
“What’s wine? Is it a cider or one thing? I hated the primary sip.”
That was Ntsiki Biyela’s first response after she gained a scholarship to check winemaking in 1998.
Now she’s a world award profitable vintner and resident winemaker on the Stellekaya vineyard in Stellenbosch — east of Cape City, South Africa.
She’s additionally the nation’s first black feminine winemaker in an trade dominated by white males.
“I am surrounded by males who’re supportive, however normally it is a wrestle as a result of you need to do twice as a lot to show your self,” she informed CNNMoney.
Her wine is bought globally however her predominant market is the US. And he or she has plans to start out her personal model later this 12 months.
Related: South Africa’s wine industry is booming
Biyela’s life started in 1978 in a small village within the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, the place the one alcohol she encountered was residence brewed beer.
As a black South African, Biyela suffered discrimination and oppression below the brutal…