SA and its wine 'need more sex appeal'

South Africa as well as its wine do not really have a sexy image internationally and this lack of sex appeal shows in falling in sales of SA wine, according to Jane Robertson, category development director at Accolade Wines.

A lot of retailers abroad do not understand SA and SA wine and this leads to them easily cutting it from ranges they stock, she warned at the Nedbank VinPro information day on Thursday.

SA’s wine industry should use aspects like Fairtrade to move into middle price segments internationally, she said.

At the moment SA’s wine presence abroad is like an hourglass shape, she explained, with most of the wine at the bottom price segment, just about nothing in the middle price segment and a bit in the top price segment.

“In order to show off SA wine, the industry needs to change its presence from this hourglass shape to that of a stepladder where one builds brands and market share on a step by step basis,” she suggested.

Another trend she said SA wine should use to its advantage, is the increasing interest in SA food overseas.

“The food and wine link in restaurants overseas is a very important area for SA wine to use to get itself positioned into higher price segments. Brand building is very important,” she added.

In general, she sees especially good opportunities for SA wine in higher price segments to explore in the US and Chinese markets. In the UK, SA wines have been doing well, but it has not been growing in a sustainable way. SA wine sales have also declined in The Netherlands.

Source Fin 24