Ntsiki Biyela | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1978 KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| Education | Stellenbosch University |
| Occupation | winemaker |
| Years active | 2004–present |
Ntsiki Biyela (born 1978) is a South African winemaker and businesswoman who runs Aslina wines. [1] Previously, she was head winemaker at Stellekaya Wines, where Biyela became the first black female winemaker in South Africa. [2] [3]
Biyela grew up in Mahlabathini in Zululand. [4] She graduated from high school in 1996 and worked for a year as a domestic worker. [5] Having made a number of unsuccessful grant applications to study at university, she was offered the opportunity to study viticulture and oenology at Stellenbosch University in 1998 by South African Airways, who were providing a number of wine making scholarships. [6] [7] She was able to attend university on a full scholarship and graduated in 2003 with a bachelor of science in agriculture. [1] [5]
Biyela had never tasted wine prior to starting her studies, but soon came to love what she describes as "the ever-changing content of wine." Her lectures were primarily delivered in Afrikaans, which she did not speak, so Biyela learnt the majority of the winemaking content via English notes. Other students asked her why she'd wanted to study there, which Biyela interpreted as having the underlying meaning "you're not welcome." [3] She was also able to get a part-time job at local winery Delheim. [6]
In 2009 Biyela was named as South Africa’s Woman Winemaker of the Year. [6]
Biyela saw Black South Africans, who weren't being courted by White South African winemakers because they weren't traditional wine drinkers, as a huge untapped potential consumer base. [3] The flavor references commonly used to describe wine are often unfamiliar flavors to those "not well-versed in European winespeak". [3] Biyela describes her wines using familiar flavors, such as describing a wine as having an aroma similar to amasi, a local fermented milk product, rather than calling its aroma similar to truffles. [3]
Biyela is a board member of Pinotage Youth Development Academy, which provides training for youth in the Cape Winelands region to prepare them to enter the industry. [5]
After graduating from Stellenbosch University, Biyela was hired as winemaker for Stellekaya Wines in 2004, [8] making her the first black female winemaker in South Africa. [9] Her first red wine won a gold medal at the Michelangelo awards. [6]
In 2016 Biyela announced that she planned to leave Stellekaya and start her own brand of wine later in the year. [7]
In 2017, Biyela launched Aslina wines, a self-funded wine business. [2] Biyela planned to use grapes from local vineyards, as she did not have the capital to invest in her own vineyard. [10] She found interacting with growers sometimes difficult at first because they assumed that since she was Black, she didn't know anything about wine. [3]
Four varietals were planned, including Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and a Bordeaux blend echoing her 2014 collaboration with California winemaker Helen Keplinger, which was created for Mika Bulmash's Wine for the World program. [11] [5]
Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to be a diminutive of merle, the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color of the grape. Its softness and "fleshiness," combined with its earlier ripening, make Merlot a popular grape for blending with the sterner, later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, which tends to be higher in tannin.
Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new and developing wine regions, growing Chardonnay is seen as a 'rite of passage' and an easy entry into the international wine market.
Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon became internationally recognized through its prominence in Bordeaux wines, where it is often blended with Merlot and Cabernet Franc. From France and Spain, the grape spread across Europe and to the New World where it found new homes in places like California's Napa Valley, New Zealand's Hawke's Bay, South Africa's Stellenbosch region, Australia's Margaret River, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra regions, and Chile's Maipo Valley and Colchagua. For most of the 20th century, it was the world's most widely planted premium red wine grape until it was surpassed by Merlot in the 1990s. However, by 2015, Cabernet Sauvignon had once again become the most widely planted wine grape, with a total of 341,000 hectares (3,410 km2) under vine worldwide.
Sauvignon blanc is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the city of Bordeaux in France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words sauvage ("wild") and blanc ("white") due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France. It is possibly a descendant of Savagnin. Sauvignon blanc is planted in many of the world's wine regions, producing a crisp, dry, and refreshing white varietal wine. The grape is also a component of the famous dessert wines from Sauternes and Barsac. Sauvignon blanc is widely cultivated in France, Chile, Romania, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Bulgaria, the states of Oregon, Washington, and California in the US. Some New World Sauvignon blancs, particularly from California, may also be called "Fumé Blanc", a marketing term coined by Robert Mondavi in reference to Pouilly-Fumé.
Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire's Chinon. In addition to being used in blends and produced as a varietal in Canada and the United States, it is sometimes made into ice wine in those regions.
Chenin blanc is a white wine grape variety from the Loire Valley of France. Its high acidity means it can be used to make varieties from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, although it can produce very bland, neutral wines if the vine's natural vigor is not controlled. Outside the Loire, it is found in most of the New World wine regions; it is the most widely planted variety in South Africa, where it was historically also known as Steen. The grape may have been one of the first to be grown in South Africa by Jan van Riebeeck in 1655, or it may have come to that country with Huguenots fleeing France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Chenin blanc was often misidentified in Australia, as well, so tracing its early history in the country is not easy. It may have been introduced in James Busby's collection of 1832, but C. Waterhouse was growing Steen at Highercombe in Houghton, South Australia, by 1862.
A rosé is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. The pink color can range from a pale "onionskin" orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grape varieties used and winemaking techniques. Usually, the wine is labelled rosé in French, Portuguese, and English-speaking countries, rosado in Spanish, or rosato in Italian.
New World wines are those wines produced outside the traditional winegrowing areas of Europe and the Middle East, in particular from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States. The phrase connotes a distinction between these "New World" wines and those wines produced in "Old World" countries with a long-established history of wine production, essentially in Europe, most notably: France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal.
South African wine has a history dating back to 1659 with the first bottle being produced in Cape Town by its founder and governor Jan van Riebeeck. Access to international markets led to new investment in the South African wine market. Production is concentrated around Cape Town and almost exclusively located within the Western Cape province, with major vineyard and production centres at Constantia, Paarl, Stellenbosch and Worcester.
New South Wales wine is Australian wine produced in New South Wales, Australia. New South Wales is Australia's most populous state and its wine consumption far outpaces the region's wine production. The Hunter Valley, located 130 km (81 mi) north of Sydney, is the most well-known wine region but the majority of the state's production takes place in the Big Rivers zone-Perricoota, Riverina and along the Darling and Murray Rivers. The wines produced from the Big Rivers zone are largely used in box wine and mass-produced wine brands such as Yellow Tail. A large variety of grapes are grown in New South Wales, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Shiraz and Sémillon.
The aromas of wine are more diverse than its flavours. The human tongue is limited to the primary tastes perceived by taste receptors on the tongue – sourness, bitterness, saltiness, sweetness and savouriness. The wide array of fruit, earthy, leathery, floral, herbal, mineral, and woodsy flavour present in wine are derived from aroma notes sensed by the olfactory bulb. In wine tasting, wine is sometimes smelled before taking a sip in order to identify some components of the wine that may be present. Different terms are used to describe what is being smelled. The most basic term is aroma which generally refers to a "pleasant" smell as opposed to odour which refers to an unpleasant smell or possible wine fault. The term aroma may be further distinguished from bouquet which generally refers to the smells that arise from the chemical reactions of fermentation and aging of the wine.
Sally Johnson is an American female winemaker based in Napa, California known for Cabernet Sauvignon wines. She is currently working at Pride Mountain Vineyards, where her wines are routinely ranked in Wine Spectator's Top 100 wine list.
In viticulture, ripeness is the completion of the ripening process of wine grapes on the vine which signals the beginning of harvest. What exactly constitutes ripeness will vary depending on what style of wine is being produced and what the winemaker and viticulturist personally believe constitutes ripeness. Once the grapes are harvested, the physical and chemical components of the grape which will influence a wine's quality are essentially set so determining the optimal moment of ripeness for harvest may be considered the most crucial decision in winemaking.
Cathy Corison is an American winemaker, entrepreneur and consultant. She specializes in Cabernet Sauvignon. Corison was the San Francisco Chronicle Winemaker of the Year in 2011.
Mia Klein is a Californian winemaker and entrepreneur, founder of Selene Wines in Napa, California. Her career has spanned decades in the food and wine industry in both Northern and Southern California.
Amy Aiken is an American entrepreneur and winemaker. She focuses on Cabernet Sauvignon wines and owns her own wine labels: Meander and Conspire.
Twomey Cellars is a California winery. It was established in 1999 by the Duncan Family, who have operated the successful Silver Oak Cellars in California since 1972. The Duncan Family started Twomey Cellars to pursue varietals other than Cabernet Sauvignon. Twomey has three wineries: one in Calistoga in the Napa Valley; one in Healdsburg in the Russian River Valley; one in Philo in Anderson Valley, and produces mainly Pinot noir and Sauvignon blanc. Twomey’s Sauvignon blanc is a blend of Sauvignon blanc grapes from their estate vineyards at their wineries in Napa Valley, Anderson Valley, and Russian River Valley.
Phyllis Zouzounis is an American female winemaker based in Windsor, California, known for Zinfandel wine.
Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery is a winery in the southern outskirts of St. Helena, California, in the St. Helena AVA of the Napa Valley, in the United States. The estate was established in 1882. The winery is a producer of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. As of 2021, about 40 acres are under cultivation, which typically produces around 5,000 cases of wine per year.