Is there a North/South divide in the SA wine world?

Monday, 22 September, 2014
Cathy Marston
According to Miguel Chan, group sommelier of Tsogo Sun Hotels, 50% of all money spent on wine throughout the entire group is spent within a 5km radius of Sandton.

Add in a few other key locations in Gauteng and the total spend rises to 72%. How much is spent on wine in the Western Cape hotels? Less than 10% overall. Wine retailer Michael Crossley from Reciprocal Wines suggests that most wineries derive 50% of their total income from sales in Gauteng – an unsurprising figure when brand strategist Jeremy Sampson estimates 60% of the entire country’s wealth is situated in and around Johannesburg.

So are wine farms paying enough attention to this market? Are they spending a disproportionate amount of time, energy and money on Western Cape and consequently not enough time and resources developing and exploiting the Gauteng market to its fullest extent? And if so, then the question has to be asked – why? I put these and other questions to a few key players in the Gauteng wine industry and received an overwhelming outpouring of (for the most part) frustration, dissatisfaction, disgruntlement and chagrin. 

Queen of the Gauteng retail-scene, Norman Goodfellows owner, Carrie Adams believes that a lot of wineries have got their focus wrong in the province. In her opinion “Wine is much more of a sociable, fun extension of the Jo’burger’s life and far less the political, vicious, competitive environment that the Cape has created around our much loved product.” She would like winemakers to “Come up, get into the stores, engage with the customers direct, stop worrying so much about restaurant listings (because Jhb restaurant owners couldn’t give a fig in the main and are only looking for a kick-back from the farm), and conduct fun, interactive tastings in stores that will remain in the heart and head of the drinker long after the stuffy, pompous wine dinner that cost a fortune. And will probably result in the customer marching out of the store in question with a trolley load of their product – which is exactly what we want!”

So why don’t more winemakers do as Carrie suggests? Michael Crossley says that customers spend R1.4million at WineX on Friday night alone, yet far too many winemakers have caught the early flight back to Cape Town and miss this opportunity to get their share. In his opinion, farms are content to leave sales to their reps as opposed to engaging with the customers themselves “If winemakers invested here (in Gauteng) what they do in foreign markets, and didn't presume the reps were the face of the brand, they would do well” and Jeff Lopes, sommelier and assistant F&B manager at The Michelangelo agrees, “A rep cannot build a sense of place, or tell how different blocks in the vineyard add a certain character to the wine. Winemaking is very personal, so as a somm I love hearing where the wines come from, because it helps when you are selling the wines and you hear these stories best from the men and women making the wine.”

When it comes to retailers and other decision-makers, Corlien Morris of Wine Concepts believes that many winemakers and wine farms are badly advised in their approach to the Johannesburg market. PR companies are in charge of a massive chunk of many wineries’ budgets yet she says that most of those dealing with wine are based in the Western Cape and have little or no understanding of the market and players in Johannesburg “The PR companies don’t know where to start when it comes to organising an event up north. Often it all seems a bit too expensive and difficult so they stick to the good old Cape. Apart from events, all the press drops with lovely samples of wine, chocolates, flowers, whatever are done in the Cape. I once questioned a farm about a press drop that was all over twitter in the Cape and the answer was that they cannot guarantee safe delivery in Joburg of the press drops. Really???!”

It’s not just Corlien who notes that the rise of social media is increasing awareness of what the Joburg market is missing out on. Interbrand’s Jeremy Sampson says that via Twitter he often sees events, launches and tastings taking place in the Western Cape which are not repeated up north. Debi van Flymen of Wine Cellar agrees “Customers are getting more savvy, watching social media and asking us why the wines we feature in a Joburg tasting are not the same as those in a Cape Town line-up; or why a particular event is only taking place in Cape Town. More of our customers are travelling to events in the Cape, for example, the recent Big Bottle Festival and upcoming Swartland Revolution.” Getting hold of the wines seen at these events is also a problem says Jeremy, with many of the best wines getting snapped up by the WPWB (Western Province Wine Brigade) before Gauteng gets a chance to place an order. 

From the outpouring of disgruntlement caused by my questions, it seems clear that there is a problem with how wine is presented and marketed outside the Western Cape. Sifting through the responses, here are 4 key things that people would like to see actioned.

1. Acknowledgement of the importance of the Gauteng market potential. Michael Fridjhon from Reciprocal Wines says “Gauteng is the biggest market in the world for Cape wine and should get proportionately more time than London, New York and the rest of SA put together.” Ignoring Gauteng in the past has created much bad blood and most of the key players in Gauteng feel frustrated, abandoned and disillusioned. So now there is a problem of perception to deal with there as well.

2. More effective use of retailers to deliver the message about wine, and more support for their efforts. Carrie Adams says “Discounts, promotions, discounts, promotions, discounts promotions – what more can I say – Johannesburg is driven by value and lekkerheid.”

3. More willingness from the winemakers to engage with both retailers and consumers in Gauteng. Debi van Flymen says “Let’s start with those who openly state how they HATE coming to Joburg! Just a heads up to those folks (won’t name and shame them, they know who they are), this is not a bright move. If you start a conversation saying how much you don’t enjoy being in Johannesburg, how do you expect to foster customer loyalty?”

4. Invest, invest, invest. Invest your time and do it continually – staff turnover in Gauteng is much higher than the Western Cape. Invest your minds – creativity is called for in the younger, faster, busier wine-buying crowd of Gauteng. If you are going to engage their interest, it won’t be with yet another boring, stuffy food and wine pairing dinner. Invest your marketing budgets wisely. Consider education-initiatives, consider who or what is the best means to convey your message to market and above all, consider where your income will be derived from and plan your budgets accordingly.

Of course, in the midst of all this doom and gloom, there are wine farms who have grasped the importance of Gauteng and who are working the market accordingly – much to their benefit. And on that note, I followed their example and headed off to Johannesburg to launch my new book “Love Your Wine” last week. Because by all accounts, the good people up north really do love their wine and if that’s so, then that’s where I’d like to be.