May-Éliane de Lencquesaing, founder of Glenelly Wine Estate.
"Men never saw it coming and, to be frank, greeted this revolution with a hint of scepticism. Not so long ago, the idea of a woman in the cellars or vat room at fermentation time would have been as unthinkable as the idea of a woman operating a baker's oven," wrote Jean-Robert Pitte of the Institute de France in the foreword to the recently published My Journey With Wine: From Bordeaux to South Africa by May-Éliane de Lencquesaing.
"Today, however, women whisper to the yeast and nurture its action, stimulating or curbing its effect; they prune the vines, choose the perfect moment for harvest, concoct subtle blends and market their wines to the world. No one would deny that the most accomplished wine masters today are often women.
"May-Éliane de Lencquesaing has been a member – and leader – of that select club for more than four decades," Pitte wrote.
There is no doubt that the indomitable woman who established Glenelly in 2003, completely replanting a former fruit farm in Stellenbosch’s prime Simonsberg area just a few years shy of her 80th birthday, is inspirational. Yet Madame shrugs off any wonderment or incredulity at her achievements with nonchalance and trademark Gallic panache, as if it was as simple a task as a conventional household chore.
Nor is she alone in that. There are many women who have made remarkable contributions to the South African wine industry without banging any drums or seeing themselves as trailblazers – and not just in the production of wine, but in its marketing, scientific research and also in educating the next generation of winemakers.
Steenberg extols the role Catharina Ras played a century or more ago, while Neethlingshof pays tribute to the widowed Maria Magdalena Marais who preserved her children’s legacy. Jean Parker of Altydgedacht was by all accounts a formidable woman and Warwick’s Norma Ratcliffe set that wine farm up for future glory.
And there is a laundry list of woman at the helm of local wineries which is almost too long to recite: Irene de Fleuriot at La Bri, Elunda Basson at Steenberg, Jocelyn Hogan, Marelise Niemann of Momento and Anysbos, Jeanine Craven, Ginny Povall of Botanica, Riandri and Anzette Visser of Cape Point Vineyards, Trizanne Barnard, Waterkloof’s Nadia Langenegger, Alexandra Macfarlane, Nederburg’s Zinasche Steyn and Jamie Williams tread a path broken by Andrea Freeborough, Berene Sauls of Tesselaarsdal, Carmen Stevens, Erika Obermeyer, Nadia Newton Johnson, Natasha Williams, Corlea Fourie of Bosman Family Vineyards, Heidi Dietstein and Tania Kleintjes of Spier, Lizelle Gerber of Org de Rac, Nondumise Pikashe of Ses'Fikile, Vivian Kleynhans of Seven Sisters, Cathy Marshall, Ronelle Wiid of Bartinney (who remains the only woman to have won the Diners Club Winemaker of the Year trophy), Mika Engelbrecht of Neethlingshof, Elizma Visser of Olifantsberg, Charla Bosman of Sijnn, Ivy du Toit of Jason’s Hill, Melanie van der Merwe of Tanzanite, Andrea Mullineux, Nadia Sadie, Lauren Hulsman of Diemersfontein and Thokozani, Kayleigh Hattingh of Kaapzicht and Rebel Rebel, Danielle Coetsee of Boschendal, Margaux Nel of Boplaas and The Fledge, Callan Williams, Jolette Steyn of The Vineyard Party, Megan van der Merwe of Beau Constantia… the list goes on!
There’s a great quote from author Robert Louis Stevenson: "Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant." It’s almost impossible not to revel in a beautiful harvest when those seeds grow and flourish.
When the Cape Winemakers Guild (CWG) began in 1982 with its eight members, there is no way they could have known the impact their actions would have on the greater South African industry. They launched the Protégé Programme in 2006, to mentor and foster the next generation of winemakers, as well as to fast track winemakers who were denied opportunities under apartheid.
It’s interesting to note that two thirds – 66% – of the protégés to date have been women: 30 to 15 men. And that it’s been successful is without doubt. One of the early members of the programme was Praisy Dlamini, now the general manager of HER wines. Interviewed for a Wines of South Africa blog post two years ago, she said the following: "If I look at Adama/HER, it’s a complex operation. Everything I’ve done so far is coalescing. I need to handle volumes but I need to know what quality is. I have to understand the fruit and what to do with it. We as a team have to plan so that we can accommodate the capacity but with an idea of what the consumer or the end market actually wants.
"There are a lot of things that don’t go right, but there’s still a passion to want to do it! I wake up in the morning and want to make wine. There’s always a challenge to be overcome. By pushing the boundaries and finding solutions to problems you grow as an individual. Growth comes with being uncomfortable, that’s how you get to the next level."
Playing a significant role in uplifting the profile of the Paarl area is former protégé Kiara Scott Farmer of Brookdale Estate. Sacha Claassen has responsibility for both white wine and Cap Classique production at KWV while Tammy Jeftha is part of the Heineken Beverages winemaking team. Based in the Adam Tas cellar, also part of Heineken, is Elmarie Botes who is involved with product development, Rose Kruger is Stellekaya's winemaker while Chandré Peterson is the winemaking manager at Accolade Wines. High profile Stellenbosch producer De Toren utilises the skills of Gina Viola as a viticulturist.
Kiara Scott Farmer, winemaker at Brookdale Estate and a former CWG protégé.
Seeds planted by Louis Strydom of Ernie Els, Carl Schulz of Hartenberg, and John Loubser, then of Steenberg, when mentoring Mahalia Kotjane have borne fruit. After a few years at Lievland, the former protégé struck out on her own and is now the mistress of her own destiny.
Each of them taught her lessons and she concedes that as much as winemaking is a skill, so is business – and commercial success is something to be strived for. "That got me thinking about what kind of winemaker I wanted to be and what sort of wine I wanted to make. Syrah is my first love and the exposure to a variety of styles and terroirs that Hartenberg gave me with the grape has been invaluable." No great surprise that Three Quarters Wines focuses on Syrah…
Just as May-Éliane de Lencquesaing simply got on with the business of life, so are all these women – and countless others charged with marketing, production, research, lecturing or educating, tasting or even reviewing and writing about wines in South Africa. None of these women occupy their positions for window dressing or optics. They are tasked with a responsibility, because they are capable and professional and have proved themselves equal to, or better than, other candidates. The contribution they make to the local wine fraternity, and the seeds they plant by their example, will be seen in decades to come.