Weening & Barge Wine

Weening & Barge Winery

Position: Agriculture/wine
Number of available positions: 1
Duration of Cape Town internship: 10-12 weeks

Have you ever thought about working in the wine industry?  Have you ever dreamed of opening your own farm or winery?  Well CapeTown, with its world-famous wineries and picture perfect landscape, is the ideal place to do an internship in the wine and agricultural industry.  Agricultural internships in Cape Town and surrounds are the perfect introduction the South African wine industry and its inner workings. Summer internships abroad sometimes tend to err on the theoretical side, but not this one. The team at Weening and Barge will have your hands dirty before you even have time to unpack your bags.  What better way to spend a summer than enjoying a firsthand experience of life on a South African wine farm?

About Weening & Barge Winery:

Step out of your vehicle at Weening & Barge Winery and you will know what it is to experience complete and utter tranquillity. Home to the exclusive range of sought-after Ridgemor wines, the winery is located in one of the most fertile wine producing areas in the Stellenbosch district.(The name of the wine range is taken from the farm’s original name that is said to have been a contraction of the names of the previous owners, Ridge and Morris.)

Back in the day, the farm belonged to Zandvliet and used to produce tobacco and rear cattle. This only lasted for a little while, because it was not long before the owners realised that they had unwittingly purchased some prime wine producing real estate! Then in 2003, along came a small Dutch family who bought the farm and founded the Weening & Barge Winery at Ridgemor. The rest, as they say, is history.

About the internship:

The wine internship at Weening & Barge Winery is conducted by Ken Nicholson, the charismatic general manager who is in charge of all agricultural activities on the farm.  During your internshp, you will participate in all day-to-day aspects of wine and agricultural production.  Your responsibilities will include:

•    Some basic farm administration and paperwork.
•    Wine sales!  This is an excellent opportunity if you are considering a career as a wine connosseiur or wine salesman.  You will come away with an in-depth knowledge of the farm's grape varietals and wines.
•    Pruning and irrigation (both drip and overhead) of the vineyards.
•    Taking part in the physical grape harvesting process.
•    Basic farm repairs and maintenance.
•    Driving farm machinery (including tractors).

As further incentive, Ken offers you the opportunity to become involved in a very special project. There is an area of fallow land on the Weening & Barge farm that needs to be profiled in order for farm management to decide what to plant there. As an intern, you will be required to take extensive soil samples which you will then analyse to create a soil profile. This in turn will inform your costing calculations and proposal for a new crop to be grown on the land. This type of hands-on experience will stand you in good stead when you return to your country of origin to manage your own farm or pursue your career in agriculture.

If you have some basic knowledge of wine farming and an interest in agriculture, you should definitely consider this position.  All you will need is the ability to improvise and get your hands dirty!  You will come away from this internship with a wealth of knowledge about agriculture and wine farming.

-a view from the Weening & Barge wine farm.

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From Weening & Barge:

"Weening & Barge Winery, home to Ridgemor wines, is located in one of the prime wine areas of the Western Cape. Our wines were named after the name of the Farm - Ridgemor. Dating back to 1670, Ridgemor is one of the oldest wine farms in the area. In fact, the name "Ridgemor", which was established in 1862, derives from its original owners, Ridge and Morris.

Initially, it belonged to Zandvliet and was used as a tobacco and cattle farm, yet because the farm was located in such an idyllic position for a wine farm, it was finally transformed into the wine farm we know today. In 2003 the farm was bought by a small Dutch Family who founded Weening & Barge Winery @ Ridgemor, which is the symbol of the 360° quality of life in a bottle."