Proudly South African showcases new flavours at Jozi wine expo

Bubbly, citrus, sweet, and dry wine flavours were packaged in 30 different bottles at the beginning of the fourth annual Local Wine Expo sponsored by Proudly South African last weekend at the Prison Break Market in Johannesburg. 

The member-based organisation was established in 2001 after the 1998 Presidential Summit with hopes of creating an advocacy campaign to promote local consumerism. The three-day free event was an opportunity for local winemakers to display their products to the public, media, stakeholders and wine lovers.

When my mentor and editor Tony Jackman forwarded me the email from Shernese Defreitas, the senior PR practitioner of Proudly South African, I thought what an honour (as always). Tony is now back in the Karoo and I am in Johannesburg, which meant I would have the opportunity to attend the event alone. 

While Tony was in Cape Town, we dined at every outing he was invited to together. I watched intensely and listened as he noted different aromas from the wines he sampled and explained the flavours of different cheeses and spices among the meals. 

I will never forget our guessing game experience at Dusk restaurant in Stellenbosch and how he was able to instinctively guess the flavour of the small round treats before us. I told Tony I’d love to represent him and responded to Defreitas’ email. 

Upon arrival at the Prison Break Market, red banners waved with the signs “buy local” and “buy local to create jobs” with the Proudly South African logo. As I walked through the market, I saw different sheds as the flags waved me in the right direction. On the pavement, a sticker read “Your taste buds called. They said you need wine. The local kind.”

I was guided by the red stickers and arrived at the entrance, a large poster of a woman in an orange polka-dot dress grinning with a brown bottle in hand, the hashtag “lovedheremadehere” on the lower left. I went to register and with pride said that I was with the media, before meeting a woman who would introduce me to Shernese.

Shernese walked over and it was like meeting a childhood friend again after spending years apart as she gave me a hug and introduced me to Dambisa Maqoga, the PR and communications manager of Proudly South African, who also embraced me and handed me an empty glass for my wine tasting experience – the warmth of South Africa was felt once again.

Entering the expo, a log drum’s hollow percussion was heard through the speakers playing soulful amapiano songs. A coffee stand and charcuterie board awaited guests while the winemakers were organising their stands, wiping their bottles to reveal the names of their brands, like Zoetendal Vineyards and River Estate, Zarion and even a familiar face, Aslina Wines.

Wines weren’t the only items on display; there were also foods like cheese and crackers to pair with the tasting. 

Seni Ranchorf has worked for Cyprus Foods for 17 years, selling products like local cheese to butchers, consumers and wholesalers. 

“It is awesome to be in the country, you get people to meet, lovely shows to attend. It’s awesome to work with lovely people, especially our South Africans,” said Ranchorf.

The proud South African was the first vendor I met at the expo, introducing me to the local versions of Emmental, gouda and my favourite, haloumi. 

A section of the venue was designated for the media and stakeholders to listen to speakers share the vision for the event. Chief marketing officer of Proudly South African, Happy MaKhumalo Ngidi, took the mic first dressed in local attire to support brands in the community. 

“We are about creating jobs for South Africans, and this industry does just that. It’s important for us to be an enabler for local businesses, to be able to have these platforms where they can sell their products to consumers,” said MaKhumalo Ngidi.

Proudly South African not only gives small businesses a platform, but ensures the companies and products are of premium quality. 

“We have done our due diligence, to know for sure that not only is the product made in South Africa, but that it is safe to consume and is one that we can all be proud of,” said MaKhumalo Ngidi. 

Pretoria native Eustace Mashimbye, the CEO of Proudly South African for nine years, took the stage after MaKhumalo Ngidi. Mashimbye runs the organisation on a day-to-day basis, addressing consumers and marketing.

“This is just one of those platforms that we have created to expose wines that are made in South Africa. To expose the high quality products that exist in the country with the intention that eventually these products can find much-needed access to market opportunities,” said Mashimbye.

From restaurants to hotels, Proudly South African hopes to help locals to eventually register their supplies.

Chief Executive Officer of Food and Beverages Manufacturing Sector Education and Training Authority Nokuthula Selamolela shared a few words with the media and stakeholders. The company provides access to training for individuals interested in the food and beverage sectors.

“We fund a one-year programme. It is a short programme called The Skills Programme of Winemaking. There they teach you how to make wine from the start to the end,” said Selamolela.

With 10 years in the industry, Selamolela has noticed an improvement in diversity efforts.

“It is based mostly in the Cape, in the winelands, and it is nice to see the people who are buyers, who are winemakers and are mostly blacks, because 10 years ago it wasn’t like this,” said Selamolela.

From an inspirational

style="font-weight: 400;">commercial encouraging South Africans to support local and through the story of Denzel Swarts’ childhood on the farm to becoming the sales and brand executive of Zoetendal, passion is packaged in a bottle.

“When you drink our wines, you experience authenticity, the dreams and hopes through the farmer’s works of ever drop and tear,” said Swarts.

After the speakers introduced the event, the wine tasting began. One of the first wines I tasted was from Zarion by SV Wines, created by Sandile Maseko and a young assistant, Mogau Papudi. The Pretoria-based brand was created to build generational wealth.

“I built this for my family’s legacy. I wanted them to know that there is a product out there with their name on it,” said Maseko. On the neck of the bottle is the name of her children, her parents, her brother and her husband, with prayers she has for her family such as love and trust.

Apart from building a legacy for her family, she wanted to transform the industry.

“One of the main reasons I wanted to go into wine is to demystify it as being a classist environment,” said Maseko.

She isn’t the only winemaker hoping to shatter glass ceilings. Biotechnologist Siwela Masoga founded her wine brand Siwela in 2018 to create more diversity in the industry.

“Where I come from you wouldn’t see black women in the wine industry because we don’t make wine in Limpopo, and that led me to learning more about wine,” said Masoga.

In between the tasting and talking, food was available for the media and stakeholders, along with more wine for my selected dish, salmon pesto. As I waited to grab a bite, I met Adetunji Omotola from Nigeria, the founder of African Wine Circle, who is based in South Africa and who has been in the wine industry for two decades. 

The wine connoisseur explained the wine industry in a nutshell, from process to packaging, which he called “a very rigorous process”. Who knew the small plump fruit played a pivotal role for our palates? Winemakers and wine lovers, of course.

“The beauty about wine is that it is so good to pair with food, especially African food. African food is very rich, we have spicy food, salty food, we have starch, we have vegetables, we all have all sorts of condiments that we put in our food,” said Omotola.

He adjusted his glasses as he talked about his passion for African dishes and wine. The thought leader knows more than just how to “nose” the wine. 

“South Africa remains the most successful African country that makes wine because the weather in South Africa, especially in the Western Cape, lends itself — what they call the ‘terroir’; the temperature of the rainfall, the soil, lends itself to grape production, as opposed to your harsh conditions in Nigeria,” said Omotola.

As the conversations continued and the clock ticked, the doors opened to the public at 4pm, including my parents, Joryn and Roger Campbell, who joined me a day before travelling back to New Jersey.

My parents and I walked around the expo together, sampling wine and speaking to winemakers. Intrigued by the Afrocentric designs of Yethu, my dad walked over to the stand where we learned the isiZulu word means “ours”. The sweet red bottle offered “subtle undertones of brown spice”, and the red fruit left a sweet aftertaste. Sold — my father purchased a bottle.

The founder and CEO of House of Azari, Siphiwe Katjene, established her brand in 2022. Katjene is an industrial psychologist who always had a “passion for bubbles”. Currently, she has three bottles on the market, a brut chardonnay, brut rosé, and nectar rosé.

Only 3% of wine brands are black-owned, and the representation of black men might be even smaller. Born in the Cape winelands, Mpelo Sikhwatha birthed Mama Afrika. He hopes to own a wine farm one day.

“Any local product contributes to job creation. South Africa has a 42% unemployment rate. The more we buy locally, the more we are able to contribute to SMEs that can drive the economy and generate money moving around. We employ people, so we help the government deal with poverty,” said Sikhwatha.

I would have been remiss had I not visited the Aslina Wines stand. I had the opportunity to interview Ntsiki Biyela when I was in Stellenbosch. Now, I was able to speak to two members of her team, marketing and brand coordinator Eden Bezuidenhout and sales coordinator Yoliswa Masekwana.

“There are so many people who are actually part of this value chain, and when you support local you support people’s families, and that’s beautiful,” said Bezuidenhout. 

The wine expo created opportunities for the community to experience new wine flavours and for local brands to showcase their products and to network.

“I think people should support the Proudly South African expo, it is a good initiative to showcase the smaller brands, and also for people to come and sample the wines that are not as well marketed as the big brands,” said Masekwana.

Before my parents and I left the expo, I spoke to an attendee, Mokgadi Matuludi from Pretoria.

“I think it’s very important to really support local winemakers because it is uplifting our economy, empowering women. There are a lot of women-led winemakers here today and I think that really just touched my heart,” said Matuludi.

I may not be a wine connoisseur, but one thing is for sure, the Local Wine Expo was a safe space for buyers, tasters and wine owners where we were all reminded that locals are really “lekker”.

A wine tasting turned into a philosophical moment

My wine wonderland weekend didn’t end on Friday. On Tuesday night, Omotola invited me to a wine-tasting event hosted by Post House Wines. These handcrafted wines with natural yeasts are unique. The intimate event was hosted at Norman Goodfellows, a speciality bottle store.

The Cellar Special paired by winemaker Nick Gebers included merlot, stamp of chenin blanc, and even a missing virgin.

Based in the Western Cape, Gebers travelled to Johannesburg to create an evening of sipping and sampling from a charcuterie board.

The wine expert compared a 2005 Merlot to the 2008 and 2010 vintages, calling the 2005 bottle “better”. Omotola agreed, with another swirl of his glass. The Merlot was more “site-specific”, its grapes in dire need of the perfect soil to call home — the simplicity and science behind wines.

Originally from KwaZulu-Natal, Gebers grew up on a farm in Stellenbosch. His passion for producing fine wines allows him to experiment with different grapes and blends. The last bottle sampled for the evening was his Holy Grail, a Malbec Reserve, a red blend with well-integrated tannins.

What began as an impromptu visit to a wine-tasting event quickly turned into a philosophical moment for me. While we were meant to focus on the wine, I couldn’t help but notice the diversity in the room. Maybe I was on an empowered high after the Local Wine Expo, watching black wine brand owners and their colleagues sell and speak about their bottles to stakeholders, media representatives and wine lovers, but of the 21 tasters in attendance, 17 were black or of colour, while the white winemaker shared his pairings with the crowd.

“Everyone needs to experience and learn about wine, it doesn’t matter who you are. It’s a fantastic product and it’s a fantastic thing to bring people together. After a couple of glasses of wine, we are always much more friendly than we were in the beginning of the evening. It is a fantastic binding product,” said Gebers. 

Wine taster Minenhle Gumede found the Cellar Special event on Instagram and decided to invite a friend. 

“Diversity is important everywhere, not just in the wine industry,” said Gumede. 

The night ended with tilts of glasses towards Gebers, thanking him for his expertise and energy. Guests continued to mingle, ask questions and sip away. Cheers to good wine and good company. DM