Buy Fundi Wines in support of 2010 - FEDHASA Cape

Cape Town - The Fundi wine initiative by Wines of South Africa (WOSA) deserves the full support of the hospitality industry, says FEDHASA Cape chairman, Phillip Couvaras.  The fund-raising initiative is a great opportunity for staff to be trained as wine stewards before the 2010 World Cup.

  The profits from this fundraising initiative, with the appropriate brand-name FUNDI (isiZulu for Learner), will be used to train 2000 wine waiters for 2010.  To achieve this goal, the wine industry needs to raise R4, 5 million.

  To produce a top-quality wine, the whole industry was invited to submit wine samples and the six winners were selected blind by the members of the Cape Winemakers Guild. The result is a fabulous top-calibre red wine.

  The bottle label features a sunflower as a symbol of hope and African sunshine. The FEDHASA logo on the back of the bottle demonstrates the support of the hospitality industry.  Each bottle has a beaded wine glass marker, produced by informal roadside beaders. Suppliers to the industry have sponsored or subsidized everything from dry goods to legal work, bottling and publicity.

  A total of 17 500 six-bottle cases need to be sold to raise the needed funds. About 20% of the wine will be exported, as international markets have expressed huge interest in what is a world first.  FUNDI sells to the trade at R85 + VAT, retail trade is selling the wine at R120 per bottle, and licensed outlets at R150 per bottle. FUNDI are distributed by Vinimark.

  For every ten 6-bottle cases bought by a FEDHASA member, a staff member can be nominated to receive free training.  Training will take place in major centres throughout South Africa and has already begun in the Cape Winelands. Tent cards and menu inserts are available from Vinimark.

  The training initiative is being run by a section 21 company, WOSA Laduma (isiZulu for Goal).  The directors are Dr Paul Cluver,  WOSA chairperson, Su Birch and Dalene Steyn, also of WOSA; Tim Rands, MD of Vinimark;  Joachim Sa of Amorim Cork in South Africa; Michael Lutzeyer, owner of Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, and Mohammed Valli Moosa, former Minister of Environment and Tourism Affairs.