Richer African countries drink mainly beer; Spanish and French-colonised countries, wine. Those countries that do ‘hard drinks’ tend to be coastal.

SOUTH African wine producers are looking to the African market to pick up sales after a sluggish year, and Angola and Nigeria are firmly in their sights.

The producers are doubling efforts to cater for Angolans’ thirst for sparkling wine and Nigerian demand for bottles of red, according to the country’s leading trade body for the industry.

The aim is to more than double annual sales growth to 5% in Nigeria, boosting profits from Africa’s largest economy, said Matome Mbatha of Wines of South Africa, in an interview in Cape Town on Thursday.

Exports of mostly red wine to Nigeria nation stand at 4.5 million litres (1.19 million gallons) a year, while Angola buys 6 million litres, of which 5 million litres are bubbly wine, mostly shipments of J.C. Le Roux, a low-cost sparkling wine that in South Africa can retail for less than $4 a bottle, Mbatha said.

“They are crazy about J.C. Le Roux in Angola, it is the biggest mover in the market,” Mbatha said.

“In Nigeria, they really like to consume red wine there, as much as it’s hot, they love your Pinotage, your Merlot.”

South African wine exports declined to 422.7 million litres last year from 525.6 million liters in 2013, according to the Wines of South Africa’s website.