| The Department of Tourism and Hospitality launched a program earlier this year with the Cape Wine Academy to train 200 Wine Advisors to make it possible for those without permanent employment to receive on the job training in various sectors of the wine industry. |
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| Damian Africa from Mitchell’s Plain is one of the trainees and has spent the last six weeks with the wine.co.za team in Somerset West, learning about the South African Wine industry, from packing wines to finding information to updating wine tasting notes to lunches with the team.
He is off to the next stage of his training – another six weeks of theory at Cape Wine Academy and then on to the hotel industry for a further six weeks. The course is a sensible mix of theory and practice, so exposing the students to different aspects of wine – restaurants, distributors, retailers, hospitality and front of house. Damian had the following to say about his experience: “This has been the most exciting, interesting and innovative work experiential training programme. Wine.co.za‘s Judy Brower, Kevin Kidson and their team have been extremely friendly, enthusiastic and by far a pretty knowledgeable team to be with. They truly made me feel like a team member and part of their family!” |
