South Africa’s wine industry has a great fan in American wine economist Mike Veseth, who has visited our country twice in the past two years.  In his latest article, the third about his trip earlier this year, he praises the wine industry for dealing with the ‘bottlenecks‘ it faces in selling its wines in the USA.  According to him, the design of the South African flag can be seen to reflect a bottleneck too!

Veseth visited in 2012, as the guest of Nederburg, addressing the Auction as guest speaker. He observed the wine industry then and compared it with his observations of his visit this year. He writes that it can be easier to make good wines than it is to sell and market them, and this applies to selling in the USA in particular.  He noted the increased confidence of our winemakers, and their ‘concrete plans‘ to tackle the marketing challenges, comparing his last two visits.  His observations of our wine industry over two visits are as follows:

1.   The leadership of the Winelands in Wine Tourism globally, a fantastic accolade.

2.   Given that we are ‘geographically remote‘, there are logistical problems for tourists in transporting wines back home.  He observed that wine estates (e.g. Durbanville Hills) offer free delivery in Europe of wines via warehouses in the UK, USA, and in Europe, using the services of such shippers as Red Simon (Europe), and Cape Ardor (USA).

3.   South Africa is still not well known as a wine region in the USA, and he noted:

*   the formation of the Premium Independent Wineries of South Africa, who jointly market their wines

*   events such as the Nederburg Auction, the Cape Winemakers Guild Auction, and the most recent AfrAsia Bank Cape Wine Auction, all of which raise the profile of our country’s wines.

*   Broadbent Selections represents a growing portfolio of top Cape wine brands such as Delaire Graff, Sadie Family Wines, AA Badenhorst, Vilafonte, and Warwick in the USA, investing in raising our country’s wines’ awareness.   Distell too is planning ‘a focussed assault on the U.S. market’, he writes, and will help raise our wine industry’s profile.

4.   Economies of scale are vital, and he was impressed by Stark-Condé sharing a distribution channel for its top-end wines with the more affordable MAN Family Wines.

South Africa’s wine industry can be grateful for the positive evaluation of and prolific writing by Veseth, a credible endorsement of our wines and its winemakers in the USA!

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com  Twitter: @WhaleCottage