Nelson Mandela's Granddaughter Tukwini Mandela on the Family Legacy in Wine and Wardrobe

(Parade) - With the death of Nelson Mandela yesterday, I started thinking about the legacy that he left behind beyond the political.

While a world mourns, so does his family. I was fortunate enough to meet his granddaughter Tukwini Mandela last month at the Caribbean Wine and Food Festival in Turks and Caicos.

She was promoting her family wines, The House of Mandela, and in her capacity as marketing director for the brand, she spoke of all the things that make wine salable, but most of all she spoke about her family and where they came from and their hoped for future legacy.

According to Tukwini, through her grandfather Nelson Mandela’s lineage she is part of the Thembu tribe, descendants of a line of Madiba kings, one of whom had five sons and was one named Mandela. For her, family means standing for something and being proud to be part of the tribe, while also distinguishing one’s personal, family and larger identity.

“Tribes are inclusive by nature,” Tukwini told me, “but as family we are carriers of legacy. Our family responsibilities include compassion, belonging and hope.”

And also a sense of humor.

The labels for the House of Mandela wine include a representation of a dashiki, or  a colorful embroidered shirt worn commonly in Africa and popularized in the ’60s and ’70s, and one of the hallmarks of Nelson Mandela’s style. “My grandfather is into fashion, but he hates suits” Tukwini told me.  So for Nelson Mandela, the humble dashiki was more than just a fashion statement, it showed that “he is, above all, a man of the people.”