US merger could boost local wines
2007-02-15
LOCAL wine company Cape Coastal Vintners is focusing strongly on exports.
Their import operation in the USA, known as South African Premium Wines, has joined forces with US distributor Hemingway and Hale.
SA Premium Wines imports wines from Cape Coastal Vintners, Westcorp, Swartland and a number of selected smaller producers.
Brands from these companies include household names such as Matuba, Jabulani, Goiya, Serengeti, Indalo, Cape Collection and Rain Dance.
Hemingway and Hale is a leading importer of new world wine into the USA, currently representing 22 brands from four countries: South Africa, Chile, Argentina and Australia.
The quality and positioning of the portfolio ranges from heavily branded, premium wines to boutique, ultra-premium selections.
The merger effectively provides the newly formed company with preferential access to more than 30% of South Africa’s available bottled-wine production and a strategic expansion into all new world wine categories to better serve the needs of its distribution and retail partners.
As a result, the merged entity will retain the name Hemingway and Hale.
The CEO’s of the merged companies, Cedric Nieuwoudt and Norman Celliers, believe that long-term success in the wine industry depends entirely on the strength and reliability of strategic relationships in all tiers of the supply chain.
For this reason they have left no stone unturned in their efforts to partner with leading, world-class suppliers in each of the countries they represent.
Through these strategic partnerships, Hemingway and Hale has guaranteed the quality and quantity of wine needed to grow business to more than 1 million cases per year in the short term.
* Cape Coastal Vintners is a marketing company separate from local wineries Boland, Bovlei, Wellington and Wamakersvallei, which are shareholders, but had no part in the decision to erect the controversial Matuba billboard outside Paarl.
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