Sell personalities, not wine
A defining feature of the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show is the involvement of the international tasters. Each class of wine is reviewed by a three-person panel, one member of which is the foreign judge, thus bringing broader perspective to bear. But having these widely recognised personalities from the world of wine here has other value, in the sense that a deep and meaningful dialogue between them and their local counterparts is facilitated during the three or four days of judging.
This year the international tasters were Thierry Desseauve, a founding partner of La Revue du Vin de France, Neal Martin, critic-at-large for eRobertParker.com and Debra Meiburg MW, founder of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Wine & Spirit Competition, and there was extraordinary convergence regarding one particular aspect of each of their observations, namely that South Africa finally has world class wine but is failing to communicate this effectively.
Martin: “After this visit, I realise that South Africa has much better wines on offer [than I presumed]. But if you want to succeed on a world stage, you’ve got to get your top stuff to the right people and you’ve got to be seen in the right context.” For him, this means targeting sommeliers to ensure that local wines appear on the wine lists of fine-dining restaurants as well as aiming for listings in “good” supermarkets (the more upmarket Waitrose as opposed to Tesco in the case of the UK).
Asked which local wineries he regards most highly, he admits to having only a vague sense of the local wine scene. For instance, he appreciates that Eben Sadie of Columella fame has something of a “name” but says he has “no real fix” on his wines. “From everything I hear, Sadie, Adi Badenhorst and André van Rensburg [of Vergelegen] are real characters and you need to push these personalities. People buy stories”.
In a separate interview, Desseuave makes a very similar point: “The country, the people and some of the wines have a very strong personality and you need to show this beyond London. You need to show this to the rest of Europe, the US and the Far East”.
The observation is made by Desseuave that wine is not an industry that has sprung up just recently but has agricultural roots going back centuries and is thus similar to France in this respect. “This can be problematic in terms of achieving technical excellence but is good for diversity. There’s spirit and individuality in the winelands and this is most important for wine”.
Meiburg, who has spent some 23 years based in Hong Kong, points out that South African wine has such little presence in Asia to date that there are no preconceptions one way or the other. “South Africa is not perceived as a supplier of cheap wine [as it so often is elsewhere in the world] and the industry really should set about wooing the various Asian markets”.
“A more restrained style is what appeals and hence Asia is very European oriented – Bordeaux is what counts in particular. Big and blowsy won’t work but I think South Africa’s more elegant wines have a real opportunity,” she says.
Regarding social conventions, Meiburg relates that Asia is all about maintaining face and not looking foolish in a social setting. “Wine enthusiasts typically stick to a small number of brands that they can be confident about serving. They learn everything possible about their favourite properties so the trick is to get them here to experience the winelands firsthand”.
For more by Christian Eedes, visit www.whatIdranklastnight.co.za
