We Hope Nelson Mandela Wanted His Legacy to Include a Line of Wines

You'd have to be a Robert Durst-level sociopath not to agree that Nelson Mandela was, all-around, a pretty cool dude.

He was, of course, the President of South Africa—the first black man to serve as the country's chief executive and the first democratically elected president. He also pretty much brought about the end of apartheid after being imprisoned multiple times, the longest of which was on Robben Island, where he was isolated in a damp cell, measuring eight feet by seven feet, for no less than eighteen years. And he won the Nobel Peace Price.

In short, he was totally bitchin' and left quite a legacy. But what has happened to that legacy in the years since his death in 2013?

Well, unsurprisingly, Mandela himself continues to be revered for the boss he was. But his family? Things get more complicated there.

The Mandela family has not been without its controversies. Even around the time of Mandela's death two years ago, a dispute arose over where Mandela should be buried and whether his three deceased children were rightly exhumed in anticipation of being placed near his buried body. Worse still, other family members have been accused of turning his gravesite into a tourist attraction.

And on top of that, two of his granddaughters were the stars of a not-very-well-received and quite short-lived reality TV show with the unfortunate name Being Mandela, which aired in the US on the NBC affiliate Cozi TV. A Twitter baptism-by-fire followed the airing of that show, with comments such as these:

"Mandela went to jail for 27 years so that we can have reality shows."

"It should be a series. Gandhi's grandkids go shopping. The Dalai Lama's grandkids have dinner."

And more recently, two of Mandela's descendants—his daughter, Makaziwe, and granddaughter, Tukwini—have finally solved this age-old riddle: What do Nelson Mandela, Fergie, and Dan Aykroyd all have in common?

The long-sought answer? They all have their own wine. At least, now they do.

Since 2010, these Mandela women have been in the wine business, making House of Mandela Royal Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, House of Mandela Royal Reserve Shiraz, and House of Mandela Royal Reserve Chardonnay, among other wines.

Just to give you some background on the industry they are hoping to break into, South African wine roughly dates back to 1659 with the wildly celebrated Cape Town winery Constantia. South African wines began to re-enter the global market with the end of apartheid in the 90s, and are now thought of as strong contenders to their new-world counterparts, the wines that come out of stalwarts like Chile and Argentina.

The Mandela women admit, "When we started, we didn't know anything about wine. We are not wine connoisseurs, but we drink wine at home and socially, and we decided that this is something we should try."

Nevertheless, they feel they can make a difference, especially by being black women in a field dominated by men. They say, "The addition of black women in the South African wine industry is a serious challenge. I can count the number of women that I know in the wine industry on my hand."

The symbol on their labels? The bee comes from their grandfather's real name, Rolihlahla, which means, "one who is brave enough to fetch the honey from the honeycomb."

The "royal" in the wine names? A reference to the family's noble heritage.

In fact, Mandela was descended from African royalty on his father's side, which made him a royal family member—but not king—of the Thembu people. According to his biographers, he was ineligible to inherit the throne being the son of a younger son and having a non-noble mother. In any event, the current king of the Thembu is in jail for murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, fraud and arson—so maybe it's not so good to be king anyway.

Royal or not, the Mandela family is getting their Francis Ford Coppola on and joining an elite group of public figures who own vineyards and wineries, including Lil Jon and many others from Olivia Newton John to Sting. Most celeb winemakers, however, are more of the music and media ilk than the type of luminaries who rub spiritual shoulders with the likes of Ghandi and Mother Theresa.

But that seems to be the route the Mandelas are taking these days. Less Gandhi and more Gaga.

What's next? Maybe Dr. King's "I Have An Ice Cream"? How about some olive oil called "Charles Darwin's Theory of EVOO"?

Don't discount it right away. After all, nothing says racial reconciliation like some fresh squeezed zinfandel.