Ido lekota

Ido lekota

After leaving the hustle and bustle of politics, former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa will be taking up one of his pet loves - winemaking.

Shilowa yesterday confirmed that he would now and then be flying down to the Cape vineyard to check which bundle of grapes deserves to be part of his Epicurean exclusive wine label.

Shilowa, with his partners including Safika Holdings chairman Moss Ngoasheng, Vintage Capital head Mutle Mogase and retired business supremo Ron T Gault, launched their own wine label called Epicurean in 2003.

The story told is that the four friends were having a sundowner on the Maldives Islands - pondering the name for their wine.

One of them asked: "Gentlemen what are we?"

"Epicureans (persons devoted to refined enjoyment of the good things in life)," answered another.

So their wine came to be known as Epicurean.

Shilowa brought a bottle of their wine to a 702 interview at the station's headquarters in Sandton. He then went through the paces of showing the crowd how a good wine like Epicurean is enjoyed.

"After opening and pouring it into a wine glass - you then nose it" he said to his host Jenny Cryws-Williams and the crowd who attended the show.

Shilowa also disclosed to the audience that he intended publishing his hand-written manuscripts of Xitsonga folklore.