Why must most of our celebs jump on the alcohol entrepreneurship bandwagon? Do they not want to see us sober, or is there lots of ching-ching to be made?
The latest to follow this trend is popular rugby personality and retired Springbok prop Tendai “The Beast” Mtawarira after launching his own wine collection on Wednesday.
His do and the tasting experience was held at Olives and Plates at the Embassy Towers in Sandton, where he related his story of endurance, resilience and passion.
Sophisticated it is – at least it’s not some mampoer concoction Shwa was painstakingly subjected to during the heavy pandemic lockdown.
Those were tough days. Remember the inflated prices for some cheap and illegal stuff?
But back to The Beast. He told everyone who cared to listen that at the start of 2021, a friendship and his true love for wine gave birth to his new wine collection.
But he discovered his love for wine in his early 20s while he was on a rugby trip to Cape Town.
His hobby soon turned into an obsession as he would always try different wine vintages when travelling around the world on rugby duty.
In the past year, he devoted himself to understanding the wine industry and creating a collection of wines with a vision of taking them to the world – good for you.
He chose his four wines for his collection after tasting many from four different regions from Franschhoek, Paarl, Cape Point and Walker Bay because he believes they are an introduction to the excellence of South African wines.
He said he didn’t want to venture into an industry he knew nothing about as he wanted his wine to represent who he is, his journey and for it to have his imprint, adding that his vision was to have a high-end quality wine collection.
He approached wine estates in his journey to make exceptional wines for him; wines that would make a statement about who the man really is.
Enough with The Beast’s rambling.
His team behind the collection includes director of operations at artist and athlete management company at Roc Nation, Issac Lugudde-Katwe.
The founder of SMCG Wines, the brains behind the collection, was also there smiling from ear to ear.
Also present was Kuselwa Mcaba, who I’m told is part of the team. I must admit The Beast could not have chosen a better bunch of people for his collabo.
Oh, how can I forget Sheryl Manchisi, the executive director of SMDG Wines, a globe trotter of note, tasked with promoting the vintner’s wines all over the world, especially on the African continent.
Behind every bottle from “The Beast Collection” there is a story, and his personal favourite is the red, aptly named Soaring, dedicated to the richness and strength of South Africa.
Too long-winded and rather tedious speeches for my liking. I believe the shorter the speech is, the merrier.
However, Shwa must say, this luxury doesn’t come cheap. Yours in gossip did taste all of them and the Rose was a tad too manly, like the usual ones. It tasted like it’s diluted with water, aaagh.
But hey, with the festive season upon us, anything with the alcohol does the job of getting one drunk.
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