Curious and curiouser

It's surreal that I'm in South Africa, as if I fell down a rabbit hole. The world that was comforting and familiar, suddenly turned from top to bottom. But what feels new and deeply different has always been as it is; it's me that needs to navigate and adapt to this Wonderland.

It was only in September, back in London, when I was sitting in Brockwell Park with my laptop, writing my cover letter to apply for Jordan Wine Estate's "Women in Wine" programme, in which two women working in the wine industry are sponsored by Gary and Kathy Jordan (the husband and wife owners and winemakers) to spend a vintage with them in Stellenbosch. I remember the chill in the air as the wind filtered through the oak trees and felt that me getting accepted into the programme and spending a blazing summer in the Cape were only remote possibilities. And yet, it did feel like something in the air was stirring.

And now, having been accepted on the programme I've just travelled due south to the other side of the world. It is true what people say that the land here in Africa feels more primordial. The sun shines more brightly, and the jagged mountains cut the horizon in deep ripped lines. The granite soils here are more ancient than any other place on earth.

Another side of this newness is more personal, being a part of a winemaking team and seeing for myself how the process works. Through my jobs at Liberty Wines and the WSET, I've seen how finished wine is distributed, sold, analysed and taught about around the world. I've visited wineries on tasting tours and have seen cellars in the US, Spain, Italy and the UK, but to actually be a part of it is something special. I knew that seeing the people behind the wine and the difficult decisions and hard work they put into it would make wine something less abstract. We often talk about wine as if it were a painting - the  impression that it leaves you and maybe a little bit about the artistic techniques used to achieve that. But to actually see the process, the anguish and happiness felt while it was being created, makes you understand it in a visceral way.

But for now, my immediate priority is to not screw anything up.

Luckily, I'm on the programme with a fellow woman in wine, Laura Atkinson, who works with Berry Bros and Rudd in the UK, who has already become a vital a support system, comrade and friend. Lungiswa Sithole, from South Africa, will also be joining us for certain days in the harvest when she can take some time off her hospitality job.

From left to right: me, Laura, Lungiswa, and Kathy Jordan