Freedom isn't free. The new voices of South African wine.

Two worlds, minutes apart

Decades after Nelson Mandela changed the political face of South Africa, inequality and tension remain. As winemaker Carmen Stevens points out, Stellenbosch is only about 25 minutes from the airport, yet visitors pass through areas of real poverty before reaching the grand white buildings and beautiful vineyards of the winelands. The contrast is hard to reconcile.

Peter does not look away from it. He stops at a roadside stall to try skop, a slow-cooked head, and listens to poetry about people whose histories have too often gone untold. It sets the tone for an episode about who gets a share in South Africa's wine story, and about the people quietly working to widen that circle.

Trees, hope and a township winery

At the Spier wine farm, Peter stumbles into a kind of garden of Eden: seedlings growing out of old washing machines and all sorts of containers. This is the Tree-preneurs initiative. People locked out of the formal economy grow trees at home, then barter them back for things they choose, such as school fees or food vouchers. The young trees are strengthened in a nursery and planted in community projects.

Next comes the Township Winery, which creates opportunities for people who might otherwise never get involved in wine. Arleen van Wyk, who works with winemaker Wayne Arendse on the Wildplum Syrah, grew up near Stellenbosch dreaming of driving through her own vineyards. Today she has a smallholding in the Swartland. Waterlogged clay soil has cost her vines she cannot afford to replace, so she grows vegetables between the rows. Peter helps plant curly kale and hears how she taught herself much of what she knows online.

A refugee who became a top sommelier

Tinashe Nyamudoka arrived in South Africa from Zimbabwe in 2008, when the economy at home collapsed. With no restaurant experience, he got his break at a new restaurant in Camps Bay that wanted staff without prior knowledge. Its wine list described wines through jungle animals, and it sparked a passion. He went on to work at The Test Kitchen and joined a Zimbabwean team at the World Blind Wine Tasting Championships, a story told in the film Blind Ambition.

Tinashe brings his own frame of reference to tasting. Blackcurrants and other European fruits were never part of his childhood, so he reaches for flavors he grew up with, like magaka, a prickly African cucumber, as he calls it in Shona.

Elephants, peacocks and a blind tasting

The animal idea is a brilliant way into wine. For Tinashe, Cabernet Sauvignon is the elephant: big, strong and thick-skinned, yet gentle and full of finesse. Chenin Blanc, South Africa's signature white grape, is the peacock: modest at first, then opening up to show its color and boldness.

Then he turns the tables and pours Peter a blind wine. Peter works through color, aroma and structure before making his call. See how close a Master of Wine gets, and why Tinashe enjoys the moment so much.

Art, resilience and wine's place in it all

On a brief stop in Kalk Bay, Peter meets James, an artist who turns soda and baked-bean cans into pictures of Cape Town and its townships. The art pays for his children's schooling. It is another small story of making something from very little.

No single industry can solve South Africa's problems, and the episode does not pretend otherwise. But wine is flourishing in the Cape, and through these people you see how it can open doors. Watch to meet them and find out why the future here holds clouds as well as sunshine.