South Africa represents only 3% of the world’s total wine production. With half of its exports in bulk, this status quo is not sustainable. A shift from bulk to bottle will not only add value, but will lead to job creation, branding opportunities and a revival in the local packaging supply. 

In a new initiative by key members of the South African wine industry and their supply partners, plans are afoot to move large chunks of bulk exports to bottled exports. Origin Wine, one of its founding members, will be at the fore of creating value by bottling at the source.

“Bringing back bottling to South African shores should not be about the cost alone, even so, the cost dimension of it makes sense by itself,” explains Bernard Fontannaz of Origin Wine. “Bottling at origin, without play of words, allows the winemaker to have the last say and final control on what goes into the bottle and, thus, ensuring the full integrity of the wine. Furthermore, by reducing the handling of the wines, with less pumping and handling, the wine has less exposure to oxygen and therefore needs less sulphur dioxide, an important dimension for the final consumer. Less filtration also means less stripping of the wine thus more colour and a preservation of the original tannins resulting in a better preserved overall quality.”

Another important consideration is that the initiative could create much needed jobs. “Not only in the wine industry, but our suppliers will benefit from increased orders. Creating jobs and, linked social stability, should be our main goal and we need to communicate it to our customers as such. Through job creation, we can begin to uplift and educate our local communities. By supporting the initiative, we will contribute indirectly to fair wages, working conditions and the general wellbeing of workers. Making one change can make a big difference in our country as it encourages productivity and economic growth.”

A lot of thought went into this new industry initiative. As one of the biggest exporters of South African wines, creating the right environment for good business made sense. “Bottling at source makes sense on a whole lot of levels, and in the end all will benefit all from it.”

A social media presence under #creatingvalue@origin has been created where producers, customers and consumers will have an open platform to discuss how we can create value at the wine’s place of origin. According to Bernard, key industry figures from South Africa and abroad, have already agreed to drum up support for the project on social media in an effort to get consumers on board to the point where they will recognise and value if their wine is bottled at source. This initiative will be coordinated by Su Birch who will use her vast experience and knowledge to drive it.

“For too long we have left the space open for initiatives encouraging bulk wine and bottling abroad. We now ought to fight back and bring it back,” says Bernard. 

Tasked with new product development for glass, Kathleen Hogenhout from Nampak says she is very keen to see the roll-out of the plans that are being discussed at present. “We wholeheartedly support this initiative,” she said. “Nampak is a key supplier to the industry and we are very proud to be associated with a project that will allow us to work together to achieve something for the greater good.”

The South African wine industry is one of the most strictly regulated in the world, with an unique certification system, allowing a full traceability, symbolised by the use of the certification seals. These seals, beside their intrinsic value, should become a unique selling point, distinguishing in-between the wines bottled in the country versus wine bottled abroad” stated Neville Carew, CEO of Home of Origin Wine.

“We recently submitted a proposal to a large UK-based retailer to move some of their bottling to source, and our model clearly showed a significant cost saving for the retailer. At Origin we have gone through a lot of efforts to ensure our facility is fully accredited and certified to the highest level. Only by using our facility to its full capacity can we ensure ongoing job creation, which in turn supports our various education programmes,” Neville added. 

Pictures: Origin Wine