Giving back to South Africa
By Jancisrobinson.com
Malu Lambert admires the spirit of a new project by Mullineux, employee-owned with the help of Waitrose. The Great Heart team is pictured above, from left to right: Chris and Andrea Mullineux, Gynore Fredericks, Baron Willemse and Johan Waterboer.
While bringing commercial catastrophe, such as grinding wine exports to a halt, the pandemic has also fast-tracked certain things.
We’ve all been forced to make decisions this past year, impacting both our work and personal lives. All of us have had to dig deep. In the eternal good versus evil battle, some have revealed themselves to be crisis opportunists, taking advantage of the pandemic for their own nefarious purposes – many workers were retrenched under the guise of COVID-19 – or to profit from it. Don’t even mention the PPE scams and black-market cigarettes…
Others, however, the ones with wings, have displayed incredible generosity. In every sector there have been acts of grace, from breweries shut down during the alcohol ban making their tanks available to cook soups for the destitute, to the country’s chefs cooking for hungry children daily and tirelessly fundraising for it – and to the myriad positive initiatives from the wine industry.
The highly respected Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines recently launched an employee-empowerment project called Great Heart Wine and has now pledged itself to the cause. The range currently consists of Great Heart Swartland Chenin Blanc and Great Heart Swartland Red Blend, which are being sold by Waitrose in the UK at £14.99. A Stellenbosch Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon are soon to join the line-up. Designed by South African artist Jaco Sieberhagen, the label features the African Pied Wagtail, a bird known in Africa as a symbol of assistance.
Chris Mullineux explained: ‘Andrea and I had been talking about how to meaningfully improve our staff’s lives for quite some time. COVID made us act. We investigated various companies and decided it would be best to focus on what we’re good at, which is turning great grapes into wonderful wine. Also, we wanted to keep it as simple as possible, so the concept was reduced to starting a separate company that is 100% employee-owned. The Great Heart Wines company owns the brand and uses the Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines infrastructure to make and sell wine. Profits are shared 100% among our staff who are also the shareholders. A big thanks goes to Waitrose who has supported the project from concept phase.’
Any employee who has worked full-time for Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines for longer than two years automatically becomes a Great Heart shareholder. So far, 21 employees have qualified.
Andrea and I are involved in a mentorship capacity, with the idea of lending a helping hand if and when needed. In the cellar, for example, Andrea functions more as Great Heart’s cellar master, while Gynore Fredericks is the lead winemaker.
Gynore, who works as the assistant winemaker at Mullineuxs during the day, is clearly relishing having her own creative outlet and plans on making some special single lots for Great Heart in the future. ‘The biggest thing, however, is seeing the people around me grow. Some of them come from really tough backgrounds, and I believe Great Heart will make a big difference for all of us’, Gynore told me.
When it comes to the winemaking, Gynore sticks to the estate’s hands-off approach. ‘The wines are made in the same manner as our Mullineux and Leeu Passant wines, meaning natural fermentation, minimal additions and the goal of making wines with a sense of purity, balance and place.’
The Chenin Blanc (see Jancis’s tasting note) is made from two Paardeberg bush-vine parcels and fermented 85% in tank and 15% in older barrels. The Red Blend comprises 51% Syrah, 34% Tinta Barocca and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, with the Syrah and Tinta Barocca undergoing 50% whole-bunch fermentation. The wine is then matured for 18 months in older oak barrels and foudres.
I recently tasted both wines. The Chenin is white-fruited with peach and a hint of lychee peel, cut green apple, citrus and a touch of salinity. The acidity is fresh and bright and cuts right through the wine. There is a streak of austerity to the wine that promises some evolution.
With the red blend, there’s a real point of difference. A spicy, wild note, courtesy of the Tinta, that characteristic Swartland funk, brightened and polished by the whole-bunch component. On the palate, there’s a juicy mélange of red and black fruit, framed by a fine bone structure, likely courtesy of the Cab (see Jancis’s tasting note also).
These are not pretentious wines; in fact, they’re extremely quaffable. And I suppose that’s the point – the more bottles of Great Heart that are opened, the more this nascent company can grow, changing lives in the process.
This is not the first project of this sort in this country. Adama Wines, which falls under the Bosman Adama umbrella, is a multi-owner company initiated by the Bosman Family Vineyards in Wellington. In 2009 they granted 260 permanent workers shares in 430 hectares of vineyard land to produce the range. This has been dubbed the biggest land reform transaction in the history of the South African wine industry.
Another ground-breaking example in Wellington is Thokozani, an empowerment model developed by Diemersfontein. In 2007 a Workers’ Forum was established, with 35 farm workers receiving shares in the business. Allocation was on condition that they stay and work on the farm for a minimum of five years. The majority (80%) is owned by the Workers’ Forum, while Diemersfontein retains a 20% share. The other arm of the business is Thokozani Properties, a sub-division on the Diemersfontein estate featuring a string of cottages for accommodation purposes. In total, 85 employees are now involved in the business.
Then there’s the successful Compagniesdrift Wines, a winery as well as a custom bond store and bottling plant started in 2015 for farm workers from the celebrated Stellenbosch estates Meerlust, Vriesenhof and Ken Forrester. There are now 72 beneficiaries. The Myburgh Family Trust, owners of Meerlust, spearheaded the project along with the Meerlust Workers’ Trust, which is now also part-owner of Compagniesdrift.
These are just some of the big stories, but there are many other initiatives, quite apart from the Cape Winemakers Guild Protégé Programme, such as the one described by winemaker (and past protégé) Kiara Scott. Her employer, Brookdale in Paarl, is assisting their employees to get their driver’s licences – a small but impactful gesture. Never underestimate the freedom a car can give you.
These acts of transformation made me think of the Imvini Wethu wine, a Cape blend made in collaboration with the Cape Winemakers Guild’s (CWG) Protégé Programme under the supervision of Andrea Mullineux, CWG chair, and the Old Vine Project. The wine was created specifically for the German market by a group of German entrepreneurs, importers and wine industry professionals. Proceeds from every bottle sold go towards the Protégé Programme as well as Old Vine Project training to further uplift the skills of vineyard workers.
Imvini Wethu’s tagline surely sums it up when it comes to what we call in South Africa upliftment programmes, big or small: ‘Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.’
