South African wine is true World Cup winner

Sales of South African wines are booming after the recent FIFA World Cup, with packaged exports on the rise across the globe.

Su Birch, CEO of Wines of South Africa (WOSA), said that all countries with a high interest in football have seen a rise in sales of South African wine.

“For the six months to the end of June, the volumes of packaged wines exported to Germany rose by an impressive 50%,” she said.

“To the US, which interestingly bought more tickets to attend the games than any other foreign country, exports increased 32% for the period. Canada, Finland and Belgium all showed double-digit volume growth. So did the Republic of Ireland, a country particularly hard hit by the downturn.  

“Other exciting developments have been a 33% growth in Japan, and a more-than-doubling of sales to both the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China, albeit off a smaller base. Even to competitor countries such as France, New Zealand and Australia, sales were up.”

Domestic sales were also buoyant. Vinimark, the country’s largest independent wine wholesaler, has reported double-digit growth in the hospitality sector compared to the same time last year.

The Groot Constantia winery’s sales rose by 10% this June, with another rise expected for July, while Warwick Estate in Stellenbosch revealed a 58% increase in domestic sales over June.

The Cape Town tourism board has announced that if just 0.5% of the estimated three billion people who watched the tournament came to Cape Town, its visitor traffic would grow from 1.8 million a year to 4.8m.

The benefits for the wine and hospitality industries are clear.

Birch said that WOSA was still capitalising on the increased awareness of South Africa due to the World Cup.

“The cacophony of the vuvuzelas may be over but we are still training wine waiters to support the local hospitality industry until the end of this year,” she said.

“In addition, the finals of our Sommelier World Cup, involving 12 nations from Europe, North America and Korea, will be held in the Cape in October.

“We want more consumers to purchase the country’s offerings not just from retail shelves but from wine lists. The Sommelier World Cup is targeting that highly influential group of people who serve as the gateway to diners,” she explained.

The finalists will spend a week in the Cape meeting producers and restaurateurs to help them “build respect and loyalty for South Africa as a wine producer”.

Rupert Millar, 21.07.2010