Online wine retailer Naked Wines has launched the career of South Africa’s first, black female winemaker graduate, Carmen Stevens, on their re-vamped MarketPlace platform. In just a few hours, over 2000 Naked Angels (members of Naked Wines) pledged to support Carmen by pre-ordering over £120K worth of her wine, raising the capital she needed to set-up her own business. Carmen, who currently works for the prestigious American-owned Amani winery near Stellenbosch, was overwhelmed by the response and speed of the deal: “Thank you to each and every one for making today so spectacular, this day will go down in history for me as one of the greatest days of my life. I am light-headed, dizzy, speechless and have a huge grin all over my face! It’s simply-mind blowing, thank you…” Su Birch, CEO of Wines of South Africa, added: “Carmen has beaten all the odds to get where she has today and is a fantastic role model and inspiration for other young South African winemakers. She’s won a stack of accolades in her career to date, and it’s fantastic that thousands of Naked Wine Angels have joined forces to make her dream come true.” The campaign was supported by hundreds of posts from customers who met Carmen on Naked Wines’ recent Tasting tour of the UK. The new wines Carmen will be making exclusively for Naked Wines include an Angel’s Reserve Chenin Blanc and an Angel’s Reserve Shiraz, with the labels designed by Carmen’s two young daughters. To find out more about Carmen and the new Naked MarketPlace, where Naked Wines invite one winemaker a week to pitch a parcel of their wines for a fixed 10% fee, visit www.nakedwines.com. Winemakers looking to secure one of the pitches can apply at suppliers@nakedwines.com.