breaking barriers From humble roots on the Cape Flats to overcoming adversity, Carmen Stevens is a mover and shaker in the South African wine industry. A childhood dream of becoming a renowned winemaker followed Carmen Stevens into adulthood. She applied to study the art of winemaking and was turned down on the basis of her skin colour for three consecutive years, but she refused to let this put her off. Undeterred and fuelled with perseverance and grit, she continued applying and eventually graduated from Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute, South Africa’s oldest agricultural
In 2011, the Carmen Stevens non-profit organisation (NPO)
training institution, in 1995. Carmen then went on to work with
was founded. It started providing a cup of soup three times a
renowned and established brands, becoming the starting
week to junior school learners in Belhar on the Cape Flats. As
point of an award-winning career, raking in several awards in
a young teenager, Carmen lived in this community and was
various capacities at numerous wineries over the years.
all too aware of the huge percentage of children in the area who are sent to school without any food on most days. Belhar is a short 7 minute drive from Cape Town International Airport and a mere 15 minutes away from Stellenbosch. The community has an unfortunate history of an excessively high unemployment rate and the children are the ones who are most affected by the socio-economic circumstances within the community.
Carmen Stevens Wines was established in 2011 with their
When the soup kitchen was launched, the NPO could only
maiden vintage launching in 2014. In January 2019 Carmen
afford to provide 400-500 learners at three different schools
registered the first 100% black owned winery in South Africa in
with a cup of soup three times a week. Fast forward to 2019,
picturesque Stellenbosch. Her winemaking fruits are sourced
the organisation and its efforts had grown so exponentially.
from a range of grape growing regions that has exceptional
They were about to provide nutritious breakfasts and lunched
vineyards which encapsulates South Africa’s unique terroir,
to more than 10 000 learners at 53 schools around the Western
each adding a own unique touch to the range. Individual
Cape.
small batches of wines are handmade and later blended later to heighten and showcase of each vintage.
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l Hello Cape Town August 2021
This huge endeavour was made possible by very generous
