Disney World's wine market no Mickey Mouse story
Friday, 6 March, 2009
MediaVision Consultants
It may sound like a fairytale, but Oranjeriver Wine Cellars of the Northern
Cape recently hit the jackpot when its wines got listed at Disney World
in Orlando, Florida, one of the world's most famous tourist
attractions. Oranjeriver's range of Star Tree Wines, named after the
quiver tree that is one of the Northern Cape's enigmatic images, can
nowadays be found in a variety of restaurants and shops on the Disney
World premises.
According to Koos Visser, marketing manager of Oranjeriver Wine Cellars who recently returned from a trip to America, the presence of this wine at Disney World provides for big opportunities.
"It's a good market with thousands of people visiting the venue for daily entertainment and a general break-away from their daily lives. There visitors can enjoy our wines in the restaurants or buy them as souvenirs in the outlet stores," says Mr Visser. "We have seen that after visitors to Disney World were introduced to a certain product - like Oranjeriver Wines - the brand was imprinted in their minds. The product is then sought after and bought when the visitors return back to their homes."
Apart from Disney World, Oranjeriver's wines are found in several states on the East Coast of America, including North Virginia, Maryland and Delaware as well as the cities of Baltimore and Washington DC.
"In a year or two, America will be the world's biggest wine market. Therefore it's essential for any producer with export ambitions to be present in that market now," reckons Mr Visser. "You have to know what the average American wine consumer likes, which is a sweeter, fruity wine with a colourful and interesting label. They particularly like the un-wooded Chardonnay and the fruity Shiraz of the Northern Cape. The interest in the Star Tree range is, in fact, so big that we will soon expand it with a natural sweet wine and a sparkling wine."
According to Mr Visser, wine exporters to America must have the right representatives who continuously look for new markets and appeal to merchants to provide your wine. Once you are listed, it is imperative that you can supply enough stock. "Therefore Oranjeriver Wine Cellars has its own representative to work in that market 24 hours per day."
Presently Oranjeriver exports plans to export 11,000 cases of wine to America per year. "But seeing the high profile of the wine in a place like Disney World, we hope to increase that figure and continue supplying a growing amount of wine to the American market."