EKOV: SKOP Training Programme

Tuesday, 19 April, 2011
Wine Training SA
EKOV (Elsenburg Cellar Technology Alumni Association) and its training arm – Wine Training South Africa (WTSA), a section 21 company – have been actively involved in training in the South African wine industry over the past 24 years.
During the past five years the project has expanded significantly given the enormous need for quality training in the South African wine industry.

The programme was originally established 24 years ago to address the need for training in the wine industry. The dynamic nature of the industry and its changing needs are compelling WTSA to keep expanding the current programme in order to meet demands.

Until now the project has been self-funding, with wine cellars that send their staff for training paying a course fee to cover the training costs. However, in order to meet the increasing demand for training and to expand the programme, funding through sponsorships and support from other institutions became imperative.

The EKOV training programme was established in October 1987. At that stage it comprised a morning course that was presented to about 50 cellar workers per year. The project was managed by volunteers and continued in this way until 1998. The programme was expanded into two training courses, each of which was presented twice a year. Since 2003 the project has grown in leaps and bounds to its current level where a portfolio of four courses is presented in two languages, namely Afrikaans and Xhosa.

Training for cellar workers

From 2006 to 2010 training was presented for staff from 344 wine cellars. According to statistics from SA Wine Industry Information & Systems (SAWIS) for 2010 there are 604 producing wine cellars in the country. This means that WTSA has provided a service to almost 60% of them over the five year period. The cellars range from large institutions like Distell, KWV to medium and small boutique cellars with clients in all the regions of the South African Wine Industry.

Training of wine cellar staff takes place between May and November every year. No training can be presented during the harvest (January until the end of April), as cellar staff cannot be withdrawn from their jobs during this time.

EKOV is the custodian and intellectual owner of WTSA’s training material. The Association is prominent in the wine industry and currently has more than 550 members – mainly alumni with among them prominent winemakers in the SA wine industry.

WTSA is managed by one full time staff member with the assistance of WTSA Directors and EKOV members who are voluntary involved in the administration and presentation of the programme.

WTSA currently presents a portfolio of courses, mainly to historically disadvantaged people, although the courses are open to anyone in or outside the wine industry. Provision is also made for disabled people.

The target groups include:
  • Wine cellar staff who have not had formal winemaking training.
Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced courses are available to this target group.
  • Cellar workers involved in tasks at junior management level.
An Introduction to Junior Cellar Management course is presented for this target group.

WTSA’s courses are demand-driven. All courses are developed based on the needs of the particular target group and the relevant winemaker/cellar manager. The following of a holistic programme is important, where the development of the whole person is the key outome. This should lead to visible and measurable success resulting in a ripple effect throughout the specific community.

The courses offer the required theoretical background, supported where possible by practical excursions and skills training.

Through the expertise and commitment of our team of Course Presenters, WTSA offers a portfolio of courses with well developed course material.

Course material is updated annually, and interesting industry statistics or events will be incorporated in course material immediately after release, for example results of Wine competitions.

WTSA’s portfolio comprises the following courses:
  • SKOP 1 (Afrikaans/Xhosa)
A two-day Introductory course for cellar workers
  • SKOP 2 (Afrikaans/Xhosa)
A two-day Intermediary course that follows SKOP 1
  • SKOP 3
Three modules are presented. Six classroom days are supplemented with self-study and research, excursions to wine cellars and other institutions in the industry.

Introduction to Junior Cellar Management

This course consists of four modules:
  • An Introduction to Management / Cellar Administration
  • Marketing Management,
  • Financial Management and
  • Quality Systems and - Legal requirements for cellars.
WTSA offers seminars on regular basis, and in the past 3 years the following seminars were presented: Safety in the Workplace in preparation for the season; (2007, 2009, 2011); Responsible management of waste Water and a A Pre Harvest seminar in 2010 with Natamycin as the main topic of discussion

Courses for cellar staff are presented in the students’ mother tongue, namely Xhosa and Afrikaans. Presenting the courses in these two languages give all students the benefit of mother-tongue tuition.The enormous need for training in Xhosa was addressed for the first time in 2006. The first step was to translate the course material into Xhosa.This was a challenge, because many wine terms do not exist in Xhosa. Richard Phama, a cellar worker with a matric qualification, was appointed to develop a programme that would be easily understood in Xhosa.

The feedback from Xhosa-speaking course attendants has been overwhelming, as the example below shows:

“I am so glad to be taught in my language by the lecturer, now I even know the things I didn’t know about. It was so difficult to be taught in another language.” - Nimrod Blukwana, Rustenberg.

The Xhosa project has great potential and WTSA would like to expand it, given the availability of more resources and funds.

Although most of the courses are presented at Elsenburg, the company offers a ‘mobile’ training service and offers courses in all the Wine Regions on request of the client. In the past five year, courses were presented in Upington, Douglas, Klawer, Hermanus, Robertson, Worcester, Montagu & Vredendal.

Past Achievements

Recently two of our students, Joseph Gertse, who is also a member of the WTSA board of directors, and Randolph Christians, were respectively appointed as winemakers at two top South African wine cellars. Joseph is the winemaker at Havana Hills and Randolph was appointed at Rustenberg in Stellenbosch.

More than 50 delegates who have completed the courses, work in the wine industry as assistant winemakers.

An exchange programme exists between the Western Cape and the French government where ten cellar workers are chosen every year to work in the Burgundy region and also attend a course. In the past few years 70% of these exchange students had completed the WTSA courses.

Joseph Gertse passed a wine evaluation examination at Stellenbosch Universtiy, and has been appointed as a wine taster at the annual Young Wine Show as well as the Veritas Wine Show, both prestigious competitions in the wine industry.

Both Joseph and Randolph Christians are previous winners of the Patrick Grubb Bursary and have worked in Bordeaux in France for a season as part of their award. Nico Fisher from Simonsig and M’Daan Pieterse from Overgaauw, both ‘old boys’ were awarded this prestigious Bursary in 2009 and worked in France during the 2010 season.

For the past four years Wine Cellars South Africa has sponsored the Cellar Worker of the Year competition. In the four years the competition was won by four of our previous students, Piet Sebenje from Lutzville, Eddy Mathambo from Bonnievale, Jonas Cupido from Van Loveren Cellars and Adam Alexander from Rupert & Rothschild.

The Future

Wine Training South Africa is in the process of accreditation. A new course on NQF level 1 will prepare course participants with lower education to enter the ladder of training that will lead them to the SKOP programme on NQF 3 level as well as the Advanced Junior Cellar Management Programme.

RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) of cellar workers who attended training programmes before 2011, will be a next priority, to give formal recognition for trainees who attended training courses before accreditation.

It will stay the Mission of Wine Training South Africa to Empower people through knowledge, to empower Xhosa-speakers in the wine industry and to increasing the skills base in the country.