WINERY

Mosi Wines was created in 2014 by top sommelier Joseph T Dhafana and was named after Mosi-oa-Tunya, the village in Zimbabwe where Joseph grew up. He learnt a lot from famous Swartland winemaker and viticulturist Chris Mullineux. Joseph’s maiden vintage had 4 stars in Platter’s Wine Guide. With Mosi Wines his vision is to make wine which is both accessible and of the best quality possible. He prefers Syrah to any other variety and loves the northern Rhône style Syrah: elegant, with white pepper and red cherries, and earthy with beautiful acidity.’

WINEMAKER

Joseph T Dhafana’s life story reads reads both like a thriller and a fairytale. In 2009 he and his wife fled from poverty-stricken Zimbabwe in a container that was railway-transported into South-Africa. For a couple of weeks they found shelter in the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. Joseph managed to find a job as a gardener at a restaurant in the Swartland. In 2010 he was promoted to barman, and there, on his 29th birthday he had his first-ever glass of wine. Joseph: ‘My mind was in the vineyards, I was thinking how someone could convert grapes to such a wonderful liquid. The wine bug followed me from that day.”

He passed wine courses, blindtasting championships, was in panels and became a wine judge. Now he is one of SA’s most renowned sommeliers, one of the 4 Zim Somms and Head Sommelier at the iconic La Colombe restaurant in Cape Town. In 2014 he started making his own wine.