By Sue Segar
South Africa Wine, the new central body set up three months ago to advocate for South Africa’s multibillion-rand wine industry, is up and running and making good progress in ensuring the industry speaks with one voice.
South Africa Wine’s CEO Rico Basson said a key overall focus of the body is to create “a more profitable environment” for the wine industry. The body was set up on 1 July this year as an umbrella body to represent producer and trade interests, and to address fragmentation in the industry. There have historically been a range of industry organisations, including Vinpro, SA Wine Industry Information and Systems (SAWIS), Winetech (the research and technology transfer agency), Wines of South Africa, (the export organisation) and the SA Wine Industry Transformation Unit.
Basson said a key focus of the new structure is to build a strategy for the industry in a climate of decreased profitability in wine. The body will also emphasise transformation in the industry, people development and world-class research.
“We started a comprehensive strategic review during COVID when the industry faced alcohol bans and serious economic challenges and were clear on what we wanted to fix. We wrote a plan and decided the best way to execute it was to create a new structure, which is accountable to the membership. The different organisations were dissolved into South Africa Wine, but WoSA remains separate due to their export focus,” he said, adding that SAWIS also remains separate.
“In essence, we set some clear objectives for South Africa Wine, besides creating a single voice for the industry.”
Since its establishment, Basson said, South Africa Wine has initiated “a lot of its strategic work”. “As with any new entity which has consolidated several organisations, we need to focus on the people and on getting systems and operations in place which includes the recent sign-off on a blockchain project, a new systemic way of looking at the trade.
“An assessment of several alternate energy projects has been done, as well as some automation options, and there’s a huge focus on people development in particular. Our industry is looking at huge innovations in the packaging of wines – such as wine in a can or a box– as sustainability becomes increasingly important,” Basson said.
Another key trend in the industry in which South Africa Wine is involved is to ensure full end-to-end traceability and authenticity of wines. “This will be compulsory for our wines going to Europe from 9 December. Those systems are in place and smart tech is used to enable consumers to access information.
“As an industry, our systems are really world-class. From a South African perspective, we lead the world in our ability to guarantee the wine, its origin, and its quality. This stands us in good stead when we need to implement innovations such as nutritional labelling.”
