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How a COVID lockdown helped make an award-winning winemaker in South Africa

Her 1,400-vine micro-vineyard and Alinea debut wines drew praise from critics, launching a winemaking career built from a family garden.

  • In Cape Town, South Africa, Natasha Jacka produced award-winning wines from a micro-vineyard she planted in her parents' Noordhoek garden during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.
  • Previously a viticulture student in Stellenbosch, Jacka was 27 when the pandemic halted her studies, prompting her to recognize her parents' property as an opportunity to pursue her winemaking dream.
  • She squeezed 1,400 vines into two garden blocks to produce a white blend and a Syrah, though Spirit, the family's miniature horse, ate some young vines during the process.
  • Christian Eedes, editor of winemag.co.za, described the project as "a triumph of hope over good sense," noting that such handmade, craft wine is the "opposite of mass produced."
  • Jacka now manages her Alinea line of wines from regional grapes while continuing to operate the Noordhoek vineyard, handling picking, stomping, sales, and delivery herself.
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How a COVID lockdown helped make an award-winning winemaker in South Africa

A woman in South Africa found opportunity in a COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 when she used the suspension of her studies at an agricultural college to plant her own vineyard at her family home.

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WSLS broke the news on Sunday, June 21, 2026.
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