South African winery Windfall Estates on Wednesday launched its Kibali wine, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Mouvèdre, with a significant portion of all sales of the wine earmarked for the Nos Vies en Partage Foundation, an independent charitable organisation established by dual-listed African gold miner Randgold Resources, to support humanitarian work on the continent.
The “bold” red wine, created by the boutique estate in the Robertson area of the Western Cape, takes its name from Randgold’s flagship Kibali gold mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Initially, only one bottle was created to commemorate the mine’s successful commissioning in September last year. The Kibali mine has a reserve base of 11.7-million ounces of gold.
The original celebratory bottle of wine fetched R22 000 in a private sale, the proceeds of which also went to support the Nos Vies en Partage Foundation, and prompted Windfall to launch the wine commercially.
Nos Vies en Partage, roughly translated to ‘sharing prosperity’, is focused on tackling social development challenges in Africa, with an emphasis on women and children.
Established in 2013, the foundation was born out of a series of motorbike rides led by Randgold CE Mark Bristow across Africa to raise funds for charitable causes on the continent.
“Bristow’s three grueling bike rides taking place under his family’s 3Boyzonbikes banner – from Cape to Cairo, then from Bagshot, England, through Budapest and the western Sahara to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and last year completing the circuit from Abidjan back to Cape Town – have raised $2.3-million for the cause, largely from Randgold’s employees, suppliers, investors and partners, “ foundation chairperson Philippe Liétard said.
“Launching this wine commercially now allows wine lovers to contribute to the valuable cause too,” he added.
Windfall owner Rob Alexander, who joined Bristow for the three bike rides, said the estate was proud that its Kibali wine, created by winemaker Kobus van der Merwe, would be associated with the Nos Vies en Partage Foundation, which was performing “admirable work advancing social upliftment projects in sub-Saharan Africa”.
The estate also sells Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Blanc de Blanc and Shiraz wines.