From Polishing Spoons In South Africa To Owning A Global Wine Brand, Here Is How Zimbabwe’s Tinashe Nyamudoka Did It
Tinashe Nyamudoka’s Kumusha Wine has gone global. The Zimbabwean wine maker announced on Twitter that his brand is now being sold in the United States of America. Kumusha Wine is available in 32 states in the US.
Surprisingly, Tinashe Nyamudoka did not have any prior knowledge or background in wine which was not his go-to alcoholic beverage.
Another interesting fact about Nyamudoka is that at one time he dropped out of college.
By the time he moved from Zimbabwe to Cape Town in 2008 most of his high school friends were graduating and that FOMO pushed him to register for an accounting degree at the University of South Africa (UNISA).
In his final year, Tinashe Nyamudoka fell in love with wine, dropped out and never finished the accounting degree. He then pursued a diploma from the Cape Wine Academy before proceeding to the University of Cape Town – Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) for a certificate in wine business management.
Tinashe Nyamudoka Kumusha Wine
Tinashe Nyamudoka standing in a wine cellar (Image Credit: Claire Gunn)
Apart from the two qualifications mentioned above, Nyamudoka holds a WSET Level 3, a certificate from the Court Of Master Sommeliers Europe and a Micheal Fridjohn Wine Judging Academy certificate. These were paid for by his employer. The Test Kitchen in Cape Town, South Africa.
His introduction to wine was through the beverage director at The Roundhouse Restaurant in Camps Bay outside Cape Town. He initially landed a job working polishing cutlery before he was promoted to the role of commis waiter.
A commis waiter is a food service professional who assists more experienced waiters. Also referred to as assistant or apprentice waiters, these commis waiters perform the duties assigned to them by the senior waitstaff.
Nyamudoka would eventually leave The Roundhouse Restaurant for Nobu – an establishment of the One & Only group. At Nobu, Tinashe landed a job as a wine steward. During his time at Nobu, Nyamudoka went under the tutelage of Andre Bekker, Eric Botha and Luvo Ntezo so that he could become a sommelier.
To further his knowledge, Tinashe Nyamudoka enrolled with the Cape Wine Academy in 2010 where he successfully completed his South African Wine and Certificate Wine courses and in 2013 his Wines of the World and Wine and Food courses.
He then joined the Oyster Box Hotel in Durban before proceeding to Cape Town to become the head sommelier at The Test Kitchen.
Zimbabwean Wine Tinashe Nyamudoka
Zimbabwean wine maker Tinashe Nyamudoka with his Team Zim teammates (Image Credit: kumushabrands.com)
Team Zimbabwe
Tinashe teamed up with 3 other wine sommeliers from Zimbabwe to form Team Zim. Tinashe Nyumudoka teamed up with Joseph Dhafana, Marlvin Gwese and Pardon Taguzu to form the first wine-tasting team from Zimbabwe.
MW Jancis Robinson helped them to crowdfund the funds to compete in the 2017 and 2018 World Blind Wine Tasting Championships.
Their trip to compete in the 2017 event was the first time they set foot off the African continent. In 2017 they placed second last, but in 2018 they place a very respectable 14th position, beating some established first-world teams like Team USA and Team UK.
The team was formed in 2017 when Tinashe Nyamudoka entered the South African Wine Tasting Championships.
Starting Kumusha Wine
Around the time Tinashe Nyamudoka was working as Sommelier at the Oyster Box Hotel in Durban in 2014, he saw a target market in the form of Zimbabweans in South Africa. He drafted a business plan which would lead to him bulk buying wine and supplying Zimbabwean-hosted events.
At that moment, the idea did not take off, but only 2 years later in 2016 when he was in Business School, did it start making sense.
Kumusha Wines started as part of one of the assignments he was given while studying at UCT’s business school.
A friendship with Attie Louw, a winemaker from the family estate Opstal in the Slanghoek valley, led to the opportunity for Tinashe Nyamudoka to blend his own wines. In 2017, Kumusha Wines was founded.
Louw gave Tinashe free guidance and practically gave him his first vintage for free. Nyamudoka also got free NDTech corks from Amorim.
To counter the distribution problem he partnered with and started an online wine shop www.sommoncall.co.za which sells Kumusha Wines to the local South African market, with physical purchasing spots in Zimbabwe and shipping across the globe.
He is one of three winners who received support and got mentors courtesy of the SA Brandy Foundation. The support he got enabled him to launch Kumusha Cape Brandy.-iharare
