The CWG Protégé Program: Transforming the Wine Industry?
Thursday, 23 August, 2012
Norman McFarlane
When the Cape Winemakers Guild established its Protégé Program in 2006
under chairpersonship of Phillip Costandius, it had a clear intention
of kick-starting transformation at winemaker level. Seven years on, as
the Guild celebrates its 30th anniversary, what progress has been made?
Howard Booysen and Praisy Dlamini were the first two to enter the program, and after understudying prominent members of the Guild - Howard worked with Carl Schultz (Hartenberg), Bruce Jack (Flagstone), Gary Jordon (Jordan) and Pieter Ferreira (Graham Beck), and Praisy with Philip Costandius (Lourensford), David Finlayson (Glen Carlou/Edgebaston) and Pieter Ferreira (Graham Beck) - have moved on to make their way in the industry, completing the program in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Elsenberg graduate Howard makes wine under his own label, Howard Booysen Wines, currently two Rieslings and a Cinsault, and has worked full time as sommelier at Aubergine Restaurant for the past three years. It's pretty rough holding down two jobs, and during harvest, he can easily pull a "forty hour day" as he puts it, when bringing in grapes from his most distant supplier. I asked him for his impressions of program the other day, and after some reflection he said: "You get out of it what you put in. If you sit back and expect it all to fall into your lap, then you're in for a surprise. It's not an easy ride, just because you've been chosen as a protégé. You have to put in the effort."
Praisy now works at Die Bergkelder under cellar master Andrea Freeborough, where she started as assistant winemaker in 2011 after concluding her internship at Graham Beck. "Praisy is just so passionate about what she does. I think that she was most fortunate to have the exposure that she did on the protégé program. I'm certain that it has contributed to her enthusiasm and her willingness to get the job done. She's gained a good deal of experience since she's been here, as part of her continuing development, which will stand her in good stead when an opportunity to move up comes along," Andrea Freeborough told me when I spoke to her.
Praisy's assessment of the time she spent in the protégé program is instructive in terms of what it gave her: "The Guild (protégé program) is my backbone as a winemaker. The time I spent working with people like Phillip Costandius, David Finlayson and Pieter Ferreira taught me how to make excellent wine. They were never too busy to guide me or to answer questions, even if they were stupid questions. Because of the high standards of the Guild members, my exposure during that time equipped me to make informed decisions when it comes to making wine. Even now, working at Die Bergkelder, where I've learned a tremendous amount working with Andrea, I still fall back on what I learned and experienced during the program."
Sacha Claassen, who joined the program for the 2010 harvest with Jeff Grier at Villiera then moved to Nitida in Durbanville with Bernhard Veller for 2011 and recently completed the 2012 harvest with Charles Hopkins at De Grendell, is currently working a harvest at Merry Edwards Winery, a respected producer of Californian Pinot Noir in the Russian River Valley. She's not the first protégé to enjoy such an advantage.
Howard Booysen also spent time overseas, working a harvest at Ravenswood Winery in Sanoma, California in 2008. Howard told me that it was all thanks to Bruce Jack that he had the opportunity. "As a thank you for looking after the cellar while he was away earlier, Bruce bought me a plane ticket and put me in touch with Ravenswood and I organised the trip. It gave me the opportunity to experience a much bigger winery, and also overseas cellar practices, something that I found really valuable at that stage of my career. I'm deeply grateful to Bruce for giving me the opportunity."
Tamsyn Jeftha finishes up end October at Hartenberg and is currently looking for a position. "I'm busy putting my CV together, and I find it amazing that it's the first time I've had to do so, after three years in the industry," she told me. "I also have this amazing set of references to include, which my peers in the industry, who weren't fortunate enough to get such an opportunity, don't have." She endorsed Howard Booysen's comments about the nature of the program: "It doesn't all get handed to you on a silver platter, just because you've gotten an internship. You find yourself in this vast pool of knowledge, and you have to soak up as much as you can. If you want to benefit, you have to get involved, and engage with the various members of the Guild."
Elmarie Botes joined the program in 2011 at Steenberg with John Loubser and is currently at Kanonkop with Abrie Beeslaar, and for the first time since the inception of the program the Guild took on three new interns this year: Heinrich Kulsen who is at Ernie Els Wines with Guild chairperson Louis Strydom, Philani Shongwe at Paul Cluver with Andries Burger and Chandrè Petersen at Nitida with Bernhard Veller.
And of course, once they conclude their internships, they will all be looking for work. Does the program guarantee a job? "No, it doesn't guarantee the intern a job, but it certainly increases their chances," says Louis over lunch. While on the subject, does it facilitate possible future entry to the Guild, I ask. "No, of course it doesn't. The normal criteria apply, a position as head winemaker or cellar master, a track record of five years making excellent wine that meets the standards of the Guild, and a nomination from a Guild member," explains Louis.
And of course the delicate issue of gender comes up for discussion over lunch with Louis. He explains that it can take up to 15 years for somebody to become a member of the Guild. Winemaking positions are like hens teeth in South Africa, with Elsenberg graduating 20 students a year, and the University of Stellenbosch Viticulture and Oenology Department about the same (18 this year) with around five or six actually getting a job in the industry each year. Most of them end up working in the periphery of the industry, or they do harvest work here and overseas to keep the wolf from the door. All this does help to gather experience and bulk up their CV's, but it means anything up to three or four years before getting an appointment as assistant winemaker after graduating. Add to that a possible five further years before becoming head winemaker, plus another five years of making wines that meet the Guild's standard, and it's easy to see where that 15 year lead time comes into play. And it is only over the last 10 years or so that there has been a significant increase in the number of female graduates. It remains to be seen whether there will be a concomitant uptick in the number of women invited to join the Guild.
Once the individual has been nominated for membership of the Guild, the final hurdle, is the 66% vote required by the entire membership to secure admission, and that perhaps is the most significant hurdle to overcome. For the record when Rianie Strydom (Louis' wife), cellar master at Dombeya Haskell was nominated for membership of the Guild, he recused himself from all proceedings, so her admission was entirely on merit. The gender split of protégés since the program's inception is 3:5 male to female, with this year's intake exclusively female, which bodes well for the future.
And things have changed in the industry, according to Rianie: "Ten years ago, it was still a case of a woman having to work much harder than a man to gain acceptance. I don't think that's the case anymore. Everybody has to work that much harder these days, irrespective of gender. More and more women are graduating each year, and I'm seeing more women in winemaking positions than ever before."
Clearly the Guild is doing much to promote women in the industry through its protégé program, and long may that trend continue, but in this Women's Month of August, it is perhaps appropriate to hope that the likes of Die Bergkelder's Andrea Freeborough and Stellekaya's Ntsiki Biyela, both cellar master for more than five years, will eventually be invited to join the Guild.