Education is the key to empowerment and upliftment in South Africa and the hospitality and wine industry offer many opportunities, particularly in the world of sommeliership. A few years ago the word 'sommelier' was fairly foreign here, but since the establishment of the South African Sommelier Association (12 years ago) and Chenin Noir bringing the Court of Masters education program to South Africa, this has changed significantly. At a recent event held at L'Avenir, the Court of Master Sommeliers program (brought to South Africa by Xolani Mancotywa, founder of Chenin Noir) held their graduation ceremony for their Introduction to Sommmelier as well as the Certificate Course. Gareth Ferreira is the only Master Sommelier in Africa and he spent time with the candidates training them on the finer points of service.These are tough courses and this year saw the first offering to a select few PYDA graduates, and congratulations to the one and only of these who managed to pass the Introduction course, Sivuyile Komani! He is now working at De Morgenzon, after graduating from the PYDA in 2016 and working at various wineries. Only two of the other entrants passed the Certificate course, viz Eric Botha (working in the Maldives) and Derek Kilpin (Great Domaines).