
Photo courtesy of Ntsiki Biyela
South Africa's Ntsiki Biyela
Apr 20, 2017
Courtesy of Creative Commons
A view of the Stellenbosch wine region, South Africa
As the first black South African woman to make wine and launch her own label, Ntsiki Biyela is a pioneer.
Ntsiki Biyela began studying wine in 1999—only five years after the end of apartheid in South Africa.
Fast forward to today, and Biyela is a pioneering figure as the country’s first black female winemaker. Born in a small village almost 1,000 miles east of the Western Cape Winelands—where she creates her wines today—Biyela got a winemaking scholarship that changed her life. Armed with a degree in oenology from Stellenbosch University, she’s gone on to produce award-winning bottles as resident winemaker of the Stellekaya winery in South Africa’s Cape Winelands. She’s also deepened her knowledge of wine by working harvests and collaborating with fellow winemakers in the United States and Europe.
Now Biyela is taking her ambition to the next level and has launched her own company, Aslina, which produces four wines from the grapes of Cape Winelands farmers: a chardonnay, a sauvignon blanc, a cabernet sauvignon, and a bordeaux blend.
Biyela tells AFAR how she got her start in wine—and explains why the picturesque Cape Winelands are worth a special trip to South Africa.
Did you like wine upon first sip?
“No, I didn’t. It tasted horrible. I was 20 years old and it was a red wine—I can’t remember the name.”
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Why the fascination with wine and winemaking?
“I was drawn by the fact that it was an entirely new thing to me, and I had a lot to learn and understand. I also realized that winemaking is like life: It is ever changing in its content, and you never really get to pin it down.”
When you first started making wine, what was the winemaking landscape like in South Africa? What did you want to do differently?
“I harvested in different countries, including France and Italy, and then came back to implement some of the things I learned. My ultimate wine experience was in Tuscany, Italy. Now I’m focusing on tasting wines from other countries to compare and learn.”
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