbosch boutique producer Amani, she is also studying for her British Masters of Wine (MW).

It is her photograph that appears on the cover of Ithemba, the richly illustrated book that documents some of the leading examples of socio-economic transformation within the local wine industry since the advent of democracy 15 years ago. Produced by Wines of South Africa (WOSA) and funded largely by the Department of Trade and Industry, the book takes its name from the Nguni word for ‘hope'.

Highlighting black winemakers

The purpose of Ithemba, said WOSA CEO Su Birch, is to highlight the black winemakers behind many of the country's successful brands of whom Stevens is just one example, as well as to promote the country's black-owned brands and to acknowledge the many initiatives of those in the industry who are promoting meaningful and sustainable change.

"There is much concrete evidence of successful transformation in the fact that we have black-owned brands listed in leading supermarkets in the UK and on American Airlines, while black winemakers run the cellars of some of our most famous wine brands.

"However, perhaps less overtly visible is the significant investment taking place in the transfer of skills in business, viticulture, farm management, winemaking and wine marketing, or in the manifold efforts to create the foundation for long-term sustainable development, by focusing on basic education, early learning and in community and social upliftment. Ithemba focuses on these facets of transformation," said Birch.

The impact of BEE

Ithemba explores the impact that black economic empowerment has had on the lives of people like Stevens through the transfer of skills and knowledge over the past decade and a half.

Photographed by Anna Lusty, it captures the energy and passion of workers and their families, entrepreneurs, winemakers and sommeliers who work in the world of wine.

The industry, established 350 years ago with the help of slave labour, is dramatically different from the one operating before the dismantling of apartheid in 1994, when little was known about South African wine outside the country and less than 50 million litres found its way offshore every year. Today it employs over 257 000 people directly and indirectly, and exports worldwide over 400 million litres of wine worth R6.2 billion, making it one of the biggest contributors to the country's agricultural exports.

Educational programmes

The book also covers educational programmes that underpin transformation, as well as the community projects designed to promote a better quality of life for workers in the wine industry and their families.

"We acknowledge that transformation is a long and ongoing process and still has a far way to go but we are celebrating the huge difference it is already making," Birch concluded.

To download a copy of Ithemba, see: www.wosa.co.za