Wine personality of the day

Carmen Stevens grew up in the Kraaifontein and Belhar areas on the Cape Flats. No-one in her community knew that you could study winemaking, but an uncle of a friend worked in the lab at Stellenbosch Farmers Winery, and he showed her around. He told her that to become a winemaker she would need to study at Elsenberg College or at Stellenbosch University. Stevens applied to Elsenberg, first in 1990 and again in 1991 when she was told that only white students were accepted. She persevered and they finally admitted her to start in January 1993 becoming the first non-white person to graduate in 1995. Carmen went on to be assistant winemaker for Zonnebloem and worked several harvests in California. Since then Stevens has gone on to make wine at Welmoed for Stellenbosch Vineyards, and for eight years at Amani where she won the Decanter 2008 International Red Bordeaux Varietals Trophy for her Amani Cabernet Franc/Merlot 2006. Carmen now runs her own cellar at Bosman’s Crossing and runs the Carmen Stevens Foundation, a charity to feed starving children.