Make a difference
Give a community with few resources a chance to contribute and you’ll be amazed at what you will discover. Opportunities can change lives.
The Township Winery produces premium wines with individual style and a ‘give-back’ objective.
The style is derived from the age-old ‘close to the coast’ resources of South Africa’s Western Cape and a non-interventionist method of winemaking.
Remember what hand-crafted means.
Our Story
When township house builder Kate Jambela and Graham Knox first met in 2009, his Wellington mountainside home overlooked a valley striped with vibrant green vineyards. Visiting with her family, the ever irrepressible Kate burst out with “I want this“. Born disadvantaged in the KwaZulu sugarfields, Kate outlined her vision; to purchase a vineyard where she would put up a small winery using materials left over from her company’s township housing projects.
The land prices of even the smallest pieces of vineyard in the Cape Winelands eventually promoted a change of plans. Township land, adjacent to the established Winelands, is more affordable, though very scarce. Kate vowed to use this to jumpstart an interest in wine culture among the black community.
Eventually, the ideal sites were discovered inside the borders of Khayelitsha schools and the Schools Vineyards Project was commenced.
Achievements
- Establishment of resident-owned vineyards in Mikpunt and Gugulethu
- Development of international and domestic markets
- Bonding with loyal distributors in Germany and the USA
- Production and availability of two products winning Silver Medals and ratings of over 90 points in the Fine Wine Awards
Awards
- Philippi Sauvignon Blanc 2023 Platter Guide 3.5 stars
- Philippi Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2019 Platter Guide 4 stars
- The Mailbox Block Heritage Single Vineyard 2022 Fine Wine Awards 93 points
- Argument Corner Field Blend Red 2021 Fine Wine Awards 91 points
What we do
The Township Winery selects grapes from renowned growers adjacent to or overlooking the Cape Flats where the townships house the majority of Capet town’s population. Some of these vineyards share the soil platform and growing conditions of the seaside township locations. This is where you’ll find the lowest median summer temperatures in the Western Cape and where there’s deep limestone in the root platform under the sands.
Every part of the process from vineyard to bottling involves job creation and introduction to careers. Every step from grape to bottle follows a minimalist path…smallest fermenters, hand punch downs, long lees contact, barreled maturation, hand bottling maturation.
Bridging the gaps
To bridge the gap between those who ‘have’ and ‘know how’ in the Cape’s vineyard lands and the undereducated and impoverished who live on the other side of the highway, we:
- Promote Agricultural Education
- Boost Skill Levels
- Create job opportunities in local communities
- Network Resources from Establishment
- Establish Township Resident-owned Vineyards
Our Projects
Schools’ Vineyards Project
Agreements with three Khayelitsha School Governing Bodies to establish premium variety vineyards on school properties Agreements with Winelands farm communities to award bursaries for secondary and tertiary education for deserving students from deprived backgrounds
Philippi Project
With future township vineyards taking many years to establish, in 2010 the team bought the first Durbanville and Firgrove grapes from vineyards close to the townships and started making the Philippi wines. This enabled the first significant-sized township vine plantings. Open spaces between market gardens within Mikpunt (a Swartland township) and Gugulethu were soon lined with rows of bush-style and trellised vines.
Wild Plum Project
The Wild Plum vineyard in Mikpunt was planted with Syrah by Arleen van Wyk in 2015 making her one of South Africa’s first black vineyard owners. The first full crop was harvested in 2020, fermented and barrel matured at The Township Winery and after bottling in 2022, went on sale in Munich’s and Cape Town’s high ranked restaurants.
Tours and tastings
The Township Winery provides various informative and educational vineyards and township tours and tastings in separate locations:
Our small Stellenbosch winery or At Lookout Hill in Khayelitsha
All arrangements and costs are determined by booking.
Contact us for more information.
How you can help
Every bottle of The Township Winery wine brings revenue to the projects and the beneficiaries.
There are many ways that you can help speed up the establishment process and contribute to its success. If you are a supplier of vineyard resources, a keen corporate or a public citizen with a passion for people and wine, get in touch with us today.