SA wineries tourist market for restaurants and wine exports

Scenic winelands: Boschendal near Cape Town, one of South Africa’s leading estates. Picture: GALLO IMAGES

A busload of Swedes sweep into a 326-year-old South African wine farm for a wine-tasting visit that marries vineyard tourism with bottom-line marketing.

Sweden is now South Africa’s third largest buyer of wine, one of the countries the industry is courting to counter a tough export climate.

“At the moment it’s somewhat stable but you have to fight for every piece of pie out there. The market is tough – it’s not easy,” said Boschendal’s Jamiel Ryklief after welcoming the tourists to the stately estate.

First planted by 17th-century European settlers, South Africa’s vineyards add billions of rands to the economy and have made the country the world’s seventh-largest producer.

South Africa wasn’t allowed to sell its wine abroad during the international sanctions of the apartheid era, but now foreign sales make up 55% of production, which has tripled over the last decade.

But export volumes and earnings have slipped by about 4% since 2009, when overseas sales were valued at R7.7bn, said Wines of South Africa spokesperson André Morgenthal.

The blow has been cushioned by the stronger performance of more expensive bottled wines and more bulk wine sales to Britain, the biggest foreign buyer, as well as inroads into new markets like Sweden.

“We’ve seen some exciting export figures in the Nordic countries – we’re number one of the new world countries in Sweden by quite a huge chunk of volume market share,” said Morgenthal.

The industry is also wooing Asia, which currently accounts for a tiny fraction of exports.

“China is a small base, about five million litres, but there’s been something like 70% to 80% increase in exports there,” said Morgenthal, saying India was also being targeted.

“It’s a long-term project. The challenge there is to teach people to drink wine and to bring a culture of food and wine to them because they are not used to drinking alcoholic beverages with their meals.”

The growing popularity of South African wine has also driven a surge in top quality restaurants in the striking winelands – lying north-east of Cape Town and in the city’s suburbs.

Emerging as a foodie hot spot, the French-flavoured town of Franschhoek has Africa’s only entry on the latest annual S Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.

Local Reuben Riffel, who replaced British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay at the luxury One&Only hotel in Cape Town, sees himself as an example of the area’s wine and food explosion.

“The wine industry and the restaurant industry, that’s almost what Franschhoek is built on.

“It’s given a lot of opportunities to people,” said the top chef who went from working as a waiter to owning three restaurants. Wine tourism and exports are seen as hand-in-hand by the industry.

“It’s a great starting point. People can enjoy the product on the farm as well as market it at home,” said Ryklief. “It puts a face to the name – it’s not just a product, it’s a memory you are making.”