Used by permission of http://www.wineland.co.za

Text and photographs: Beverly Farmer

(Photo: Beyers Truter; Jan Hendricks, foreman, and Johan Gelderblom, Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, with 20 litre bottle of Bouwland in a special packaging.)

“If I am crying today, these are tears of joy,” says winemaker Beyers Truter. The lump in his throat does not prevent him from explaining, however: “When I worked the first piece of soil on Kanonkop in 1981, I knew I simply had to have a piece of the land. I wanted to be the steward. And I always said to myself, How much greater the longing of the people who have been working in these vineyards for 40 years. Those who are nurturing the vineyards, suckering and tilling the soil day by day.”

This awareness that farm workers also have the desire to be stewards of the soil motivated Beyers to make his dream come true. The opportunity finally presented itself with the introduction of Bouwland Estate - the biggest empowerment transaction so far in the [South African] wine industry. Among the guests are the Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Johan Gelderblom, and the Mayor of Stellenbosch, Willie Ortell.

Bouwland, a stone’s throw from the Devon Valley Golf Course, is sought-after agricultural land. It is red wine country par excellence. A marquee tent on the 56 ha farm provides shelter against the southeaster which is raging outside. Outside the door of the tent the wind gusts through bush vine Cabernet Sauvignon; one notices Merlot, established beyond the farm dam; and further a field, against the slope, as far as the eye can see, row upon row of Pinotage.

Beyers’ predilection for this red wine cultivar has earned him an array of international awards as winemaker and placed him on a footing with the world’s foremost winemakers. But today, speaking from behind the podium, Beyers is far removed from the glamorous image of “Mr Pinotage”. Dressed in a pale blue shirt without a tie, to the people who work with him on a daily basis on Kanonkop and Beyerskloof he is a modest man. To them he is a brother and someone to whom they can talk.

Conversations like these, held over many years with Jan Hendriks, foreman at Kanonkop, eventually resulted in the establishment of the Bouwland Participation Trust.

Sixty people (39 families) form the trust and they own 74% of the shares in Bouwland Estate (Pty) Ltd. The government’s Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development Programme, the Land Reform Credit Facility (Khula), Absa Business Bank Services and Beyerskloof joined forces to invest the almost R10 million in Bouwland.

Beyers and Jan are both directors of the new Bouwland Estate and together with nominated trustees they form the controlling body for the management of the wine farm. “Many of the trustees are people who grew up on the wine farms and are specialists in viticulture. They have worked in the vineyards all their lives and now play a fundamental role in the creation of quality vineyards, wine and a future for their children as co-owners of a wine enterprise.

“What I know about winemaking, I have learnt from them. Everything I have achieved stems directly from them, ” Beyers continues. He has so much faith in the expertise of the farm workers that Beyerskloof has invested R2,5 million to obtain a 26% share in Bouwland Estate. “One thing is for sure: taking into account all my previous awards and accomplishments, my share in Bouwland Estate is the most precious of them all and an achievement that I will not sacrifice.”

For Jan, Bouwland is a dream come true. “The dream gave me sleepless nights, because I took people in tow and did not always know where it would end. Today I am delighted about the outcome of the process. We used to be workers on a farm, now we are owners. We realise that we shall have to work harder than ever to make a success of the project, but I am absolutely certain that we shall manage to pull it off.

“The quality of our products, that is what will give us the edge and keep us abreast of the competition. It is wonderful that the Bouwland wines will be marketed together with the Beyerskloof wines.”

The function was an occasion to serve the estate’s first wines, still unlabelled. The Bouwland Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend is currently being marketed overseas and the Bouwland Chenin Blanc has just been released on the local market. A flagship wine, Cape Blend, with Pinotage as an important component, will soon be released. The wines are exported to Holland, Belgium, England and Denmark and 6 000 cases have already been sold. The intention is to increase production to 25 000 cases per annum within the next five years. Plans are under way to plant Cabernet Franc and Shiraz in the near future.

Bouwland wines are made at Koelenhof under the watchful eye of Beyers and two farm workers. The services of contract workers are used to work in the vineyards. Experienced trustees have been nominated to serve on the management executive of Bouwland.

Another prominent trustee is Cecil Jaap, who used to be laboratory manager at Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery for ten years and now offers his services as an independent consultant to wine laboratories. The Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Johan Gelderblom, is excited about this kind of partnership between beginner farmers and experts. “Partnerships, mentorship, management training and the development of agricultural expertise among beginner farmers hold the key to successful land reform in South Africa.

“This project was not designed as a subsistence farming enterprise in which earning a livelihood for the community, in some form or another, is seen as the ideal. The main goals are empowerment and striving to make a profit, and if the private sector and the government get involved, projects such as Bouwland can show the way. One cannot expect a newborn to cope on its own, but I am excited about the possibilities that are being raised by such partnerships in South Africa and abroad,” said Gelderblom.

 According to George Mothoa, business manager: land reform credit facility (Khula), the Western Cape is one of the regions with the most successful partnerships for agricultural empowerment transactions. “We were immediately able to identify the outstanding potential and merit of the Bouwland project.”

 CEO of Absa Agribusiness, Venete Klein, said the milestone of the Bouwland project would be used as a measure of success for other empowerment projects in the winelands. “When the story about South Africa’s successful transformation is told, initiatives such as this will be landmark events. They show the way towards a better South Africa, where people live together in prosperity as good neighbours.”

 On the way to the car it starts drizzling and I suddenly realise: Somewhere up there someone is also shedding a few tears of joy about this memorable day.

 The hands and the vineyards on the new Bouwland label are symbolic of the arduous manual labour that goes into the making of each bottle of wine. Furthermore the hands give recognition to the “hands” that joined forces with the beginner farmers to make the project a reality.