SAINSBURYSMAGAZINE.CO.UK/LIFESTYLE
With progressive South African wine brand Amandla, Praisy Dlamini is supporting the next generation
Praisy Dlamini describes Amandla wine as a celebration. The bold and progressive brand was launched by the talented 36-year-old winemaker as part of Her Wine Collection, a majority black-owned South African company with an entirely black female team – from the viticulturist through to the logistics manager. For Praisy, it’s a sign of barriers being broken. ‘It really shows how far we’ve travelled as a nation,’ she says. ‘It means that we have evolved into a space where you can say: “I can do anything.”’
The name Amandla itself translates from the local Nguni language to mean ‘power’ – intended here to capture not only the stories of the women creating the wine, but the exciting outlook Praisy sees open to younger generations. ‘They are more outgoing, they are go-getters,’ she says. ‘And that’s what we’re trying to embrace in this brand – we are celebrating the freedom that we have been given.’
It’s a contrast to the attitudes Praisy remembers while growing up in the 90s in KwaZulu-Natal, an eastern province of South Africa. ‘I grew up in a space that was more reserved, where you wouldn’t push the boundaries,’ she explains. At 16, though, she made the unlikely choice to move to the country’s Western Cape on a scholarship to study winemaking (it took her particularly Christian family a while to get on board with the decision). On the grape farms there were almost no other black people or women, but Praisy fell for the craft of winemaking, particularly its hands-on nature, and now has almost 20 years of experience in the industry. She’s hopeful that Amandla’s work will encourage others to take similar chances. ‘I hope that it will inspire the young version of myself, who might feel scared of failure,’ she says.
