CapeWine 2015 is the most successful wine exhibition ever hosted in our country, its attendance in the Cape Town International Convention Centre having grown by 27% since 2012, with 1900 visitors from 58 countries attending. A total of 350 wine estates and producers offered their wines to taste, in what has been the largest wine expo in the Southern Hemisphere. Delegates came from the USA, Canada, Germany, the UK, Scandinavian countries, Asia, Brazil, and Africa.  Asian visitors came from China, Hong Kong and Japan. African delegates were from Nigeria, Angola and Ghana. The Department of Trade and Industry assisted in bringing international delegates into the city.

CapeWine 2015 organizer Wines of South Africa (WOSA) CEO Siobhan Thompson said about the show: ‘The overriding impression amongst guests was that South African wine has assumed a new level of quality and a clearly differentiated and distinctive voice. Returning visitors who have been following our progress over the years could see the impact of the extensive innovation in wine-growing and winemaking that has been taking place. They consistently remarked on how this has been translating into greater confidence amongst exhibitors, who are now more readily expressing what is uniquely South African in their wines‘.

‘Of course, that’s from a lower base, but it is encouraging to see that the enthusiasm for the South African category is becoming more widespread. This will help us to expand our geographic reach and begin penetrating newer and more of the emerging markets’, added Ms Thompson.

A number of influential Expo attendees praised CapeWine 2015 and our country’s wines:

* Michael Franz, USA wine editor, critic, educator, and consultant to the restaurant trade, praised our country’s ability to offer value across a spectrum of wine prices and styles. ‘No other country comes to mind that can as authentically straddle the divide between the old and the new worlds. You have the climatic capacity and soil diversity to make distinctive, compelling and appealing wines. South African Chardonnay retailing for US$17 is arguably the best in the world at that price‘, he said.

*  Wine journalist and judge Christine Austin, from the UK, commenting on the ‘clear marketability of the wines on show at all price levels’.

*  Sascha Speicher from the Meininger wine trade publication group, said that our country has taken ‘a big step forward with more exciting and individual wines’.  He referred to the deep structured wines produced from old vines, and also the elegant examples of Cinsaut he had encountered. ‘The quality is there. Now you need to bring these developments to the market‘.

*   Masamitsu Yoshino of Japanese specialist trade beverage magazine Wands Review was optimistic about our country’s potential. Two years ago South African imports to Japan rose by 19%, and has overtaken imports of German wine. Our country’s French cultivars are well suited to washoku (Japanese cuisine).

*  Debra Meiburg MW, one of the most influential wine personalities and a leading authority on wine in Greater China, was also upbeat about the potential for South African wine in the region.

Source: De Kock Communications

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com  Tel (021) 433-2100 Twitter:@WhaleCottage  Facebook:  click here