August 3, 2005
By Lucille Davie
YOU can buy a bottle of wine for R29, or for R600, but make sure it's from the charming Keith Dudula, wine merchant at Wine+ in Melville.
Dudula is a big guy, with a big smile and a big laugh, and he knows his wine. "I live and breath wine every day," he says with sincerity.
He hopes to become Joburg's finest wine merchant. By that he means having "extreme passion for what you do and a passion for people".
The word "passion" comes up often in Dudula's conversation. It's a word guys don't usually use easily when describing themselves, but for him it is as natural as opening a good bottle of wine before dinner.
He talks in admiring tones of British chef Jamie Oliver, someone he describes as "cooking with passion".
It seems that you can't talk of wine (or food) without the "p" word popping up.
Wine+ caters for the novice, the connoisseur and those who want to buy the right bottle of wine to complement their food.
"My customers entertain a lot. Some are traditional wine lovers who are not worried about the price, others are wine lovers after the big brands and still others are corporates."
Of the wines at Wine+, 95 percent are locally produced, but there is also a small selection from France, Italy, Chile and Argentina.
Dudula admires French wines and the French tradition of producing wines. In South Africa wines are estate-based; in France they are classified according to region.
He says there is a clear southern-northern hemisphere divide. "European wines are lighter in alcohol and body, whereas South African wines are heavier in sugars and alcohol."
Sources
Wine+ also sources wine for its customers, including from garagistes, small-scale producers that make 150 to 1 000 cases of a particular wine. The term comes from producers in France who originally worked from their garages.
A garagiste does not own a farm and is therefore free to select his grapes from a range of farms, and lease space in a cellar. A garagiste may lease vines and give those particular vines a lot of TLC.
As www.grape.org.za says, "The garagiste winemaker, intimately involved in every step of the process, is practically bound to make a wine which reflects his or her personality, just as a painting reflects the personality of the painter. It can be wine made to your own standards, with passion coming before profit."
That "p" word again.
Grape.org.za stresses that it may sound romantic but being a garagiste is hard work: destalking every bunch by hand, crushing the grapes, bucketing into the press, bucketing into the barrel, bottling, then labelling and corking.
And if you are considering getting into the business, stop a moment - it costs R6 000 for a barrel. It can only be used three times before you need a new one.
Says Dudula, "Oak must be used because of its ageing potential but the wood loses its flavour after three fillings."
Three years
Wine+ has been open for three years. In October 2004 Dudula joined the husband and wife team of Alison Green and Barry Gould and is about to become a co-owner of the business.
Dudula says he plays a big role in promoting Wine+. "I'm the shop, the personality. I put people at ease here. I share my experience with people, and get fulfilment from what I do."
Green agrees. "He's the best guy for the job. He makes customers want to be in our shop without being too stuffy about it."
That is important - Wine+ is up against the large chain stores like Makro. Its most immediate competitor is Norman Goodfellows, with a branch in Illovo and Hyde Park. Dudula is keen to open another branch of Wine+ in Joburg in the near future.
Origins
Dudula, born on the East Rand, didn't start his working life with wine. He registered to do a marketing diploma at technikon after matric, at the same time working as a waiter in a restaurant in Witbank, where his teacher parents live.
"I stumbled on wine there. When there was a bit of wine left in a bottle, being curious and naughty, I tried it, and wondered about the bitter and sweet tastes."
He didn't finish his diploma but after a spell of working in different jobs - as a broker consultant, at the Health & Racquet Club, Edgars, and as a house master at Christian Brothers College in Pretoria, where he matriculated - he did several courses at the Cape Wine Academy. The job at Wine+ was advertised, and he breezed in.
Dudula is philosophical about it. "When you are meant to do something, it will happen. I was never quite fulfilled but have now found my feet."
Favourite wine
Pinot Noir is his favourite wine, and was before it was made popular in the movie
Sideways, he hurriedly adds. "It's fruity, liquid, has good body, and is great with food."
But he also likes a good shiraz. The 2002 Glen Carlou is "amazing, with leathery tones and spicey aromas".
He is on a road of discovery, enjoying trying out new wines, Dudula says.
What has he got on his shelves at home? Just a lot of empty bottles, he bursts out laughing. "Keeping and storing wines is still going to come. I will keep wine with ageing potential."
Black Wine Circle
Like a lot of people who are passionate about their jobs, Dudula wants to educate more people about wine. He has created the Black Wine Circle, whose members are 20- to 30-somethings from all walks of life, who meet regularly in Soweto, to talk wine and network.
"Wine is a sharing thing; we need to take away the image of it being an elitist pastime," he explains.
Dudula says he is now meeting black wine makers and enthusiasts. One of them is Jabulani Ntshangase, who is a trustee of the South Africa Wine Industry Trust, and who pioneered the Wine Education Programme in 1995.
With co-director Trevor Stein, Ntshangase runs Thabani Wines in Stellenbosch, which made its debut at the Cape Wines 2002 Expo at Nederburg in Paarl. Ntshangase claims that with Thabani Wines they are "bottling Africa".
Dudula will be visiting the Thabani estate, to sample the sauvignon blanc, merlot and shiraz, as well as the new easy-drinking range called Laatlammetjie.
He goes to many wine tastings, always sourcing new wines for Wine+.
It is not only new wines that interest him, however. After watching Jamie Oliver performing miracles in the kitchen, he likes to try his hand at producing great dishes.
He has been cooking since he was a schoolboy - he used to make Sunday lunch at home, always trying something new, until his mother begged him to stop experimenting with their lunch.
Sounds like the world of cooking is another avenue to perfect, with passion, of course.
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