PLACE IN THE SUN: GENEROUS-HEARTED WINES ACCELERATING UPLIFTMENT
Place in the Sun, a new range of big-hearted, easy-drinking wines with bold varietal flavours, hopes to accelerate community upliftment amongst farm workers following its recent global launch.
The Fairtrade-accredited range of one white and three reds is produced from grapes sourced from Cape vineyards that have been certified by FLO-CERT under the Fair Label Organisation (FLO) Standards that forms part of Fairtrade. Growers are paid a premium for their fruit that is directed towards social development of the wine-farm workers, who decide on how the funds are to be spent.
Says Deon Boshoff, head of the winemaking team behind Place in the Sun wines: “The initiative is based on trade rather than aid, and is intended to make a material difference to the workers involved.”
Boshoff, who is himself the son of farm workers, grew up on an apple farm in Elgin. He was able to study winemaking with the help of a bursary available to the children of farm workers. Now 32, he has been making wines since the age of 22. He was appointed to his present position as cellarmaster in 2010. At Adam Tas cellars in Stellenbosch, he oversees the production not just of Place in the Sun wines but also many other labels, including Zonnebloem, one of South Africa’s best-known and longest-established brands.
He says playing a part in improving the quality of life of wine-farm workers through his involvement in Place in the Sun wines, has a special significance not just for him but for many of those in the cellar team. “We have put our hearts into these wines. We like to believe you can taste it in every one of them.
“When the people who are growing and harvesting the grapes know they are a valued and integral part of winemaking, they take extra care and it shows in the quality of the grapes. At our cellars, we try to capture that sense of care by letting the fruit characters come through just as they are. It’s our way of honouring their role.”
All four wines are styled to be refreshing and approachable, he says. “The Sauvignon Blanc is crisp and tangy with aromas of passion fruit and a piquant palate with hints of pineapple. The reds are soft-textured with supple tannins.”
He describes the 2010 Shiraz as a full-bodied, fruity wine with notes of berry and spice, while the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon is redolent of juicy red and black berries and the 2010 Merlot, he says, is “bursting with sun-ripened red berry and plum characters”.
The wines are available nationally. The Sauvignon blanc is expected to retail for around R35 and all the reds for around R45.
THE SUN SHINES ON DEON BOSHOFF
Deon Boshoff (32) is diffident, good-natured and modest. Not necessarily what you would expect from someone so young who is cellar manager of the biggest wine-making facility that belongs to Distell, South Africa’s leading producer of wines and also the tenth biggest marketer of wines worldwide.
He may work in Stellenbosch, just 30 minutes’ drive from where he was born but the significance of the move has been immense. The son of apple farmworkers in Grabouw, his story is a tangible example of hope. It is about being born into humble if routine circumstances for the majority of South Africans and not being held back. It’s about doing your best and then some and earning the confidence of your employers.
Overseeing the production of a range of prominent South African wine brands since 2010, many of which are sold worldwide, Deon believes it was probably naiveté more than anything else that helped him to transcend the barriers of poverty. “I come from a very stable and hard-working family and my older siblings were my role models. They all completed their tertiary education on bursaries. I took it as a given that you had to work hard to succeed. I wasn’t even aware of the alternatives.
“I also led a very sheltered life on the farm. Ironically, I wasn’t even thinking of studying after school and was already working for an apple farming concern as a stock taker. It was only because my older brother, an agricultural teacher, had heard about a bursary open to people of our farming community and encouraged me to apply that I ever entered a career in winemaking.”
He concedes that it took a leap of faith to give up a regular job and money in his pocket to spend three years studying but he has never regretted it. Some of his wines have been honoured on important competitive platforms and chosen for prestigious wine club selections. He is now also making wine for a new Fairtrade-accredited project that supports wine farmworkers in a bid to help them and their families escape the constraints of poverty.
Called Place in the Sun, the new brand of big-hearted and flavourful wines is just that. It gives the workers who grow the grapes to make the brand, their place in the sun. “I was luckier than most. My education gave me a headstart. I don’t have the constant and overwhelming anxiety of poverty plaguing me that my parents had when we were growing up. That gives you greater freedom to think and explore and develop.”
A premium is paid for the grapes sourced for the one white and three red Place in the Sun wines, with the money directed towards social development of the wine farm workers involved. They decide on how the funds are to be spent. Fairtrade-accreditation, premised on trade, rather than aid, has already made a material difference to their lives. They have been able to upgrade a crèche, send their children to the schools of their choice with fees, books, uniforms and transport covered. Their children have the means to participate in competitive sport with their kits, coaching and transport to and from meets, also paid for. There have been other benefits too like recreational facilities.
Their work is no longer a job. “When the people who are growing and harvesting the grapes know they are a valued and integral part of winemaking, they take extra care and it shows in the quality of the grapes. I try to capture that sense of care by letting the fruit characters come through just as they are in Place in the Sun wines. It’s my way of honouring their role,” says Deon.
“When you make a wine that plays a part in improving the quality of life of the vineyard workers, it makes you feel special. Just like they have, I have put my heart into these wines. We like to believe you can taste it in every one of them.”
He studied for three years at the Elsenberg Agricultural College and joined Distell as an assistant winemaker in 2002, becoming white winemaker in 2005. Five years later, right in the middle of the harvest, he was appointed cellarmaster.
“Those first three months were HUGE for me,” he says his burly frame expanding as he spreads his arms across his office to emphasise the enormity of the challenge. “I have been stretched enormously but in a very good way. I am used to structure and suddenly I found myself in a situation where there was no beginning and no end. I’ve had to make the structure and that’s been professionally very challenging and also gratifying. I also work with an extraordinarily fine team.”
His studies took him to Australia, while his new position has taken him to France, where he spent six weeks on an exchange programme. “I have learned so much and continue to be extended. It’s a fantastically exciting job and it has given me the chance to provide for my children in a way I could never have imagined when I was growing up. I never knew what the world had to offer.”
And the pride of his parents? “My mom, she tells me but my dad has a more reserved way. I know he is glad for me from the questions he asks me about my work but it isn’t his style to come out and say so directly.”
He and his wife Josie, live on the False Bay coast just minutes from the sea with their two young daughters, Jay-Dee and Caitlin. “I shall never forget where I come from. It has shaped who I am. For me to be able to make wines that play a part in transforming the lives of other people from a similar background to my own, is a massive reward.”
DATE JUNE 22, 2011
ISSUED BY DKC (DE KOCK COMMUNICATIONS)
FOR PLACE IN THE SUN WINES
QUERIES DEON BOSHOFF, PLACE IN THE SUN (021) 809 7367 or 083 363 0655
DEIDRE SAMSON, GLOBAL MARKETING MANAGER (021) 809 7000 or 082 551 4011
TESSA DE KOCK/MARLISE POTGIETER, DKC (021) 422 2690 or 082 579 2358
