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Furnishings & DecorSouth Africa produces a wide spectrum of wines, most of them very good. We asked Miguel Chan, sommelier for Southern Sun Deluxe Hotels, to give us his tips on what to buy for your Football World Cup customers, and why.
Promote what we do well
Use this as an opportunity to promote wines that South Africa does well. When Germany hosted the previous World Cup four years ago, little other white wine was served other than what Germany does best, a dry Riesling. Statistics show that it helped put dry Riesling on the map, and the positive trend in sales continues to this day. Similarly, as far as white wines are concerned, South Africa produces some excellent chenin blanc and sauvignon blanc and among red wines, shiraz and red blends.
Keep it simple
Chan recommends that you don’t try and offer as many styles and cultivars of wine as you can. To the uninitiated who don’t know South African wines, this is confusing. Sales will also be volume driven, so stick to one or two styles and cultivars, for example chenin blanc for white and shiraz for red and make sure that you can procure sufficient quantities to keep the wine flowing.
Go for wine related to a specific region
For example, wine of origin Stellenbosch or Elgin - places you can actually point to on a map and that people can thus identify. These are more easily explained than broad non-descript terms like ‘Wine of Origin Coastal Region’, which refers to a blend of wines from several regions. With well informed wine service staff, this information could not only help drive sales but contribute to overall satisfying experience of the visiting wine drinking public.
Seek out value for money wines
Being site specific does not automatically mean that a wine is going to be more expensive. There are many regions that make excellent value for money wines - my advice is that you pick up the Platter guide and find all chenin blanc, for example, listed at between 3 and 3 ½ stars, then find those that wholesale from R20-R25 per bottle. This way, you can serve regionally specific wine and still get a good return on each glass.
Get off the beaten track
The upshot of finding your own supplies like this means that you will have to forgo reliance on big wine distributors to compose your wine list for you - you will have to make a small effort to find suitable wines yourself . Areas such as Worcester, Wellington, Tulbagh, Paarl and Robertson house little known value for money gems and are a good place to start - and finish - your search.
Stick with unwooded white wines
Unwooded white wines, like chenin blanc, sauvignon blanc, unwooded chardonnay and viognier are cheaper than wooded white wines.
Stock dry Rosé
There will be many European visitors to South Africa whose casual wine of choice is what they are used to drinking at home - dry rosé. When I say dry, I mean not sweet or even semi-sweet as this is not a style of wine that Europeans will be able to relate to. Stocking some cold, dry rosé could do a lot to keep your foreign customers happy and boost your sales.
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