Good marketing as vital as good product, wine exporters advised

RAY SMUTS SA WINE producers must apply the same “intellectual rigour” to marketing as producing the product, says Richard Halstead, MD of Wine Intelligence. In Cape Town for the recent Cape Wine 2004 exposition, Halstead told delegates that in the mould of Nike and BMW, wineries needed to create a great product and a great brand. Halstead says South Africa and Chile have been the two main benefactors across all sectors of increased wine sales in the UK during 2003 while it appears Germany and Portugal may have been on the losing end. Matthew Jukes, one of the UK’s most influential wine writers, says the South African wine industry is the fastest growing in the world, but in order to ensure future growth, producers must focus on cultivating relationships with buyers rather than spending millions on marketing.