Vusi Dalicuba joined Vergenoegd Löw in 2021 and started working under the guidance of managing director Corius Visser. Just three years into his new role, he’s already made his mark.
Mvuselelo “Vusi” Dalicuba grew up in Stellenbosch, surrounded by the Cape Winelands vineyards. His father worked for Distell and sometimes brought wine home, but the idea of studying winemaking never entered his mind. “I chose my subjects to study mechanical engineering because I always wanted to do something with my hands,” he says. “I’m not someone who wants to sit behind a computer.”
But in matric, his school changed from pure maths as a subject to maths literacy, which meant he could no longer qualify for mechanical engineering. He changed direction and applied at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology to study agriculture. His first semester included an introduction to viticulture and oenology. “I didn’t know you could study how to make wine,” he says. “I always thought it was something you did in your spare time, maybe in a tank behind the house.”
A good student
Suddenly the dots connected, from the wines his dad used to bring home to the vineyards next to Kayamandi where he grew up. A diploma in winemaking was soon followed by an honours degree and by the time he was 21 he’d obtained his master’s degree in viticulture and oenology. “While doing my honours in 2016, I had the opportunity to join Elsenburg as an assistant to Lorraine Geldenhuys, who was my first mentor and laid the foundation for my winemaking,” he says. “She’s meticulous in her attention to detail.”
During his time at Elsenburg, Vusi was able to participate in various harvests, including one at Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons and another at Kanonkop. Beyers Truter also played a formative role in Vusi’s journey thanks to his involvement with the students at Elsenburg. “Beyers would call me whenever there was a tasting somewhere,” Vusi says. “He introduced me to Abrie Beeslaar at Kanonkop.”
Teaching new students the ropes at Elsenburg every year was becoming repetitive and Vusi asked Abrie if he knew of anyone looking for an assistant. “Abrie pointed me to Corius Visser, MD of Vergenoegd Löw, who called Abrie and Beyers for references. They said, ‘Oh, we know him. He’s a good guy!’”
Launching his career
In 2021, Vergenoegd Löw was in the midst of a new phase of development, which included an ambitious replanting programme, a new restaurant, accommodation, spa and agri-village. Corius had his hands full and wanted Vusi to start immediately. “I didn’t know what I’d gotten myself into,” he says. “But people believed in me and I grabbed the bull by the horns.”
Besides being one of WineLand’s 30 Under 30 in 2022, Vusi has achieved a lot in the past four years, winning the VinLog Merlot Trophy at the 2024 Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards for the 2022 Amalie Merlot. It also scored 90 points in Tim Atkin’s 2024 South Africa Special Report. He was also runner-up at the inaugural 2024 Next Generation Awards sponsored by FedEx Express, where his 2022 Lara Cabernet Sauvignon earned him 95 points and also won gold at last year’s Michelangelo awards.
Cultivating young vines
Vusi especially appreciates the room to experiment at Vergenoegd Löw. “Corius loves experimenting,” he says. “He believes you must always have a small batch where you do something different. We have lots of young vines coming into production and there are many questions: What if you put the grapes in an open fermenter? What barrels do we use, 225 or 300 litres? What coopers do we use? And for how long should we age the wine? Those are the things we’re still developing.”
Vusi has a healthy approach to challenges. “I see them as opportunities,” he says. “There were many things I didn’t know, but I was willing to learn and now I know them. I’m still learning – but learning from the best. We have a saying in Xhosa: the elders have set a path for us, we just have to follow in their steps. That doesn’t mean doing exactly what they’re doing. It includes this practice of experimenting. The challenges have allowed me to grow not only as a person, but also as a winemaker.” It’s experience that can be passed on to the next generation. “You can’t tell someone to do something if you’ve never done it yourself.”
The young vineyards have also given him an appreciation for the terroir at Vergenoegd Löw. “We don’t know how they’ll behave yet, so we have to work with nature. That means respecting the terroir. Vergenoegd Löw has a very distinctive terroir which I want to capture so you can pinpoint it in a blind tasting. We call it ‘Stellenbosch by the sea’.”
The future
The farm may have changed around him, but Vusi still likes to get his hands dirty. “I’m a very hands-on winemaker,” he says. “If you saw this farm before Covid you wouldn’t believe it’s the same place now. We have a restaurant that’s run by Bertus Basson, a spa … everything. People don’t believe me, so I tell them to come and see.”
He’s not modest about his ambitions – a reflection of the influence of the people he looks up to. “I’d like to be the best winemaker in the world one day,” he says. “I believe it’s possible with the mentors I have. That’s my dream.”
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