Wines bottled for tavern tastes

  Taverns are bottling their own brand of wine that has been tailor-made for the palates of the black diamonds who leave the suburbs to party in the townships.

  A week before the fourth Soweto Wine Festival, black Cape wine industry players launched their own iTownship Wine Festival — and with it, a new label, Joy, owned by 15 local taverners. The taverners from Guguletu, Kuilsriver and Mandalay are bottling everything from merlot to rosé after their company, Siyathembana, sealed a deal with winemakers Ashton Cellars.

  “Although the black market of wine drinkers is growing, it is largely untapped ,” said Vukile Mafilika, a Siyathembana partner.