Tag: Wines

SA’s wine maker Nederburg hands over its cellar’s keys to Samuel Viljoen

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SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa’s leading and most celebrated wineries, Nederburg has announced the appointment of Samuel Viljoen as its new cellar-master. The seasoned wine maker takes over the reins from Lizelle Gerber, who has left to pursue other interests. In his new role, Viljoen will oversees the production of the Paarl cellar’s multi-tiered range, distributed across more than 80 countries worldwide. Prior to the appointment, he was a fully-fledged winemaker at the company and has been part of the legendary winery boosting of over 200 years of existence, since…

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Rwanda launches new banana alcoholic beverages produced in recently opened US$1.2m factory

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RWANDA – Rwanda has commenced operations at its Rwf1.2 billion (US$1.2m), Rwamagana Banana Community Processing Centre, producing banana alcoholic beverages. The factory which set turbines of its machines rolling in the beginning of April, has a production capacity of 28,000 litres per day i.e., 3,500 crates. According to reports by The New Times Rwanda, construction works for the facility started in 2016, but stalled for years. The center was fully constructed and equipped in January 2019 with production starting in 2020. However, they were again met with slight set-back of…

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Wine, Baked foods, Coffee among foods with greatest post-pandemic staying power- Numerator

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GLOBAL – The coronavirus pandemic undoubtedly changed food consumption habits in the U.S. for the better part of the past year. There was more at-home consumption than had been seen in decades prior to the pandemic while many consumers increased their intake of healthy and functional foods in an attempt to boost their immunities. There was also a significant shift towards legacy brands that evoked a sense of nostalgia and familiarity during very uncertain and unfamiliar times. How many of those trends have become permanently ingrained in the daily consumption…

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Shoprite collaborates with South African wine farmers to launch new private label wine brand, rescuing ailing industry

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SOUTH AFRICA – Leading African retailer, Shoprite has once again come to the rescue of South Africa’s wine industry with the introduction of a new exclusive private label wine brand known as Elephant’s Cousin. The new wines with unique flavour profiles and easy drinkability i.e., a sauvignon blanc, merlot and shiraz, will be widely available in Shoprites and Checker’s LiquorShops. Much like the supermarket’s popular Odd Bins range, the exact origin of the wine is kept secret to ensure it remains both affordable and accessible. Shoprite has indicated that the…

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SA wine industry lobby organization Vinpro heads to court to fight booze ban

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SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa’s Wine body, Vinpro has launched a court action to lift liquor ban in the country’s wine-making hub, Western Cape, citing that the region’s Covid-19 numbers are currently “dropping fast”. “Vinpro is relieved that the numbers of new infections, active cases and hospital admissions are now dropping fast across the country, but particularly in the Western Cape. In these circumstances, the liquor ban is simply no longer justified in the Western Cape,” the organisation said in its latest statement. The non-profit body representing South African wine…

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South Africa’s wine exports register 7.7% growth in earnings despite COVID-19 disruptions

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SOUTH AFRICA – Wine exports from South Africa reached 319.2 million litres in 2020 earning the country R9.1 billion (US$613.9m), a remarkable rise of 7.7% in value when put in consideration the COVID-19 travel restrictions and the five weeks ban on sale and transportation of all alcohol products in the country. According to a report by trade group, Wines of South Africa (WoSA), the rise comes on the back of good weather conditions which led to vineyards bouncing back from the crippling drought experienced in the country from 2015 to…

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Pick n Pay steps in to rescue South Africa’s wine industry currently on its knees

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SOUTH AFRICA – South African retailer Pick n Pay has announced its commitment to purchasing 25 million bottles of wine in 2021 to support the local wine industry. This comes after the industry body Vinpro reported that the local wine industry has lost more than R7 billion (US$480m) in revenue following the ban on alcohol sales. The industry faces an unprecedented cash shortage and stock surpluses, as over 300 million litres of unsold wine languishes in warehouses and cellars. This is almost a year’s worth of wine sales. “There were…

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Australian wine industry targeted by China in diplomatic spat, slapped with tariffs of up to 200%

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CHINA – A cloud of anxiety has covered the skies of Australia’s wine industry after Chinese authorities moved with speed to impose preliminary anti-dumping measures on wine imports from Australia including tariffs up to 200%. China made the announcement through its Ministry of Commerce in late November with the tarrifs which range from 107.1% to 212.1% coming becoming effective immediately. The move comes after China launched an anti-dumping probe into Australian wine imports back in August and a build-up of tension between the two countries over commodities trade. Despite calling…

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South Africa wine industry gets green light to export during lockdown

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SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa’s wine industry has received green light to export its products during the lockdown period following “intensive lobbying” by a task team of exporters. Last week the industry’s exporter task team submitted plans to the government urging a lifting of the effective export ban at least by April 17 when the current lockdown was initially slated to end. The new changes in regulations have been signed off by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula and published in the Government Gazette on 7 April. As reported by Fin24, the…

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Distell to consolidate core wine brands, offload some assets to balance books

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SOUTH AFRICA – Distell has announced that it will consolidate its core wine brands and capabilities to focus on growth in mainstream and accessible premium segments and offload its struggling wine farms in a bid to improve financial performance. The company is one of Africa’s leading producers of spirits, wines, ciders and “ready-to-drinks” (RTDs) as well as the world’s second-biggest producer of ciders. Some of its top brands include Amarula, Hunter’s, Savanna, 4th Street, Klipdrift, Nederburg, Richelieu, Viceroy, and J.C. Le Roux. In the six months ended December 31 2019,…

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