SA plans mega wine-tasting in UK

RAY SMUTS IT’S ANOTHER pioneering brainwave for the South Afican wine industry, already setting a steady pace for its competitors - a ‘Mega-Tasting’designed to lure the aficionados from far and wide. Breaking from the long-established tradition of hosting a national generic road show in all the major export markets, South Africa is consolidating all its resources normally directed at the British and European markets and putting them towards a single high-impact event, presented in exhibition format and for which it is possible to register on www.wosa.co.za. The event, aimed at the Pan European market, will be in the form of a ‘mega-tasting’ scheduled for October 11 and 12 in the trendy old Billingsgate venue fronting London’s Thames River. Last year, South Africa boasted a 10% value share of the UK’s off-trade sector, up from 6.3% in 2000. The country has also been making inroads into Britain’s on-trade segment where it acquired a 5.3% volume share of the market last year.