A legend lives on

Bottle Green have breathed new life into South Africa’s Breede River Valley region with Jantara, an elegant wine recalling a beautiful beast

Jantara’s namesake was a beautiful young leopard who roamed through the stunning Slanghoek Valley in South Africa’s Breede River Valley wine region. One day Jantara was found badly injured and the winery, committed to playing its part in preserving the natural balance of the area, went to great lengths to ensure the best veterinary care for the leopard.

Sadly, however, Jantara did not survive. In honour of this rare and elegant animal a new range of wines has been named Jantara, and the winery now displays the stuffed leopard in its entrance as a symbol of the valley’s wildlife.

His story and his name are the inspiration for the 2003 vintage Jantara range, the first South African wines to be made specifically for the UK by national importer Bottle Green Ltd.

Project partnership

The wines for the Jantara range – and other wines destined for exclusive and own-label projects – have been made under the guidance of Bottle Green’s senior winemaker Mark Nairn, in partnership with a number of established key players in the Worcester region.

The wineries are large producers who have in the past primarily sold bulk wines to a variety of local and international clients, but without much continuity year to year. 

In 1994 they grouped together to form Cape Vineyards and, by pooling their resources and experience in this way have been extremely successful in producing increasingly high-quality wines, enabling them to develop a strong, long-term export business.

Bottle Green has signed both an exclusive agreement for the UK market with Cape Vineyards, and a joint venture for the Jantara range worldwide.  This relationship allows the member wineries to work with Nairn to produce wines to which they have a long term commitment, allowing the commercial team, headed up by Henriette Jacobs at Cape Vineyards office in Rawsonville, to make long-term business plans.

Tailor-made

As Nairn, Bottle Green’s senior winemaker comments, "The Breede River Valley area, and within it the region of Worcester, have in the  past perhaps been regarded mainly as a source of larger volume wines but the commitment of the wineries we are working with shows how rapid improvements can be made through innovation and quality initiatives.

The personal attachment to the project of the people involved is very important to the long-term success.  Being able to work with a number of different wineries in the region gives us huge flexibility and blending potential to optimise the styles for the UK market."

Nairn is working closely with a number of wineries, enabling him to play to the strengths of each. Prominent members of the project include Slanghoek, which is especially strong in varietal white wine production, Waboomsriviere where the focus is on red wines, and Goudini for both red and white wines.

Launched at the 2003 London Wine Trade Fair, the Jantara range is a key focus for Bottle Green and Cape Vineyards, with exclusive and own-label wines also available through the project.

The Jantara range

As a new entrant into the already densely populated UK South African wine market it was imperative that the new range was developed with a clear understanding of what consumers feel about currently available South African wines, and where they felt the gaps might be.

Consumer research was carried out before any brand and product development was started. What became clear from this research was that consumers felt that buying wine from the South African category was something of an adventure.

On the positive side, South Africa attracts consumers who are looking for something new over and above Australian offerings, and the indigenous varieties of Chenin Blanc and Pinotage also provide added interest.

On the down side, consumers have been disappointed by the lack of consistent quality from many of the wines that they have bought and secondly, they are lacking the reassurance of a clearly South African mainstream brand.

These insights provided the foundation stones for the development of the Jantara range.  Once in development, Bottle Green invested in further research into the most motivating packaging, brand name, wine style, pricing, and overall feel required by consumers buying their wines in the grocery and specialist off-trade.

The Jantara range of wines focuses on quality, delivering the fruit-driven wine style preferred by UK consumers.  The range includes stunning whites comprising a Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay and reds with great depth and fruit character including a Ruby Cabernet Merlot, Pinotage, Merlot and Shiraz, at the £4.99 and £5.99 price points.

Bottle Green’s managing director, Jerry Lockspeiser says, "We understand that new projects take time to develop and we are in this project for the long-term.  We feel very strongly that we have created something different with Cape Vineyards and the Jantara range.

Under the direction of Mark Nairn the wines’ styles are excellent and we have contemporary and stylish packaging that consumers have told us meets their needs and expectations.

This, combined with a long-term relationship with the supplier and the participating wineries, makes me very positive about the future – the legend of Jantara the leopard will live on!"

For further information regarding the Jantara range and other South African wines contact:

Bottle Green Ltd

19 New Street Horsforth

Leeds

LS18 4BH

Tel: 0113 205 4500

Fax: 0113 205 4501

E-mail: info@bottlegreen.com

Website: www.bottlegreen.com