A new association to promote South African quality wines
South Africa is probably most famous for its wines in the entry and middle price segment, often with “plenty of wine for the money”-aspects. Now a new association called Premium Independent Wineries of South Africa (PIWOSA) wants to make the world aware of their top class wines too.
PIWOSA is a new marketing organization for South African wine producers. Currently it has fifteen members, associated wineries. It started operations in January this year and in the first phase it will focus on marketing in the U.S. & Canada as well as in Scandinavia and the UK, some of South Africa’s most important markets.
There is a huge difference between the South African wines that are mass produced and often found at low prices in bag-in-box (“cask”, on tap…) and the wines produced by quality-conscious and ambitious producers. This is something that you will realize very quickly when you travel around the South African wine regions. Unfortunately, this type of producers often have a difficult time to reach out to consumers, perhaps not least because they are often smaller family firms with very limited marketing budget. In that situation it may be a wise move to join forces and work together, as in PIWOSA, rather than seeing themselves as competitors!
One of the first initiatives that PIWOSA will do is to participate in a two day wine event in London on 12 and 13 September: a tasting called The Beautiful South.
They will also organize other events in Scandinavia and in the UK for press and professionals, as well as for wine consumers. Currently we do not have any details of this though.
The first fifteen members of PIWOSA are:
- Ataraxia Wines, Hemel‐en‐Aarde Ridge www.ataraxiawines.com
- Beaumont Wines, Bot River www.beaumont.co.za
- Cederberg Cellar, Clanwilliam www.cederbergwine.com
- The Drift Farm, Overberg Highlands, www.thedrift.co.za
- Glenelly Estate, Stellenbosch www.glenellyestate.com
- Jordan Wine Estate, Stellenbosch www.jordanwines.com
- Journeys End, Schapenberg www.journeysend.co.za
- Ken Forrester Vineyards, Stellenbosch www.kenforresterwines.com
- Mulderbosch Vineyards, Stellenbosch www.mulderbosch.co.za
- Mullineux Family Wines, Swartland www.mullineuxwines.com
- Newton Johnson Wines, Upper Hemel‐en‐Aarde Valley www.newtonjohnson.com
- Paul Cluver Wines, Elgin www.cluver.com
- Raats Family Wines, Stellenbosch www.raats.co.za
- Shannon Vineyards, Elgin www.shannonwines.com
- The Winery of Good Hope, Stellenbosch www.thewineryofgoodhope.com
PIWOSA was founded with the support of in collaboration with (*) WOSA (Wines of South Africa), WIETA (Wine Industry Ethical Trade Association) and IPW (Integrated Production of Wine).
More information on PIWOSA: www.piwosa.com.
We wish PIWOSA and the wineries best of luck!
(*) Both WOSA and PIWOSA seem keen on emphasising that there is not a “collaboration” between them, but that WOSA “supports” PIWOSA. OK, so we clarify that now.
[box type=”info”]If you are really interested in discovering some of the high quality wine producers in South Africa then you can join us on a wine tour to the wine regions of SA![/box]
