Wineblog

Wosa's pioneer for Africa, Matome Mbatha

Identify emerging markets, offer them quality products and then grow with them. This is Wines of South Africa’s strategy to tackle the world’s most neglected wine market – Africa.

Next weekend marks the start of this new drive to increase South Africa’s market share in the rest of Africa, with 26 wineries presenting their wines at the very chic Talatona Convention Hotel, Luanda, Angola.

Wosa held a workshop in Stellenbosch in September 2010, to inform producers about the tasting in Angola, where after wineries had to secure a spot on a first-come-first-serve basis.

“As in the case of traditional wine markets like Germany and the UK, Africa requires long term, visionary strategic planning and investment. We need to go in there now and conquer these markets – only then will South Africa properly reap the rewards as the middle class and disposable incomes of these emerging countries grow,” explains Wosa’s Matome Mbatha, who is spearheading the campaign.

Wosa acquired market information about the top African economies through market research company, Brand Advance. Angola, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon have been identified as the four countries with the greatest potential through this report.

Angola is, however, not only the closest of the Top 4, but also the most lucrative, with huge bulk exports recently also causing an industry stir.

Matome returned from this oil-rich country the day before meeting with WineLand, at the end of 2010 and was ecstatic about the visible growth and capital spending, particularly in the capital city, Luanda.

“Compared to most African cities, the infrastructure in the city is impeccable. There is a lot of foreign investment and most of the roads are brand new. The construction boom in the city only started after the civil war and the infrastructure was only established within the last half-decade.”

He explains that Angolans have been drinking wine for decades, but that they have only been exposed to bottom-end bulk wine – particularly from Portugal. “The challenge in Angola is not necessarily to get the people to drink wine, it is to encourage the shift from bulk to bottle and in that case, to assure that the quality wine is South African.”

The guest list for the Wines of South Africa Grand Tasting includes trade, restaurateurs, politicians and media. Or as Matome puts it, “The who’s who will be there.”