{"id":55816,"date":"2014-04-16T08:22:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T06:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=55816"},"modified":"2014-04-16T08:22:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-16T06:22:00","slug":"praise-from-usa-wine-writer-for-sa-wine-initiatives-addressing-sales-bottlenecks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/praise-from-usa-wine-writer-for-sa-wine-initiatives-addressing-sales-bottlenecks\/","title":{"rendered":"Praise from USA wine writer for SA wine initiatives, addressing sales bottlenecks!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Winelands<\/a>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. \u00a0In his latest article, the third about his trip earlier this year, he praises the wine industry for dealing with the ‘bottlenecks<\/em>‘<\/strong><\/span><\/a> it faces in selling its wines in the USA. \u00a0According to him, the design of the South African flag can be seen to reflect a bottleneck too!<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0He noted the increased confidence of our winemakers, and their ‘concrete plans<\/em>‘ to tackle the marketing challenges, comparing his last two visits. \u00a0His observations of our wine industry over two visits are as follows:<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0 The leadership of the Winelands in Wine Tourism globally<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, a fantastic accolade.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0 Given that we are ‘geographically remote<\/em>‘, there are logistical problems for tourists in transporting wines back home. \u00a0He 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).<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0 South Africa is still not well known as a wine region in the USA, and he noted:<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 the formation of the Premium Independent Wineries of South Africa<\/strong><\/a>, who jointly market their wines<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 events such as the Nederburg Auction, the Cape Winemakers Guild<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Auction, and the most recent AfrAsia Bank Cape Wine Auction<\/strong><\/a>, all of which raise the profile of our country’s wines.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 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. \u00a0 Distell too is planning ‘a focussed assault on the U.S. market’<\/em>, he writes, and will help raise our wine industry’s profile.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0 Economies of scale are vital, and he was impressed by Stark-Cond\u00e9 sharing a distribution channel for its top-end wines with the more affordable MAN Family Wines.\"Mike<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. \u00a0In 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,1918,528,22,21,19,293],"tags":[2929,24001,24650,24653,24652,3965,32378,1736,1063,4910,21540,17074,7166,20312,24651,1921,32388,13673,407,3598,32373,24649,3336,22807],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t