Tourism News Africa – Q& A with Lloyd Jusa

1 – Your concept, The Palate Paradox, weaves together indulgence and intention, tradition, and innovation. How did you develop this philosophy, and how does it shape the wine experiences you create at The Saxon Hotel?

The Palate Paradox was born from observation and watching how people react when they taste something truly moving. Over the years, I realised that great taste isn’t just about the wine in the glass. It’s about what that wine unlocks. Often it could be a memory, a story, sometimes even a confrontation with one’s own expectations.

I started to see a beautiful tension. Indulgence versus restraint, familiarity versus surprise, the old world versus the emerging narrative of African excellence. I wanted to build a philosophy around that something that honoured tradition but refused to be confined by it.

At The Saxon, that’s exactly how we approach our wine program. We’re not just pairing wines with dishes, we’re curating moments. A Burgundy Grand Cru might sit alongside a wild-fermented Swartland Chenin Blanc because both tell a story of place, time, and intent. That balance, the paradox, is what makes it unforgettable.

2 – As a leading figure in African luxury hospitality, how do you incorporate African cultural narratives and local terroir into your wine programs to create a distinctly African sensory story?

For me, the soul of African hospitality lies in story and story lives in the land.

When I curate a wine experience, I’m not just asking ‘what tastes good? I’m asking further questions like, ‘what belongs here?’ That’s why local terroir is more than just geography, it’s also biography. It carries the fingerprints of climate, community, and culture. From the Swartland’s dusty textures to Elgin’s cool-climate tension, each bottle is part of a living archive.

At The Saxon, I make sure guests encounter African wines that aren’t just technically brilliant, but emotionally rooted. I’ll introduce a Chenin from an upcoming farm and speak about its lineage, or pair a dish with a Xhosa-inspired flavour and match it with something grown on ancestral land.

Mimicking Europe doesn’t interest us as we’re writing a different script altogether.

3 – You’ve curated wine experiences for a diverse range of guests, from presidents to poets. What’s the most memorable moment in your career where a wine pairing or tasting unlocked a profound connection or story for a guest?

I have a totally unexpected response to this. I remember a profound conversation I once had with a former colleague, a brilliant sommelier who had an extraordinary, almost visceral, connection to minerality. He had a past that few of us could fathom, having been a child soldier in a conflict-ridden part of Africa. He once told me that when he encountered wines with a distinct minerality, particularly those with a flinty, almost gunpowder-like note, it would transport him back to a specific, haunting memory. He spoke of the smell of gravel earth he once walked on as a child soldier, a scent that was etched into his very being. He described how the wine would evoke the aroma of “freshly bombed earth followed by a light rain.”

It was a powerful and incredibly moving image. For him, that mineral essence wasn’t just a pleasant note. It was a sensory echo of survival, of a landscape scarred yet cleansed and a testament to resilience. It showed me how deeply intertwined our personal histories can be with our perception of wine. How a single aroma can unlock a flood of memories and emotions, both beautiful and heartbreaking.

4 – Having judged prestigious competitions like the Diners Club Wine List Awards, what trends are you seeing in wine culture across Africa, and how are they influencing the global hospitality scene?

There’s an unapologetic awakening happening across Africa’s wine culture.

We’re seeing a shift from colonial mimicry to confident identity. Young sommeliers, winemakers, and curators are rewriting the language of wine featuring less Eurocentric jargon and replacing it with more culturally attuned storytelling. Wine lists are becoming more inclusive, not just in the labels featured but in the voices behind them.

There’s also a rise in conscious curation, from sustainability to social equity. Black-owned vineyards are gaining visibility. Indigenous ingredients are influencing pairing philosophies. And guests, both local and international, are more open than ever to hearing Africa’s wine story told by Africans.

Globally, this is turning heads. I’ve had chefs in Europe asking about saltbush pairings and Michelin sommeliers referencing Swartland fermentations. Africa isn’t just participating in the global hospitality scene anymore, but we’re shaping it.

5 – Your work extends beyond the cellar, from guest lecturing at universities to collaborating with winemakers in South Africa, Spain, and Italy. How do you balance education, innovation, and storytelling in your mission to elevate wine culture?

I’ve come to see education, innovation, and storytelling not as separate lanes, but as a single braided cord with each one strengthening the other.

Education is where it begins. You can’t honour or break a rule you don’t understand. Whether I’m teaching a student in Johannesburg or co-hosting a masterclass in Sydney, I ground it in real, accessible knowledge and not just textbook theory, but lived wisdom.

Innovation comes next. Once we understand the framework, we get to play. That might mean using African fermentation traditions in wine discussions, or rethinking food pairings through a decolonised lens.

Storytelling is the soul. It’s how we translate facts into feelings. A wine isn’t just a beverage, it’s a timestamp, a love letter and sometimes even a rebellion in a bottle. If I can pass that on, whether through a class or a conversation, I know I’m doing more than teaching. I’m helping people taste with their whole being.

6 – Off-duty, you’re a collector of rare cigars and art, with a bespoke walk-in humidor. How do these passions influence your approach to wine and hospitality, and do they ever intersect in your professional work?

I think that they’re all part of the same instinct, which is to slow down time and savour the story inside the detail.

Cigars, pretty much like wine, demand patience and presence. You don’t rush a great cigar, and you don’t gulp a great Burgundy. There’s a ceremony in both. Think the cut, the pour, the pause before the first draw or sip. It sharpens your senses. You start noticing nuance everywhere especially in people, in conversation, in how a room feels.

Art, on the other hand, teaches me composition. How colours and space speak to each other just like flavours do. Curating a wine list is like hanging a gallery where everything has to balance, but each piece should also hold its own.

These passions do intersect professionally. I’ve hosted cigar and wine evenings where guests don’t just taste but reflect as well. I’ve matched vintages with music, paintings, sometimes even scents. Because ultimately, hospitality at its highest form is not about consumption. It’s also about communion.

7 – As the face of BMW South Africa’s i7 campaign, you linked taste, design, and precision engineering. How do you see the intersection of luxury industries—wine, hospitality, automotive—shaping the future of experiential travel in Africa?

We’re moving into an era where luxury is no longer just about opulence; it’s about orchestration. The most memorable experiences are those where seemingly separate elements harmonise into something unforgettable.

In Africa, this intersection is ripe with possibility. When a guest arrives in a BMW i7, steps into a world-class suite, and is greeted with a glass of small-batch Méthode Cap Classique sourced from a local, regenerative vineyard, you’re not just offering a service. You’re telling a layered story of innovation, sustainability, and identity.

These industries of wine, hospitality and automotive, are all evolving around the same principle which is meaningful design and craftsmanship with purpose. When they collaborate intentionally, the result is experiential travel that feels both aspirational and grounded in place.

I see Africa leading in this space and not as a copy of European luxury, but as a frontier of soulful, sensory-rich journeys where every touchpoint has intention. And I’m here to help shape that narrative.

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