Kenya: Extreme Winemaking

A recent AFP video/ report on a highland vineyard in Kenya's fabled Rift valley, which is tapping South African expertise in an attempt at extreme winemaking near the equator. Excerpt:

... Out of the blue, Farquharson received an email saying a rich Kenyan businessman was looking for a specialist to develop his vineyard -- and it is now more than three years since he decided to take up to the challenge. "I said to myself that this was a chance for a wonderful adventure, to try something different," he recalled. Pius Ngugi, the businessman who owns Kenya Nut as well as Thika Coffee Mills, had tried making wine from vines at his farm north of Lake Naivasha in the Rift Valley in the 1990s. After deciding he was never going to achieve a wine of constant quality, he put the project on the backburner. His son Mbugua Ngugi, knowing how close the project had been to his father's heart, revived it -- but this time seeking out a professional viticulturist and winemaker who knew Africa. The vineyard's geographical situation -- at 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) right near the Equator, 90 kilometres (55 miles) northwest of Nairobi -- as well as Kenya's climate provide Farquharson with several challenges. But he knew extreme winemaking was working elsewhere, including in Argentina which has some of the world's highest vineyards at more than 3,000 metres along the Andean mountain range.

A Business Daily report from 2008 explains the viticulture logistics and high cost of production due to punitive taxes when it comes to Kenyan wines. But the report agrees, that "since Kenyans are now indulging in the finer things of life, ... wines have been performing excellently in the market."