SA brandies target export markets

BRANDY IS not the preserve of the pale male,
as is generally thought, with more than three-quarters of the grape-distilled spirit
consumed by the black market.
An estimated 48.7m litres of brandy was sold
in South Africa and the BLNS countries (Botswana,
Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia) in the 12 months
to October last year, claiming some 40% of the total national spend on spirits, estimated by
Nielsens at R7.7 billion. Speaking ahead of South
Africa’s first ever brandy festival in Johannesburg in May, Caroline Snyman,
who heads Distell’s spirits division, said brandies had targeted virtually
exclusively the domestic market and neighbouring
countries. “But this is starting to change as
export demand rises,” she said.