“Get thee to a nunnery” they ordered, so I’ve ended up here in a 13th century convent in Beja. I must have been a contemplative order, as to stop the nuns accessing the internet, they made the walls extra thick. So although they happily sell you internet access (€28 for 7 days), when you phone reception to complain that it doesn’t work, they tell you it’s because the walls are too thick. Only in Portugal, or am I being thick?

I spoke at a wine tourism conference on Monday called Conferência Internacional: Alentejo das Gastronomias Mediterrânicas on the prickly subject of wine tourism in SA. My Power Point without pictures is below, but I wondered what is it about wine tourism that geography, normally essential to successful tourism, is so sadly lacking?

The WOSA video on SA wine I downloaded from their site starts off with a portentous voice noting that two mighty oceans meet at Cape Point while claiming Portugal has a Mediterranean diet, as two sessions at the conference discussed at length, was mostly taken up with Portuguese panelists noting that their cold Atlantic fish is far superior to the hotter Mediterranean varieties and Portugal of course has an exclusively Atlantic coastline. Or as a Portuguese Count told me yesterday “we are not a southern European country. We are a North African country.” Let’s hope WOSA spend a little of their millions fixing their video in time for next year’s wine tourism extravaganza. But then they were one of my weaknesses of SA wine/wine tourism in my SWOT analysis.

SA Wine and Wine Tourism: a SWOT analysis

Strengths:
1. An industry which is 352 years old, rich in tradition and history with iconic architecture and iconic brands like Vin de Constance

2. Major African wine producer with respected training institutes

3. Old vine Pinotage and Chenin Blanc

4. Major personal investment from international figures like Laurence Graff, May de Lencquesaing, Donald Hess, Rothschild family, Charles “Screaming Eagle” Banks, Zdenek Bakala and Charles Harman

5. Wine appellations all contiguous (with the exception of the Orange River) and thus easily accessible; “the most beautiful in the world”; excellent tourist infrastructure; same time zone as Europe

Weaknesses:
1. Wine remains stubbornly white in both production and consumption as emphasized by the recent Human Rights Watch slave scandal

2. Anti-alcohol stance of government (zero drink for drivers, no alcohol advertizing), huge alcohol problems among farm workers but ironically low per capita consumption – below 7l pa

3. Weak industry bodies (Wine Council, WOSA, SAWIT) with minimal government support

4. Historical negative perceptions; failure to surf the organic/biodynamic wave; weak price points in UK supermarkets

5. Collapse of local winepress

Opportunities:
1. Domestic market largely untapped

2. African market beckons

3. SA #1 tourist destination for China, member of the BRICS economic alignment

4. Sexy winemakers and new appellations

5. Sparkling and Port-style wines show promise, opportunities for new varietals and rediscovering old favourites: Arinto, Alvarinho, Grenache and Cinsault

Threats:
1. Climate change

2. Rise of Puritanism and teetotalism in particular

3. Global economy and an uncompetitive exchange rate

4. Urban sprawl makes some prime vineyard sites too expensive to grow grapes

5. Talk of nationalization of farms, priorities of a third world economy; large-scale emigration of traditional wine drinkers (1 million in the last decade)