One of the big problems facing South African wine (apart from vine viruses and antipathetic wine writers) is engendering wine culture and wine education in the previously disadvantaged majority of the population. The black economic empowerment enterprises such as Thandi and Ses’kifile all represent attempts to correct the imbalance on South African wine farms, but the country still suffers a serious lack of expertise in selling and serving wine.
Kate Thal, the South African-born owner of the South London wine bar and wine merchant Green & Blue, has instituted a scheme designed to help improve this situation. Thandisizwe Meyi, pictured here, is the winner of the inaugural Green & Blue sommelier scholarship who finally reached London last week from his home in a South African township, after protracted visa negotiations.
The idea is that he will spend a year learning about the world of fine wines. The scholarship comprises a return air ticket, master classes with top wine makers from around the world, Green & Blue’s 13 week ‘School of Wine’ course, at least two trips to Europe’s wine regions, tutored access to international trade tastings and a year’s paid work at Green & Blue.
“We think that he is quite a star and the hope is that he will go on to have a very glittering wine career in South Africa,” she says. “We also hope very much that he will be the first of many such stars, all from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, that we are able to bring over - eventually more than one a year when we have grown a bit bigger.”
Thandisizwe, or ‘Tyson’ to his friends, is originally from the Eastern Cape and moved to Cape Town when he was 21. His first permanent job was stacking shelves at the Spier wine farm where his tasting talent was noticed and nurtured.In the blind tasting that was part of Green & Blue’s scholarship selection process, Thandisizwe was the only one of the 12 candidates who correctly identified the type of grapes used in a French wine blend.
Before travelling to the northern hemisphere he is quoted as saying, “‘I know I have to work hard to achieve my goal, so I will do my best to learn everything I am supposed to learn. I am so excited about going to London because there are few chances to go there, especially for people like me.”
Her plan is that Thandisizwe will be making monthly video diaries for www.greenandbluewines.com that will monitor his progress. Sounds as though this process could have made a proper reality tv show worth watching for once.
See Tyson's first video diary here.
