“Culture is the best ice-breaker,” says Hardy McQueen, the dynamic co-owner of Nice Beverage Co, a black-owned enterprise breathing new life in the world of wine, fashion, food, technology, and more.
They are on a mission to create and build different narratives around African beverages – and their signature Unfltrd canned wines are increasingly popular across South Africa. Not only is it “refreshing and legitimate”, but it also boasts a lower percentage of alcohol volume.
“I’m culture obsessed, whether it’s food and beverage, music, art, sneakers… That really drives whatever endeavour I’m involved in,” says McQueen in an interview with Brian Mahanke, better known as the Black Sommelier.
Culture at the core
McQueen is among the extraordinary wine ambassadors celebrated as part of Food For Mzansi’s popular Faces of Summer campaign. He says, “We have such a big opportunity to share and to meet people through the vehicle of culture. It is the best ice-breaker that you can have to tell somebody about what’s relevant to you. They can tell you about their experience and then there is a conversation.”
He says Nice Beverage Co was founded by a group of individuals whose experiences stretch across diverse fields of expertise, including marketing and media, branding, renewable energy, events, technology, and e-commerce.
As a professional chef who has travelled to the world to experiment with food, he has long been passionate about uniting people through the language of food and culture. Now he is adding another love language: wine.
“This wine brand, specifically, is really a result of Covid. I’ve always wanted to do my own brand and I’ve been doing research. At the end of 2017, 2018 I decided to do a canned wine brand, but just never had the time – and then Covid gave me the time to actually focus [and] lock in,” says McQueen.
“For everybody, there’s a negative side of Covid and the pandemic, but also on the positive side, it really made people stop, think and really decide whatever it is they want. So, I decided to put my energy into creating this brand and seeing what can happen.”
His belief, quite simply, is that you can’t sell wine if it doesn’t taste nice. “It is quite obvious and it comes from my food background because you wouldn’t serve something you wouldn’t want to eat yourself. So, why are you selling people drinks that are not nice?”
McQueen’s summer wine selection
It goes without saying then that McQueen’s top two summer wine picks are both great-tasting wines boasting a balance of complex and nuanced flavours, aromas, and textures that stimulate the senses and provide a pleasurable drinking experience.
And, as Food For Mzansi can confirm, it is not only delicious but has depth and character with layers of flavours that unfold as you sip. These canned options are not just a drink, but an experience that engages the mind and the senses, transporting you to the place where the grapes were grown and the wine was made.
McQueen picks Unfltrd’s Skin Dry White 2021 and Dry Rosé 2021. The white wine consists of 60% skin-fermented semillon and 40% skin-fermented chenin. The wine offers something extra, pairing across a wide variety of foods – from Neapolitan pizza to Cape curries.
On the other hand, the Dry Rosé 2021 is a pure cinsault, a French red-grape variety. According to Nice Beverage Co, rosé was once the sweetish stomping grounds of Karens across the globe. Here, in Mzansi, it has now gained a new lease on life, regaining its respect as the top afternoon aperitif.
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