This takes the number of CWMs to attain this elite self-study qualification in the 41-year history of the CWA, to 109. They are René Groenewald, product developer for Woolworths speciality cheese, Lieza van der Merwe, former winemaker and currently manager of the tasting facility and the marketing of Merwida Family Wines, and Gavin Whittaker, export manager for Asia & Middle East markets of Van Loveren.
Two of the customary special awards for best performance in the examinations were also presented on this occasion. René Groenewald received the award for Viniculture from Piet Steenkamp of Groenland, while Lieza van der Merwe won the award for Viticulture presented by La Motte’s Jaco Visser, senior farm manager.
The dissertations of the three new CWMs cover topical issues affecting the South African wine industry. René Groenewald’s paper looked at environmental sustainability in the South African wine industry, while Lieza van der Merwe tackled drought, and how the extreme climatic conditions from 2015 to 2018 have affected the South African wine industry. Gavin Whittaker’s dissertation was on the availability, choices, production methods and market potential of no alcohol and lower alcohol (NOLO) wines in South Africa.
The names of two award winners were announced at the annual Institute of Cape Wine Masters (ICWM) dinner held on Saturday, 11 September at Jordan Wine Estate in Stellenbosch: the Wine Personality of the Year and the second winner of the Dave Hughes Trophy, instituted last year in honour of the founder of the Cape Wine Academy in 1979 and honorary CWM.
Rico Basson, CEO of Vinpro, was designated Wine Personality of the Year. Vinpro is a non-profit company which represents close to 2 600 South African wine producers, cellars and industry stakeholders. Basson was given this award for the sterling work he did to lead the South African wine industry in its lobbying efforts with the South African government during the series of national lockdowns during the spread of the Covid 19 pandemic since March 2020.
Together with other stakeholders he was at the forefront to voice the wine industry’s viewpoint during the banning of production, movement, distribution, exporting and selling of wine and alcohol; afterwards, when some concessions were made to allow the 2020 harvest to be completed; during the lifting of the export ban which is estimated to have cost the industry more than R2 billion; followed by the lifting of the domestic ban on selling of alcohol across any channel, including online, and the resumption of normal trading, but without patrons being able to buy alcohol or drink wine in restaurants; and then during the reinstatement of yet another domestic ban.
Basson is also involved in an industry-wide effort to gain legal support for its appeal to the government via a High Court action suit to give the wine sector some much-needed concessions to prevent further ruin of the businesses of hundreds of wine producers and wineries and the loss of an estimated 18 000 jobs.
Duimpie Bayly was posthumously designated the recipient of the Dave Hughes Trophy which honours the CWM who has made a notable contribution to the Institute of Cape Wine Masters (ICWM), wine education or the wine industry in general. Duimpie, who passed away a month ago in August, was one of the original Cape Wine Masters to qualify in 1984. The award was handed to his widow Sue and his son Gregg,
Duimpie attained his BSc at the University of Stellenbosch in the fifties, his masters in Viticulture and Oenology at the University of California, Davis, in the sixties, and a Professional Management Diploma (PDM) at the Harvard Business School – or as he described it, ‟bringing the university of wine to the university of business‟.
He mastered his tasting skills during his initial stints working in the laboratory and cellars of the Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery (SFW) from 1962 onwards and then as group operations director. During his career of more than fifty years in the industry he represented SFW, later Distell, on many wine industry bodies until his retirement in 2013.
Designated KWV Wine Personality of the Year in 1999, Duimpie served in various capacities on the boards of institutions such as the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative (BWI), Agri-Expo, the SA National Wine Show Association (Veritas and the SA Young Wine Show), the Technical Committee of the Wine & Spirit Board, the Demarcation Committee of the Wine of Origin System and the Cape Vintner Classification (CVC). He was also honorary life president of the SA Society of Enology & Viticulture (SASEV), which also gave him a merit award in 1986. He was also a founder member of the Pinotage Association and sought-after as judge on many wine and brandy competitions.
Duimpie also played a key role in the establishment of the Institute for Grape and Wine Sciences (IGWS) at his alma mater, Stellenbosch University, in 2013.
In closing, the ICWM chairperson Jacques Steyn, general manager at Jordan Wine Estate, also paid tribute to the three CWMs who sadly passed away in the last year: Allan Mullins, Bill Cooper-Williams and Geoff Willis.
Allan Mullins, the sixth CWM to qualify in 1986 and wine selector at Woolworths for more than three decades, passed away on Christmas Day 2020 after a lifetime in the wine industry, as judge, writer of books and magazines, tasting presenter and lecturer.
Bill Cooper-Williams, who qualified in the same year as Allan Mullins, was from Johannesburg where he was head of the KWV consumer services specialising in education programmes. He was the founder of the East Rand Wine Society established in 1986, which is still going strong.
Geoff Willis, who became a CWM in 1995, ran the KZN CWA branch for many years as an examiner at Certificate Level and lecturing students at various levels. He also organised various wine-related tastings and competitions.
Currently, the prestigious group of Cape Wine Masters includes 13 from overseas and one of the three original Cape Wine Masters – Bennie Howard who, together with the late Duimpie Bayly and the late Tony Mossop, were the first to qualify in 1984. Of the total active membership of the Institute, Western Cape members comprise 75%, Gauteng 24% and KwaZulu-Natal 1%. The total membership profile of the CWM is 45% male and 55% female.
Dissertations are available in full on the websites of the CWA, www.capewineacademy.co.za and the Institute of Cape Wine Masters www.icwm.co.za. Bound copies are also available from the CWA library.
Profiles and dissertations
Profile: René Groenewald
René Groenewald is currently product developer for Woolworths speciality cheese, and her areas of expertise include wine and beverages, horticulture, and more recently, specialty cheese.
A consumer science and culinary arts graduate from the University of Pretoria, Groenewald, who lives in Green Point, joined South African Breweries (SAB) in 2004, before moving in 2007 to retailer Woolworths as part of the product development team based in Cape Town.
Groenewald is passionate about sustainability and making wine both relevant and accessible to all and her obsession with flavour and aroma led her to study the culinary arts at Hallman’s and she completed a course in advanced sensory evaluation at Stellenbosch University. She is a member of the South African Sommeliers Association (SASA) and a graduate of the Michael Fridjhon Wine Judging Academy.
René's dissertation: "Environmental sustainability in the South African wine industry"
René Groenewald’s 2021 research paper on environmental sustainability unpacks the concerns, responses, and opportunities for South African producers to safeguard the wine industry’s long-term survival, particularly its resilience to climate change.
Groenewald hones in on improving biodiversity and reducing pollution and carbon emissions. The research finds that while well-established practices like planting crop covers, building the organic carbon content of the soil, and integrated pest management are restoring biodiversity in the vineyard, there is phenomenal potential to better capture, analyse and share data and enable more efficient applications of water, energy, and agrochemicals across the value chain.
Profile: Lieza van der Merwe
Lieza van der Merwe was formerly winemaker and is currently manager of the tasting facility and marketing of Merwida Family Wines.
She hails from the small town of Rawsonville on the Breedekloof Wine Route. As a young girl growing up on her family’s farm, Merwida, she was happiest in the winery alongside her father Schalk van der Merwe and always knew she wanted to pursue a career in winemaking, although becoming a Cape Wine Master was then a remote dream.
Van der Merwe completed her BSc degree in Agric Viticulture and Oenology at Stellenbosch University from 2009-2012. Her first harvest was at Groot Constantia under the watchful eye of Boela Gerber, a fellow CWM. She then went on to do two overseas harvests in Sonoma, California and Pfalz in Germany.
On her return in 2015Van der Merwe joined the Merwida team permanently, where she worked as winemaker alongside Magnus Kriel until she hung up her harvest boots in 2020, when she took over the management of Huis Te Merwede, the new tasting room facility of Merwida Family Wines, as well as Merwida’s marketing.
Lieza's dissertation: "Drought: How have the extreme climatic conditions of the past few years (2015-2018) affected the South African wine industry, with a specific focus on drought conditions?"
This dissertation explores the detrimental effects caused by the drought in the Western Cape during the past few years on the South African wine industry. Interactions with various industry role players and winemakers/viticulturists provide a concise snapshot of what the industry experienced during these turbulent times.
Looking at global climate change and its effect in South Africa and the Western Cape, this paper focuses on how important water is for agriculture and the long-term and short-term strategies required to farm with wine grapes and how best to adapt to changing circumstances.
Vineyard practices, vineyard management, winemaking, winery cleaning practices and the necessity for water for all these activities are explained. It considers the economic effect of the drought and how producers were forced to make tough decisions and to think outside the box to save their livelihoods. It also looks at the future facing the wine industry and the research being conducted in the light of global climate change fast becoming a reality.
Profile: Gavin Whittaker
Gavin Whittaker is currently export manager for Asia & Middle East markets of Van Loveren.
After graduating from the University of Southampton with a degree in Economics and German in 2003, Gavin Whittaker gained a foretaste of the wine trade by working at an Oddbins store.
He completed his WSET Merit and Advanced courses and then set off to seek his fortune in London with Bibendum, one of the UK’s leading independent wine importers, where he worked for five years.
During that time Whittaker completed his WSET Diploma Level 4 in 2009, winning The McNie Tasting trophy for the best still wine tasting score. He also garnered valuable sales and marketing experience selling to leading UK retailers including Tesco and Laithwaites, as well as in the competitive and highly entertaining London on trade scene.
Whittaker emigrated to South Africa in 2010 and was appointed export manager at Cape Diamond Wines, a subsidiary of Lutzville Vineyards, where he was part of a team that helped turn the business around after the financial crisis of 2008 when the strong rand had such a devastating impact on exports. At Cape Diamond Wines, he developed new export markets in Asia, Russia, Africa, and South America.
In 2013 and 2014 Whittaker represented Team South Africa at the World Wine Tasting Championships, emerging from a rigorous selection process as the top taster in 2013 and as captain of the South African team in 2014.
In search of more brand experience, he joined Van Loveren in Robertson, South Africa’s leading family-owned winery in Robertson, in 2015, where he is responsible for the Asian and Middle East markets. His extensive experience includes new business development, building brands in export markets, acting as an ambassador for South African wines, label and wine development as well as convincing consumers worldwide that there is more to wine than Katembas (red wine mixed with Coke).
Happily married to a South African, they have two children. In his spare time, he enjoys water polo and surfing.
Gavin’s dissertation: "No alcohol and lower alcohol (NOLO) wines: options available in South Africa, their production methods and whether there is a market for these wines"
Whittaker’s dissertation is an overview of non-alcoholic and lower alcoholic (NOLO) wine options available in South Africa up until 2020 and provides an insight into the NOLO wine category from an objective viewpoint. The reasoning behind the rise and growth of NOLO wines around the world has been compared and an assessment made as to their relevance in a South African context with reference to available data and a consumer survey. This survey is not meant to be a definitive insight into what all South African wine consumers think, but does offer a guide for comparison purposes.
This paper offers an introduction to the NOLO category from a wine perspective – the current speed of innovation within the NOLO wine product sphere with a constant influx of new products. From a regulatory point of view, there are a myriad of issues facing regulatory bodies and producers.
The paper also deals with the production of these wines, which technologies are available to producers, as well as which wine styles are available in the South African market.