The Zimbabwean sommelier breaking barriers - one cork at a time

Record ID: 1625298

  • Title: The Zimbabwean sommelier breaking barriers - one cork at a time
  • Date: 5th July 2021
  • Summary: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (RECENT - JUNE 21, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CO-PRODUCER, 'BLIND AMBITION' DOCUMENTARY, WARWICK ROSS, SAYING: "These guys are out to disrupt in a major way the prevailing wisdom which is that wine drinkers are predominantly white and people with wine knowledge are predominantly white, that fascinated us and we really wanted to see what happened and wanted to follow these guys as they challenge that white wine world." JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT - JUNE 23, 2021) (REUTERS) RED WINE WINE BEING POURED INTO GLASSES NYAMUDOKA TALKING DURING HIS FIRST LIVE WINE TASTING OF 2021 WOMEN DRINKING WINE EXTERIOR OF 'BESPOKERY' RESTAURANT/CARS PARKED ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD NYAMUDOKA POURING WINE FOR A CUSTOMER 'KUMUSHA' CINSAULT ROSE' WINE BOTTLE 'KUMUSHA' THE FLAME LILY' WINE BOTTLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) WINEMAKER/SOMMELIER, TINASHE NYAMUDOKA, SAYING: "I miss being on the floor, the adrenaline man, when I was working in restaurants...it's more like a fix you want to have more and more it. So I enjoy interacting with customers and introducing them personally." WOMAN TASTING 'KUMUSHA' WINE MEN CLINKING GLASSES AND TASTING 'KUMUSHA' WINE PEOPLE TASTING WINE WINE ENTHUSIAST, BENEDICT SIYOTHULA, TASTING 'KUMUSHA' WINE WINE BEING POURED MAN AND WOMAN CLINKING WINE GLASSES (SOUNDBITE) (English) WINE ENTHUSIAST, BENEDICT SIYOTHULA, SAYING: "I have a lot of admiration for him (Nyamudoka) as a winemaker. I think he's story on its own is really really just powerful. I know that they just made a documentary and I kinda saw the snippets of it. Knowing the man personally...there's just something about winemaking and the idea that wine has a home that's very personal for me as someone who's interested in making wine." (SOUNDBITE) (English) WINE ENTHUSIAST, RUFARO MACHIRI, SAYING: "I like the 'Flame Lily', I've bought some bottles, but I've never had the 2019 which was served tonight. It's such a vibrant warm wine - I'm waiting for summer cause I think I'm going to enjoy it a lot more then, than I do now. At the moment, I'm just drinking a lot of red wine but I would love to enjoy the 'Flame Lily' in summer." WOMAN DRINKING 'KUMUSHA' WINE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE TALKING AND DRINKING WINE
  • Embargoed: 19th July 2021 18:02
  • Keywords: Blind Ambition Bllind Wine Tasting Championships Kumusha Breweries Mr. Pants Wine Bar Tribeca Film Festival
  • Location: No-Data-Available
  • City: No-Data-Available
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Africa,Arts/Culture/Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA005EKKD3RT
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: When Zimbabwean Tinashe Nyamudoka left his homeland to work as a waiter in a restaurant in neighboring South Africa he had never tasted wine.
    Now, 11 years later, he is a renowned sommelier.
    Since the end of 2017, Nyamudoka has also owned his own wine brand Kumusha, which means home or origin in Shona.
    "It took a while to get traction, but once people really like got into wine, man it's been doing phenomenally well, I have to be humble and honest and grateful about it. I'm exporting wines into America, into Zimbabwe, into Kenya, into Holland and soon into the UK, Nigeria and everywhere it's landing, people love it and it's selling out, so I have to say I'm really grateful that I'm making delicious wines that people are enjoying," he said.
    Nyamudoka, 36, stars in a new documentary "Blind Ambition", which follows the journey of Zimbabwe's first sommeliers to take part in the Blind Wine Tasting Championships in France in 2017 and 2018.
    The film, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York three weeks ago, clinched the audience award for best documentary.
    The four men left Zimbabwe at the height of the country's economic crisis more than a decade ago in search of work and have become some of Africa's top wine experts.
    "Us making our own team and us knowing each other and be able to train and taste together, drink a lot of wine we're really not exposed to, especially the international wines and traveling the world. It was my first time into Europe and I've only read about these wine regions in books and to be in Champagne, to be in Burgundy, to be in the Mosel, to be in you know, it was just like so fulfilling and having to compete there with the best tasters of the world," he told Reuters while visiting Johannesburg's popular Mr. Pants Wine Bar.
    Robert Coe and Warwick Ross, the Australian producers of "Blind Ambition", said they were drawn to the story of the four Black Zimbabweans because they came from a background with no history and culture of wine.
    "That these guys are out to disrupt in a major way the prevailing wisdom which is that wine drinkers are white, that people with wine knowledge are predominantly white, that fascinated us," Ross, who is also a winemaker, said.
    During his first live wine pouring event at a Johannesburg eatery, Nyamudoka said he sometimes missed working in restaurants: "It's more like a fix so you want to have more and more of it."
    (Taurai Maduna, Sisipho Skweyiya, Okwi Okoh)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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