I am Tshepo Mokonotela, currently busy with my first year in my masters in Wine Biotechnology. I come from the Platinum City, Rustenburg, in the North West province. I first came to Stellenbosch University 5 years ago when I came to start my Food Science degree, majoring with Biochemistry, which I successfully completed in 2017.
It has been a fun and growth enriching journey here at Stellenbosch University. I decided to continue with my masters, because coming to pursue my tertiary career, I always knew that post graduate studies was something I wanted to do. So, it only felt natural when the time came for me to apply for my Masters.
I chose to change fields because I felt like it was time to try new things. I also wanted to do a masters that could possibly be more consumer, sensory and perception based. So, I came to IWBT where after meeting with Dr Nieuwoudt she had an idea of a project that I liked. Only this year I found that I will be working on sparkling wine. This was very exciting to find out. I think the biggest challenge was realising that there is very little research in South Africa about what I am doing, but this is a challenge I am willing to face.
My project will, basically, be looking at how young people perceive sparkling wine, what they think of it, values they attach to the product and the general acceptance of this product.
So far, it has been an amazing journey working this project, really looking forward to the rest of the journey and what opportunities this journey would bring.