It’s not exactly the right time of the year to say #KeDezembaBoss, but February is the hottest month of the year – and South Africans are showing loads of love to Mama Afrika Wines.
Inspired by the people of Zwelethemba, a bustling township in Worcester, wine lovers will be pleased to know that the Mama Afrika range was produced with love and respect for the land.
The brand’s owner, Mpelo Sikhwatha, caught up with Brian Mahanke as part of Food For Mzansi’s Faces of Summer campaign – an annual ode to the legendary people behind some of the country’s favourite summer wines.
It’s all about love and business, says Sikhwatha about the significance of the Mama Afrika brand name. “In understanding Worcester, which is an area surrounded by mountains, it gets [really] hot when it is hot and cold when it is cold – and [it] even snows,” he explains.
Premium wine range
Though Mama Afrika was inspired by a small community outside Cape Town, Sikhwatha has the greatest desire to share the story with the world. From across the globe, people have enquired about the brand’s origin.
“It speaks to Mama Afrika – [both the legendary singers] Miriam Makeba and Yvonne Chaka. But in this case, it relates to a bottle of wine. A premium bottle of wine,” he says.
Furthermore, the name is inspired by the mountain range at the heart of the community he grew up. Some residents refer to it as Mama Afrika. “If you look at the mountain, it has a silhouette and the silhouette … is a female structure,” he says.
Mpelo’s summer picks
According to Sikhwatha, Mama Afrika Wines will always be looking for the best terroir when sourcing grapes to produce the exceptional wines people have come to love. This is a fundamental foundation for producing wines of the highest standards.
When it comes to selecting his favourite summer wines, Sikhwatha immediately opts for a Mama Afrika Chardonnay that actually comes from the Stellenbosch region. It is also slightly wooded over a period of ten months.
“During the three months of less contact it produces quite a number of beautiful aromas, but you have to, of course, balance that,” he says.
He stresses that it is important to balance the wine to give “structure and body”. From the nose, it has a beautiful butter scotch and vanilla aroma including French oak, but essentially it has a fruity backend.
Sikhwatha’s second choice is a Mama Afrika Malbec. He explains that Malbec is a scarce cultivar, and it was rather challenging to find the most suitable place to grow grapes for this wine. Of course, the Robertson Valley ticked all the right boxes.
“Malbec tends to do quite well in warm climates because of the south-east winds that we get in the valley. It grows in the vineyards with a nice balance of acidity and sugar,” he adds.
On the nose, it is very fruity with specifically dark fruits coming through. It is kept in barrels for 15 months before the exquisite Malbec is bottled.
- As part of its popular “Faces of Summer” campaign, Food For Mzansi will feature some of South Africa’s finest winemakers and ambassadors.
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