Norman Ketelo hails from a small town in the Eastern Cape, Bilatye, approximately 60 km from Queenstown. He attended high school in Mkhanjane and passed his matric in 1998. After he left school Norman was a security guard for a short while.
His brother was employed by Graham Beck Wines Franschhoek at that stage and introduced him to Charles Back, who was also associated with this cellar at that stage.
In 2004 Norman was employed by Meerendal as a cellar worker, but in 2005 Charles Hopkins approached Norman and invited him to join the team at the new De Grendel cellar.
He has always been interested in winemaking, probably because his father was employed by Douglas Green Wellington many years ago. His work eventually became his passion and he finds the blending of wines most interesting. He indicated that this is due to the fact that the blending process encourages one to think and to reflect on the winemaking process. Norman is convinced that one must be “oopkop”, that one must have an open mind, when making wine and be able to reflect on decisions made in the cellar.
Harvesting energises Norman, as it is during this time when a lot of knowledge is transferred to cellar workers at De Grendel. Norman confirms that an enormous amount of knowledge is constantly transferred at De Grendel. Norman and his fellow cellar worker, Joseph Phiri, benefit from this.
His message to fellow cellar workers is that one should never stop learning and that one should always asks questions. He is convinced that one should find ways to be more effective in the workplace and to gain as much experience possible.