I knew that it would happen, but writing my last blog for the year, I can’t believe how quickly 2013 has gone by. It seems hard to believe that this year had the same number of days and weeks and months than when I was a child and when it seemed a year would never end and the summer holidays would never start. Browsing through my blog posts, I realise however that our year was not short at all – it was just busy and filled with many interesting things!

Herewith some highlights and reflections on the topics we discussed in 2013.

With our vested interest in the Chinese wine market, China, its economy and culture has been a popular topic. In my opinion the top story of the year was China’s first investment in the SA wine industry and looking at all the online conversations and traditional media exposure, it should be at the top of the list.

“Perfect China, the 51% shareholding partner in Perfect Wines of South Africa has purchased the wine cellar at well-known Val de Vie estate in the heart of the Winelands, between Paarl and Franschhoek. The purchase also includes a 25 ha wine farm with 21 ha of vineyards and the historic manor house dating back to 1783.”

We also discussed consumption patterns in China, the importance of the Chinese holidays and festivals, and shared some highlights of the incentive visit of 750 of our Chinese guests to Cape Town.

I shared my presentation on how we can cross the cultural divide between the West and China in order to stimulate wine sales and we had a look at the new generation of Chinese wine drinkers.

Finally we discussed the role Brics has to play in trade between South Africa and China. 

 

Wine tourism is such an important contributor to the economy of the Western Cape and of course also a subject close to my heart.

During the year we celebrated La Motte being the winner of the Great Wine Capitals of the World’s Best of Wine Tourism competition for the second consecutive year, we had a look at why it is the responsibility of the wine industry to look after wine tourism and we discussed the importance of the Chinese tourist to the Western Cape.

We also had a look of what wine estates globally have to offer when it comes to wine tourism  and made a few suggestions for things to do in the Cape Winelands this summer.

 

Of course my first love is wine – and without wine we would not have been working so hard in China nor had such a lot to say about wine tourism. Some of our wine blogs for 2013 touched on trends – how global wine consumption trends might not be what you would think, as well as some key learnings and trends forecasted for 2014.

We then had a look at whether it is worthwhile to invest in wine, how to mature wine, whether Sauvignon Blanc can survive cellaring and the growing popularity of sweeter wines.

South Africa is a leader in the field of traceability when it comes to wine certification and we discussed why this is important.

We looked at old world and new world examples of successful wine brands and got worked up over mark-ups.

And where there is wine, there is food, so I touched on the importance of food and wine matching and  shared my thoughts on why restaurants in the Winelands are so highly rated.

 

Celebrating my birthday sparked thoughts on how generations differ and of course how we therefore have to market wine to them in different ways. We looked at how the Baby Boomers changed from rock and roll to wine culture, how the X Generation was missed by wine marketers globally and looked at the Millennials’ search for sophistication.

 

The world is such a wonderful place filled with many things to be passionate about. For me that includes sustainability and organic farming  and we touched on why they should be high on our list of priorities. 

 

 

And then there is the ever-changing face of communication. I looked at how to effectively communicate in today’s world of constant communication  and I concluded  that even in this online world, old-school word-of-mouth communication is just as important as it has always been.

 

One of my favourite blogs was a listing of the world’s most famous brands, logos and slogans  http://www.heinonwine.com/blog/2013/06/famous-brands-logos-and-slogans.html  but in total the blogs really reflect on a jam-packed year.

 

While we are excited about the challenges and opportunities waiting in 2014, let’s not forget how we have been blessed in 2013. Enjoy the last few days of the year and if you want to celebrate, why not use my recipe for the braai?!