Wade is an associate winemaker at Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines; he’s talking to me from the Leeu Passant cellar in Franschhoek, over 100 kilometres away from my home in Noordhoek, where I sit with an open screen.
This is our industry’s new normal in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis; flooded with online tastings and virtual interviews. Wade is currently racking tanks, after the 2020 harvest was allowed to continue by the government. There are just three of them in the cellar.
“I’m a city boy,” says Wade when I ask him about his up-bringing. “I grew up in Johannesburg far away from any vineyards and cellars, and Afrikaans for that matter. My parents are originally from Kwa–Zulu Natal. They both moved to Johannesburg in the end days of apartheid in the hope of building a better life, where they later met and settled. I am the youngest of three with an older brother and sister.
“My parents were instrumental in creating my love for wine,” continues Wade. They had a real appreciation for good food and wine, which allowed for exposure at quite a young age. My father also boasted a modest wine collection in those days, and for some reason I was completely absorbed by it. Regularly organising and doing stock take. I had also started twisting my parent’s arms and was attending IW&FS and Great Domaines tastings. The wine world just started opening up to me and I was captivated.”
Along with a Bachelors Degree in Agriculture Degree: Viticulture and Oenology from Elsenburg, Wade is also a graduate of the Cape Winemakers Guild Protégé Programme. Lauded as the most successful skills development programme in the South African wine industry, the programme was launched in 2006 and has seen 23 participants complete the three-year internship.
The Guild states the aim of the programme: is to cultivate the next generation of award-winning winemakers and viticulturists through mentorship and empowerment, whilst promoting transformation within the industry.
“Joining the Protégé Programme was a no brainer,” Wade says simply. It is unrivalled in terms of exposure to the industry, with emphasis on quality production, and is the ideal vehicle for any aspiring winemaker. The highlight of the programme for me was the diversity afforded to interns. I worked in Stellenbosch with Etienne Le Riche one of the most renowned winemakers to ever work with Bordeaux cultivars in South Africa. I was then able to completely change environments and pursue a personal interest in pinot noir with Peter Finlayson, probably the most respected pinot palate in the country. If that was not enough, I then completely changed region and climates again and joined the Mullineuxs in the Swartland to explore the concept of natural winemaking. During the three-year period I also completed harvests in the States, the Loire Valley, Jura and Mosel.
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