For food writer Toyo Odetunde, a trip to Khayelitsha township, outside of Cape Town’s heavily-touristed city center, leads to a lesson in Western Cape wine inequality, a meeting with a Black South African changemaker, and the opportunity to taste some very, very good blends.
After a sniff, swirl and greedy sip, I settle the foot of my wine glass onto the plain black table and raise my eyebrows. It’s impressively complex. I’ve been won over by a 60/40 blend of Western Cape syrah and cabernet sauvignon that’s all warming spices and striking dark cherry.
I’m in Cape Town but I’m not, as one might expect, at a winery backdropped by the screensaver-worthy mountains of the Cape Winelands. Nor am I at one of the many upscale restaurants in the city’s affluent Camps Bay neighborhood. Instead, I’m sitting against the buttercream-colored walls of a cozy, unassuming courtyard—tucked behind a main road dissecting a miscellany of formal and informal structures in Khayelitsha.
Around 20 miles (35 kilometers) southeast of Cape Town’s city center, Khayelitsha is one of the metropolitan area’s largest townships. Meaning ‘our new home’ in Xhosa language, Khayelitsha was established in the early 1980s under South Africa’s apartheid regime as a residential area for non-white residents. Still rapidly growing, I’m told that it’s currently home to an estimated two million people (though census figures are much lower).
Off Cape Town’s more touristic trails, Khayelitsha may seem like an unconventional location for a tasting. But the wine I’m drinking at Khayelitsha’s Finest Wines (KFW) is some of the best of my trip—impressive considering Cape Town is renowned for its world-class wine offerings.
“Wine can feel like an intimidating subject here, a lot of people don’t feel like they belong in the wine space. It’s difficult to have conversations around wine if you haven’t been given the opportunity to properly understand it.”
- Lindile Ndzaba, KFW founder
Under the shade of corrugated metal inserts, Lindile Ndzaba, wine négociant and founder of KFW, pours a white blend of largely chenin blanc (known locally as ‘steen’), also sémillon and sauvignon blanc. His labels, which are considered expressive and sophisticated, have graced the wine lists of many leading Cape Town restaurants. But there’s more to Ndzaba’s mission than just supplying excellent wine.
“Wine consumed here in Khayelitsha could be so unpalatable that it had to be diluted with soda,” he tells me. “I wanted to promote conscious consumption here, moving away from drinking for the sake of drinking, and to encourage appreciation for the culture behind wine. That is why I started this business—to make quality wine accessible.”
Ndzaba founded KFW in 2018 to help bridge the gap between his community and Cape Town’s wine culture—which has historically excluded people from lower socio-economic townships like Khayelitsha. “By taking pride in where I’m from, I hoped to create something relatable for those who feel like outsiders,” he says.
The community-centered approach is evident in the company branding—the business uses the township’s name, and the bottle labels feature a map of Khayelitsha. At larger events and demos, Ndzaba pairs his wines with local foods, like tripe and umleqwa ne dombolo (wild chicken with dumplings). “It’s important to explain that cheese and charcuterie isn’t the only way to enjoy good wine.”
Ndzaba’s passion for wine stems from a long career in hospitality. Like many township residents, he first got a job in a restaurant in the city, moving his way up from the kitchen into operations, working both front and back of house. Soon, he began assisting sommeliers with tastings, which provided indispensable insight and experience.
“It taught me about the whole wine ecosystem, that it’s so much more than just consuming alcohol,” he says. Ndzaba was particularly inspired by the viticulture of the Western Cape, a vast province of roughly 50,000 square miles (130,000 square kilometers) that encompasses the well-known wine regions such as Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl, Constantia, and Swartland. It’s a landscape of yawning valleys and steep slopes shaded from rust to deep green. “I loved learning about different soil types and climates, and how this translates into diverse wines,” he says. “Engaging with winemakers fed my curiosity.”
Without winemaking infrastructure available within Khayelitsha, Ndzaba sources grapes from partner winemakers in regions such as Stellenbosch and uses their vineyard and production facilities to curate the unique blends he takes to market.
Residents from communities like Khayelitsha have long been a considerable source of Cape Town’s hospitality workforce. Yet many are unable to meaningfully participate in Cape Town’s internationally recognized wine industry. In particular, ownership systems mirror long-held racialized divides—it’s estimated that only 2.5 percent of vines are Black-owned. Of course, there are Black South Africans across social classes and living within central Cape Town, but South Africa’s painful history of racial segregation and oppression has left deep endemic scars.
“Under the apartheid regime, Black people were seen as workers, rather than entrepreneurs and business owners,” Lindile explains. “Wine can feel like an intimidating subject here, a lot of people don’t feel like they belong in the wine space. It’s difficult to have conversations around wine if you haven’t been given the opportunity to properly understand it.”
“As we continue to speak up, I hope that future generations won’t face as many obstacles.”
- Lindile Ndzaba, KFW founder
To promote the Khayelitsha hospitality scene, Ndzaba has partnered with ABCD Concepts, a community-rooted tour company founded by Khayelitsha locals Buntu Matole and Ayanda Cuba. Their team facilitates visits to the township, including this wine tasting, in an effort to promote local businesses.
Admittedly, I was initially wary of a township excursion. These trips, found in many destinations with significant wealth disparities, can verge on ‘human zoo’ type voyeurism and often raise ethical travel concerns.
But my experience, led by Matole, offered an honest, holistic picture that was told by, and championed, locals. Beyond the KFW wine tasting, I devour umngqusho omhlophe (creamy white samp/pounded corn kernels), fork-tender isityu senkomo (stewed beef) and chakalaka (peppery bean and vegetable relish) at Spine Road Lifestyle and juicy barbecued meat lathered in tangy sauce along a strip of women-led grills.
As a Black African myself, it felt important to engage with a predominantly Black African locality while in South Africa, but travelers from any background can support and learn from ABCD Concepts trips.
And these efforts form part of a wider shift. “There’s a real movement around supporting local Black-founded businesses,” says Ndzaba. Cape Town venues like The Wine Arc, a tasting space in Stellenbosch, and Nkula, a wine bar and boutique on Long Street in the city center, amplify Black-owned wine labels. Then there’s Tembela Wines, founded in 2020 by winemaker Banele Vakele, who also grew up in Khayelitsha.
“These spaces allow us to express ourselves and validate our ambitions,” he says. “It feels like we’re on the road to something great.”
Then there is the slow growing crop of Black-owned South African wine companies: Among them is M’hudi, founded by the pioneering Rangaka family who were one of the first Black families to buy a South African wine farm back in 2003; Aslina, founded in 2016 by South Africa’s first Black woman winemaker, Ntsiki Biyela; and Amandla, founded in 2018 and led by winemaker Praisy Dlamini, is so popular I can find it on the shelves of my local London supermarket.
“Things are changing,” says Ndzaba. “There’s a new wave of brands and changemakers diversifying the industry.”
But Ndzaba is also clear on how much work it has taken to get to this point, noting that “many paved the way before us” to usher in the change seen over the last decade.
However, there is still some way to go. Despite South Africa’s population being over 80 percent Black, Black-owned brands account for less than three percent of South African wine sales.
“There are still challenges,” he says. “Emerging brands face limited access to investment, needed to penetrate the market.” Indeed, Ndzaba is keen to build a larger inventory, but to do so, funding is necessary.
“But even with a more DIY, against the grain approach, the velocity we’ve seen over the past few years indicates that we are headed in the right direction,” he says. “As we continue to speak up, I hope that future generations won’t face as many obstacles.”
Ndzaba remains hopeful for an increasingly inclusive and equitable South African wine industry, pointing out how consumer behavior is changing too. “More people are purchasing intentionally,” he tells me. “They’re seeking social impact brands that reflect their personal values.”
As I eagerly drain another glass of KFW’s energetic red blend, I can’t help but also feel hopeful. As I trace the bottle’s map-based artwork, I see a metaphor unfolding. Ndzaba is literally putting Khayelitsha on the map.
You can find a non-exhaustive directory of Black-owned South African wine brands to support here.
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Toyo Odetunde is a London-based writer and culinary enthusiast, writing on hospitality and the connections between food and culture for titles such as Condé Nast Traveller, National Geographic, BBC Travel, Vittles, House and Garden and the i paper.
