The White Wine Ou* wants locals to drink more | The Month May 2012
Wines of South Africa (WOSA) ran a conference last month in Stellenbosch promoting the Nigerian export market to local wine producers. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last time that WOSA promotes wine exports, which is of course entirely in keeping with WOSA’s brief. Why else would it be paid 7c for every litre of wine exported from South Africa?
According to the SA Wine Industry Directory 2011/12, we exported 378 549 900 litres (of a total 780 700 000 produced) of wine in 2010, contributing R26 498 493 to WOSA’s coffers. That’s a tidy sum of money in anybody’s language.
Opinion is divided on just how efficacious WOSA is in
promoting wine exports. There is a faction which belittles virtually everything that WOSA does, suggesting that the payoff to exporters does not justify the levy paid. There are those who believe the opposite: that WOSA has done much to increase our export market penetration in key markets like the EU, America, Russia and increasingly African markets like Angola and Nigeria. Trouble is, it is very difficult to say with any certitude, what impact a particular action taken by WOSA has had on wine exports.
Why? Because not all export promotional initiatives are executed by WOSA. Producers large and small send winemakers, marketers and brand ambassadors to many of our key markets every year, where they spend money, time and shoe leather in promoting their various offerings. Such focussed initiatives are arguably more effective at creating producer-specific (and therefore more measurable) demand than WOSA’s more shotgun-style approach (no disrespect intended).
Whichever side of the WOSA fence you may find yourself on, it remains that a funded organisation that exists to promote South African wines abroad. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of an inward-focussed organisation, similarly funded, which could do much to promote wine consumption in South Africa. “Is it necessary?” you may ask.
Yes it is! Per capita consumption of alcohol (in litres) has declined from 2001 to 2010 for most sectors of the local liquor market. The actual market shares over the decade deserve further scrutiny: Alcoholic fruit beverages (3.3 to 6.2), whisky (2.8 to 5.1) and sparkling wine (0.2 to 0.4) shares have all but doubled, with beer (42.4 to 46.1), brandy (5.9 to 6.1) and fortified wine (1.9 to 2.4) showing more modest gains. Shares of traditional African beer (24.6 to 16.6), natural wine (14.0 to 12.6) and other spirits (4.9 to 4.5) have all declined.
Clearly the wine industry has suffered locally, experiencing declining per capita consumption, as well loss of market share.
This is even more telling when one considers that in 1994 there were around 350 000 ‘middle class’ families in the country, and that there are now an estimated 3.8 million; the bulk of which do NOT drink wine.
The bleat that an internally focussed WOSA equivalent would not get off the ground because of powerful corporate wine interests (that would see it as a threat to their market dominance) is so much hooey, that it should be summarily dismissed. The pending alcohol advertising ban makes it obvious that the battle lines have clearly been drawn between government and the liquor industry, so now is the time for that industry to take the initiative, and voluntarily fund an organisation which can focus on the large untapped market with a clear message promoting responsible consumption.
The alternative is a regime that will cause aggregate decline in consumption, while doing little or nothing to reduce alcohol abuse, the admitted expectation of the proposed ban on alcohol advertising.
*The White Wine Ou writes regularly for a number of well-known South African publications on topics that range from food and wine to politics and the environment. Recognising the freedom he has at The Month to speak his mind, he intends to do just that. We’ve agreed to allow him to use a nom de plume as occasionally his comments may well cause some to reach for the shotgun…
According to the SA Wine Industry Directory 2011/12, we exported 378 549 900 litres (of a total 780 700 000 produced) of wine in 2010, contributing R26 498 493 to WOSA’s coffers. That’s a tidy sum of money in anybody’s language.
Opinion is divided on just how efficacious WOSA is in
promoting wine exports. There is a faction which belittles virtually everything that WOSA does, suggesting that the payoff to exporters does not justify the levy paid. There are those who believe the opposite: that WOSA has done much to increase our export market penetration in key markets like the EU, America, Russia and increasingly African markets like Angola and Nigeria. Trouble is, it is very difficult to say with any certitude, what impact a particular action taken by WOSA has had on wine exports.
Why? Because not all export promotional initiatives are executed by WOSA. Producers large and small send winemakers, marketers and brand ambassadors to many of our key markets every year, where they spend money, time and shoe leather in promoting their various offerings. Such focussed initiatives are arguably more effective at creating producer-specific (and therefore more measurable) demand than WOSA’s more shotgun-style approach (no disrespect intended).
Whichever side of the WOSA fence you may find yourself on, it remains that a funded organisation that exists to promote South African wines abroad. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of an inward-focussed organisation, similarly funded, which could do much to promote wine consumption in South Africa. “Is it necessary?” you may ask.
Yes it is! Per capita consumption of alcohol (in litres) has declined from 2001 to 2010 for most sectors of the local liquor market. The actual market shares over the decade deserve further scrutiny: Alcoholic fruit beverages (3.3 to 6.2), whisky (2.8 to 5.1) and sparkling wine (0.2 to 0.4) shares have all but doubled, with beer (42.4 to 46.1), brandy (5.9 to 6.1) and fortified wine (1.9 to 2.4) showing more modest gains. Shares of traditional African beer (24.6 to 16.6), natural wine (14.0 to 12.6) and other spirits (4.9 to 4.5) have all declined.
Clearly the wine industry has suffered locally, experiencing declining per capita consumption, as well loss of market share.
This is even more telling when one considers that in 1994 there were around 350 000 ‘middle class’ families in the country, and that there are now an estimated 3.8 million; the bulk of which do NOT drink wine.
The bleat that an internally focussed WOSA equivalent would not get off the ground because of powerful corporate wine interests (that would see it as a threat to their market dominance) is so much hooey, that it should be summarily dismissed. The pending alcohol advertising ban makes it obvious that the battle lines have clearly been drawn between government and the liquor industry, so now is the time for that industry to take the initiative, and voluntarily fund an organisation which can focus on the large untapped market with a clear message promoting responsible consumption.
The alternative is a regime that will cause aggregate decline in consumption, while doing little or nothing to reduce alcohol abuse, the admitted expectation of the proposed ban on alcohol advertising.
*The White Wine Ou writes regularly for a number of well-known South African publications on topics that range from food and wine to politics and the environment. Recognising the freedom he has at The Month to speak his mind, he intends to do just that. We’ve agreed to allow him to use a nom de plume as occasionally his comments may well cause some to reach for the shotgun…
