No, there aren’t vineyards on the Cape Flats just yet, but as Brandon de Kock discovered, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some young guns in the ‘hood armed with corkscrews and shooting for the stars.
It’s two years back that I first met Lindile Ndzaba at an ethical butchery in Cape Town, offering advice to conscious carnivores. He was interested in why my order (‘KMOO loin chops, 3.5 centimetres thick please’) was always so specific. I was interested in the roots of his epicurean leanings and a conversation that started with lamb and Syrah ended with “Man, I’d love you to try my wine – the first batch is being bottled.”
Quietly confident, he showed me the artwork on his insta feed: simple, black on white, Khayelitsha’s Finest Wines (KFW). At first it seemed more an ambition than a brand, but it was certainly bold, as was his idea of launching with a single variety Mourvèdre selling in township taverns for 120 bucks a bottle.
He’s driven partly by a desire to introduce quality wines to people who have been historically distanced from the winelands, but “also because of love: I love wine, you know. And I didn’t like the way people are drinking wine, sometimes even with Coke! I needed to give them something that was pure, easy drinking and honest. And the response has been so positive, people are loving the brand and they take ownership of it. I think they feel like they are part of something that’s as much theirs as it is mine.”
His vinous journey tracks back to a bar called &Union in the Cape Town CBD where he first met the Wine Thief (aka Ewan Mackenzie), a professional cork-puller who specialises in sniffing around in other peoples’ cellars, finding leftover barrels of excellence, siphoning off the juice and flogging it to discerning wine drinkers. “He really was my wine mentor,” says Lindile, and the obvious contact to help bridge the gap between vineyard and township. “It starts with me talking to him about a specific style, then he talks to the winemakers and we end up blending together or, if I want, I’ll just take the straight cultivar. So he links me to the farms.”
It’s hard not to love Lindile: his warmth, his charm, his smile, the way he’s always looking onwards and upwards. And then came lockdown with all its trimmings, prohibition included. Did he chill? Hell no. He set up a weekly KFW feeding scheme, making hearty meals for 200+ people in his community and followed up with a Dignity Drive for women, sourcing and distributing sanitary pads and encouraging the local lads to get involved and “man up for the ladies, bra!” Legend.
As restrictions eased, Lindile started plotting a second-tier blend aimed at a broader market (watch this space) and released a straight Semillon and an unfiltered Shiraz/Nebbiolo blend from Constantia (“It’s my first vegan wine!”) which, typically, sold out in less time than it took to bottle. And right there is perhaps the coolest thing about KFW. While the townies geek out on garagiste grapes at a growing number of wine bars in the city, it’s great to know that some of the most interesting small batch (think 450 bottles at a time) wines of the moment are being almost exclusively savoured by a new generation of cork-dorks living and loving in clubs, restaurants and taverns in the heart of Khayelitsha.
For orders and info, you can message Lindile @khayelitshasfinestwines or find him on 073 0813691.
