Adaeze Anene
Third generation. Tastes every barrel on Fridays and still drives the tractor at harvest.
Chapter I, our story
Three generations on one hill
Velora began as a stubborn idea in 1974: that vines could thrive on the escarpment above Enugu. Fifty two years later the rows, the cellar and the family are still here.
The family
From a test plot to forty two hectares
Every vine on the hill has a date and a name in the estate ledger, which has been kept by hand since the first row went in.
- 1974
The first test plot
Mazi Chukwudi Anene, home from agricultural college, plants two hundred cuttings beside his cassava farm to see what the laterite will do.
- 1983
Table grapes and a press
The family sells table grapes in Enugu markets and makes a little wine for weddings in a hand press under the mango tree.
- 1996
The quiet years
Rising costs and a long illness slow the farm. Half the rows are left to grow wild, but the old vines survive.
- 2009
Adaeze comes home
His granddaughter, a trained winemaker, returns and begins replanting row by row, keeping cuttings from the strongest old vines.
- 2015
The cellar is dug
A cellar is cut nine metres into the ridge, giving the wines a steady 17 degrees without a single air conditioner.
- 2019
First Ember Reserve
The first reserve Syrah is bottled and numbered by hand: 1,200 bottles, all sold to the families who had followed the estate.
- 2023
Solar and batteries
A solar array and battery bank take the cellar, press house and kitchen off diesel for most of the year.
- 2026
Forty two hectares
Velora now farms forty two hectares, employs sixty one people from the surrounding villages and welcomes guests six days a week.
What we believe
Patience is the house style
We farm without irrigation once the vines are three years old. We pick by hand. We use natural yeasts for our reserve wines and wait until a wine is ready, even when the market is not.
We also believe a wine estate has a duty to its neighbours. Sixty one people work here, most from the villages along Escarpment Road. We pay above the state minimum, run a midday meal for the whole team and fund two secondary school scholarships every year.
And because what we make is alcohol, we sell it only to adults, serve it only with food and water, and keep the alcohol free Grape Press on every table.
The people
Who you will meet on the hill
Kelechi Nwosu
Has walked every row since 2010. Leads the vineyard walks and the pruning school.
Emeka Ude
Cellar master. Keeps the ledger, the barrels and the temperature log, by hand and by app.
Ngozi Obi
Estate chef. Cooks Enugu classics with a light hand and writes every pairing card.
Our neighbours
An estate that belongs to its road
Local first hiring
Fifty four of our sixty one staff live within ten kilometres of the estate.
Midday meal for everyone
The kitchen feeds the whole team every working day, harvest or not.
Two scholarships a year
Full secondary school fees for two students from the communities along Escarpment Road.
Responsible service
Every guide is trained to refuse service to anyone under 18 and to anyone driving who has already tasted.
Come and meet the hill
Tours run Tuesday to Sunday. Book online, or message the team on WhatsApp and we will plan it with you.