As the rays of the sun hit the leaves on this 15 acre vineyard, it got me thinking. Could this be reason wine sparkles or not ? But then, it’s just aloud thinking.
Oooh! Wine. Wine makes everything fine. You know things like aging like fine wine. This must be where the phrase was derived from.
It could be South Africa’s Cape Town or in Italy’s Rome but no ,the location is Mukururu, Kangeta in Igembe ,Meru County.
With beautifully manicured land; acres and acres of vines planted in perfectly seamed lines, this is such a sight to behold.
Vineyard
Engineer Kiruji, the current project manager, tells me he’s grateful for leaps the farm has made in recent days.
“We have just harvested one tonne of grapes this February which happens to be the first harvesting season of the year,” Mr Kiruji opens up as he welcomes me into the 20 acre vineyard project he manages.
This is the Mukururu winery project, now fully managed by the Catholic Diocese of Meru under Bishop Salesius Mugambi.
The project was initiated in 2002 has been a breath of fresh air for the people of Mukururu, Igembe and Meru at large. Many of the people in Mukururu and workers at the farm say Brother Jesse, the late Italian Brother who brought it alive was good hearted, genuine in what he did and was loved dearly by the people. The 20 acre stretch of land on which the project sits on was donated by the community to the Catholic priest.
Meru Catholic Diocese
Let me unwrap the story of where all this began:
In 1948 one Brother Jesse Mukiri arrived in Kenya. An Italian by birth, he came as a missionary. He was given the name Mukiri by his villagers who welcomed him.
Being a missionary, he spearheaded and started construction of the now Catholic Diocese of Meru.
While he was putting up the church, Bishop Sordati, another Italian missionary, built a rehabilitation for the physically disabled in Tuuru. Brother Jesse was called upon to help the construction of a water dam to help in water supply in the handicapped school. When he visited Tuuru, he saw the suffering of the people which pushed him to construct the Turu water supply not only for the school but also for the villages around.
Grapevines
In Italy where he was born and brought up he had seen grapevines, learnt how to care for them and had it at his fingertips.
In light of this, he planted the vineyard solely for charity purposes to give back to the community.
For 16 years, Brother Jesse was at the helm of the winery project. The Catholic Church in Meru benefited immensely from his efforts of producing more and more wine each season. He also served wine to the people in the villages surrounding the project.
Njuri Ncheke street
To share the wine with more wine lovers, an outlet was opened in the Catholic Bookshoop in Meru town along the Njuri Ncheke Street.
During his 60 year stay in Kenya, his family in Italy and Italians living in Kenya urged him to go back to Italy. The plea was turned down. When they pleaded with him to go back to Nairobi, he still blatantly refused and even went ahead to build a shrine named Mukururu Shrine that was to become his burial site when he died on in 2018, aged 85.
He had issued strict instructions to be buried in Mukururu ordering that his body should not be flown back to Italy.
After he passed on and was buried, the outlet at the Catholic Bookshop was closed and the project taken up by the then manager of Tuuru Water Supply, Mr Gabriel Mange, for two years after which he retired.
Bishop Mugambi
The project was later taken over by the Catholic Diocese of Meru under Bishop Salesius Mugambi, who appointed Engineer Kiruji to head of the winery.
The current price of bottle of wine retails at Sh1000.
“We still have a lot of ground to cover,” says Kiruji who shared plans to put 5 more acres under vines to bring total coverage to 20 acres. This, he says, will ensure full utilisation of the land and add to the wine production in the coming years.
With more grapes, the dreams of Brother Jesse continue to come to fruition in the hands of Mr Kiruji.
Despite the sweet taste of the journey, Mr Kiruji notes that harvesting and production of little wine is a challenge they have had to face.
Mr Kiruji tells me the way to curb this is by adding more vines and taking care of them more adding manure and fertiliser.
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