SA woman winemaker shines
2007-08-02
BARELY a year after taking over as winemaker at Vrede en Lust wine estate in Paarl, Susan Wessels was crowned SA Woman Winemaker of the Year.
Susan beat a record number of 53 entries in this year’s competition and wins an all expenses paid trip to the winemaking region of Bordeaux, France, valued at R30 000.
She entered two Vrede en Lust Wines, the Viognier 2007 and the Sauvignon Blanc 2007, but it was the 2007 Viognier that vowed the judges, and won her the coveted honour of Landbouweekblad SA Woman Winemaker of the Year for 2007.
When asked why she decided on winemaking as a career choice, she said: “I knew I was never destined for a job that would either have me locked up in an office or laboratory the entire day.
“I wanted to do something where a creative aspect is important, scientific and close to nature along with challenges. Somewhere along the line the puzzle pieces just fell into place!”.
Besides Wessels, the five finalists for this year’s SA Woman Winemaker of the Year were Alicia Rechner of Backsberg Estate in Paarl, Tania Joubert of KWV, Elzette du Preez of De Grendel in Durbanville, Rianie Strydom, from Haskell Vineyards in Stellenbosch, and Ruth-Frances Penfold from Steenberg Vineyards in Constantia.
Besides judging the quality of their wines, the judges also subjected each of the six finalists to a personal interview to gain insight into the winemakers’ long-term objectives, winemaking philosophy and their views on the industry.
According to Norma Ratcliffe, one of the first woman winemakers in South Africa and president of the judging panel, Wessel’s imaginative selection of white wines proved her skill in handling a variety of cultivars.
“Susan did exceptionally well by delivering stand-out white wines in this year’s competition which has characterised the quality of single varietal white wines and white blends that were entered,” said Ratcliffe.
Besides Ratcliffe, this year’s judges wer, Eleonor Visser, the winner of last year’s competition and winemaker at Winecorp, Jo-Ann Metler, public relations officer at L’Ormarins, Caroline Rillema from Caroline’s Fine Wines and Marilyn Cooper, head of the Cape Wine Academy.
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