... but it falls far short of the mark,
writes Ray Smuts
A NEW South African broadside is about to be fired in the battle for the hearts, minds and palates of America's wine drinkers, but it will not be easy warns promotional fundi Kim Green.
For starters the worldwide swing to red wines has caught this country, leaning more to white wine production traditionally, on the hop with producers feverishly uprooting white cultivars and replacing them with red.
Even so, it will take time - as long as 15 years - before South Africa can be considered a serious red wine-producing nation.
The South African Wine and Spirit Exporters' Association (Sawsea) is budgeting up to R2-million to promote product in the US this year and will initially concentrate its promotional endeavours on the east coast by wooing influential wine writers and educationalists. (South African white and red exports to the US have grown by 42 and 46% respectively).
Green, who was appointed chief executive officer of Sawsea last April, says in spite of considerable competition from other New World producers South Africa should realise it has something special to sell.
We need to orchestrate a coherence in the way we market our wines. We are not just another California or Australia, she maintains.
Notwithstanding the shortage of red wine, statistics for 1999 compared with the same period for 1998 show a healthy growth in sales in the established markets of the United Kingdom and Europe.
Export litres stood at around 125 million last year and Sawsea admits to feeling quite bullish by projecting 135 million export litres for this year.
The United Kingdom accounts for 40% of this country's wine exports but Green points out that it has become a saturated market and Sawsea is looking further afield for new possibilities.
An exciting new market is Scandinavia which consumes as much South African wine as Germany these days, while the emerging market of Japan holds exciting possibilities. In Holland and Belgium the surface has only just been scratched, she believes.
Funded in part by a five cents a litre levy, applicable to all exports, since last November and by the Wine Industry Trust, a joint initiative by the KWV and Government, Sawsea's budget will be allocated as follows:
l United Kingdom (R3,8m)
l Benelux countries and
The SA Wine and Spirit Exporters' Association's Kim Green ...
We need to orchestrate a coherence in the way we market our wines. We are not just another California or Australia.
Germany (R3m)
l USA (R1,5m-R2m)
l Scandinavia (R750 000)
l Japan (R500 000)
Green believes that an overall budget of R12-million is insufficient to promote South African wines abroad. It should be at least double that, she says, pointing to Australia's budget of R120-million a year.
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