About 105 Whittlesea residents were involved in a day-long harvest of grapes for the Mayime Primary Agricultural Cooperative this week.
The seven-hectare vineyard, housed at the Shiloh Irrigation Scheme aims to produce the fruit for the Inkosi wine label, which is made in Cape Town and retails for about R200 a bottle.
The grapes, harvested in Whittlesea near Komani are transported to Cape Town to be pressed and turned into wine.
Although this first-ever community-owned Eastern Cape vineyard was officially launched last year, Tuesday was the third harvest.
Selborne Cecane, chairman of the co-operative, which has 395 beneficiaries and also runs the Shiloh dairy scheme from the same site, said the idea of cultivating grapes to produce wine came about in 2012.
“We have 40 permanent staff and we get temporary staff when it is harvest time. This project has changed the lives of the people of Shiloh,” he said.
Cecane said the project was still struggling to produce its own wine, so R30000 was spent on transporting the grapes to Cape Town where the juice was extracted, blended and bottled.
“If we can get our own cellar we would not have these challenges.
“Last year, we harvested for two days and when our grapes reached Cape Town, they were not good enough to make wine. They used them to make brandy,” he said.
Cecane explained that when grapes are harvested they need to be sent to Cape Town on the same day.
“We have sent our proposal to different entities and are still waiting for a response. We make chardonnay, chenin blanc and pinotage wine, which is stored in Cape Town while we await our liquor licence,” he said.
He said they now had an additional five hectares which they would harvest from next year.
“Our aim is to grow the vineyard and have our own cellar here, from where we will export our wine to China and Russia who have shown interest in buying the product,” said Cecane.
He said as soon as they got the licence, more people would be employed.
“We want to plant 100 hectares. We used to be challenged by people jumping over the fence and stealing the grapes but now that has changed.
“People understand that this is their own gold mine and they need to take care of it. We don’t have security here – the community is responsible for making sure that this place is protected.”
He said the salaries of the staff were being paid by the Chris Hani Development Agency. —
thembiles@dispatch.co.za
EC’s community-owned vineyard wants a cellar
The seven-hectare vineyard, housed at the Shiloh Irrigation Scheme aims to produce the fruit for the Inkosi wine label, which is made in Cape Town and retails for about R200 a bottle.
The grapes, harvested in Whittlesea near Komani are transported to Cape Town to be pressed and turned into wine.
Although this first-ever community-owned Eastern Cape vineyard was officially launched last year, Tuesday was the third harvest.
Selborne Cecane, chairman of the co-operative, which has 395 beneficiaries and also runs the Shiloh dairy scheme from the same site, said the idea of cultivating grapes to produce wine came about in 2012.
“We have 40 permanent staff and we get temporary staff when it is harvest time. This project has changed the lives of the people of Shiloh,” he said.
Cecane said the project was still struggling to produce its own wine, so R30000 was spent on transporting the grapes to Cape Town where the juice was extracted, blended and bottled.
“If we can get our own cellar we would not have these challenges.
“Last year, we harvested for two days and when our grapes reached Cape Town, they were not good enough to make wine. They used them to make brandy,” he said.
Cecane explained that when grapes are harvested they need to be sent to Cape Town on the same day.
“We have sent our proposal to different entities and are still waiting for a response. We make chardonnay, chenin blanc and pinotage wine, which is stored in Cape Town while we await our liquor licence,” he said.
He said they now had an additional five hectares which they would harvest from next year.
“Our aim is to grow the vineyard and have our own cellar here, from where we will export our wine to China and Russia who have shown interest in buying the product,” said Cecane.
He said as soon as they got the licence, more people would be employed.
“We want to plant 100 hectares. We used to be challenged by people jumping over the fence and stealing the grapes but now that has changed.
“People understand that this is their own gold mine and they need to take care of it. We don’t have security here – the community is responsible for making sure that this place is protected.”
He said the salaries of the staff were being paid by the Chris Hani Development Agency. —
thembiles@dispatch.co.za
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