“I’m based in Johannesburg and working fully on my Kumusha Wine brand (est. 2017) as the Marketing & Sales Director. I’m co-founder of Somm On Call and online wine shop. I also do consulting work like the Bosjes wine label and currently setting up Luke Dale Roberts’s Test Kitchen Carbon opening soon in Johannesburg. I’m also working on a Kumusha Potstill Brandy, which will be launched around the 2nd quarter of this year.”
Tinashe Nyamudoka and Luke Dale-Roberts at internationally acclaimed The Test Kitchen
How did your sommelier journey begin?
“My first opportunity arose in the hospitality industry at the Roundhouse Restaurant in Camps Bay. I was fortunate enough to be one of the lucky ones of 50 candidates who had applied to work in this new establishment. My next move was to work at the Showroom Restaurant for six months, which then unfortunately closed down. Luckily I was able to start as a Wine Steward at One&Only Cape Town, which had just opened.”
Says Tinashe, “Stepping into One&Only Cape Town was a real eye opener, they had a huge collection of wines and great clientele, more so, there were a few serious professionals and mentors available who ignited and stoked my curiosity into making wine a fully-fledged career. Working at the hotel was very encouraging because I was working with established Sommeliers such as Andre Bekker, Eric Botha and Luvo Ntezo, but it also meant I was always going to be in the shadows, so the best I could do was drain these guys of information.”
To further his knowledge, Tinashe enrolled with the Cape Wine Academy in 2010 where he successfully completed his South African Wine and Certificate Wine courses and in 2013 his Wines of the World and Wine & Food courses.
The Distell Inter-Hotel Challenge launched in 2013, which seeks to promote growth in the hospitality industry, especially in hotels was again the right event in Tinashe’s career and he was the chosen candidate from One&Only Cape Town. Tinashe walked off with the ‘Cape Legends Wine Steward of the Year 2013’ title.
“It is a competition that allowed me to showcase what I had learned throughout the years, it was more of a confidence booster which in the end saw me being the winner of the Wine Steward category. Ever since I won, it has been a life changing experience, recognition and exposure has been coming. Promotion or opportunities may or may not come, but the experience and achievement in the competition is priceless.”