A NEW record price for a South African wine and a steep increase in prices marked the 36th Nederburg Auction, held in Paarl on 3 and 4 September. Overall income jumped to R5,68 million, up 41% from the just over R4 million fetched last year.
The highlight of the Auction was the record R62 000 paid for a single case of 6 x 750 ml bottles of Nederburg Port 1964 (R10 333 per bottle).
The special case of Port was bought by Nigerian businessman and importer of wine, Obi Josephat Ndibe - he indicated it is for his uncle’s 75th birthday. This is the only port ever made at Nederburg by its legendary wine- maker Günter Brözel, who retired in 1989.
According to auction organisers, the healthy increase in overall prices is a correction in the market place after prices dropped over the past two years.
MD of Distell, Jan Scannell, expressed his satisfaction with the results of the auction, highlighting the fact that there is a more positive atmosphere in the retail trade. He expected an improvement, but was surprised by the results that were achieved.
Four South African supermarket groups have dominated the portfolio of buyers across the top ten category, taking 36% of the sales directly to the consumers.
The combined purchases of the Spar Group place them into the overall first position, like last year, with total purchases of R830 940, followed by Checkers with R556 210, Makro with R511 880 and Pick n Pay with R160 500.
They were joined by Tesco from the UK this year that ended as the third biggest buyer with R522 000.
Foreign buyers from 17 countries were responsible for 30% of total sales. Top purchases came from the United Kingdom, India, Denmark, and Nigeria.
Carina Gous, Distell’s Business Director of Wines, said that the stringent selection of rare wines, the right buyers, the streamlined business format and the new international wine auctioneer Anthony Barne (MW) collectively contributed to the success of the Auction this year. Comparing average prices to last year, the nine-litre case price this year increased by 37% to R1 505, compared to R1 099 in 2009.
This year’s keynote speakers were Marie Nygren, Vice President and Director of Purchases and Supply Chain Management, and Sara Norell, Head of Purchasing in the Supply Chain Management division from Systembolaget AB, the Swedish retail Alcohol Monopoly.
They attributed the success of South African wine in the Swedish market to the full bodied wines produced here and the customer-driven focus of local producers. South Africa is the biggest wine importer in Sweden.
