The 2022 Decanter Hall of Fame recipient’s enthusiasm for South Africa’s old vines and creating a culture of viticulture has set an example to the whole of the wine world.
She's also the first South African to receive this prestigious global award. This year marks the 39th edition of the award, previously known as Man or Woman of the Year.
Chris Maillard, Decanter’s editor-in-chief, said, "Rosa Kruger is without a doubt one of the most influential figures in her region and, despite her modesty, has played a huge part in the story of her country’s wine. We’re proud to be able to honour her achievements."
Rosa Kruger, a great-great-granddaughter of former president Paul Kruger, grew up on a farm in northern Transvaal. She started life as a political journalist, then became an attorney before finally finding her life’s calling by chance when managing an apple orchard in a cool climate area that was touted as suitable for vineyards. With her characteristic sense of adventure, she decided to give it a go.
She has been a consultant vineyard manager at different wine cellars for 20 years, designing new vineyard sites and managing existing vineyards for quality wine. She travels to the most interesting vineyards of the world annually to keep herself up-to-date on what it takes to make great wines.
Today, she works for a handful of wineries but gives free advice to countless more, connecting young winemakers with remarkable vineyard sites. Her dedication to preserving South Africa’s old vines led her to found the Old Vine Project in 2016.
We caught up with Rosa to find out more about the Hall of Fame award, the Old Vine Project, and what makes her tick.
What does the Decanter Hall of Fame award mean to you?
It is an amazing honour to receive this award from a publication like Decanter. I'm really happy that a South African received this award for the first time and see it as a vote of confidence in what we do here and the direction we are taking in viticulture in our country.
Besides this prestigious award, what is one of the achievements you're most proud of?
The annual training schools for vineyard workers where we train them to prune old vines in a respectful way. Creating a culture of viticulture.
What inspired you to launch the Old Vine Project?
The taste of the wines from old vines in Europe!
Whenever I visited wine farms in Europe, especially the smaller ones where the whole family was involved in the viticulture, winemaking and marketing, they were always happy to see me and showed me with pride their oldest vineyards. We tasted the wines and I just knew that the wines produced from older vineyards had another dimension, something different, to wines produced from younger vines.
I knew we had old vines here in South Africa somewhere and realised they were gems waiting to be discovered.
What's new at the Old Vine Project?
Earlier this year, we launched the Old Vine Academy, together with the support of the Imvini Wethu team. It consists of an online platform aimed at educating the wine industry, trade, consumers, and media on the value of Certified Heritage Vineyards and the wines they produce. The academy will offer learners the opportunity to gain additional skills and attain certification to positively impact their career prospects.
As for 2023, there are lots of new things waiting... that André Morgenthal, Nadia Hefer and myself are still working on!
Besides the Old Vine Project, are you currently working on?
I'm doing some research on climate change and how we can deal with it in future in the vineyards.
What's one of your biggest passions in the wine industry?
Training people and physically working and walking in vineyards.