Winemakers On Fire, Issue #8

Good day, and a warm welcome!

Michael Fridjhon needs no introduction, and he always has a unique perspective. Michael suggests in a recent article on winemag.co.za that marketing apprehension (rather than quality) is what is holding back South African wine.

Here are a few key takeaways:

• South African wine is basking in the gratifying glow of international recognition.

• Then, following her trip to South Africa to judge at this year's Trophy Wine Show, Jancis Robinson published a series of articles covering places visited and offering an overall impression of the changes in the Cape wine scene over recent years.

• If, as Jancis says, "South African wine in general is a steal," then clearly, nearly thirty years into democracy, the Cape wine industry is missing a trick or two.

• We know there isn’t enough Kanonkop to go around, and it’s produced in vastly greater quantities than any of the wines of the Swartland Revolutionaries.

• In short, we are very good at selling wines we don't have.

• On paper, Cape wine has never been stronger; the weakest link is our fragile self-confidence.

You can read my take in Insights to Fuel Your Mind below.

Will AI revolutionise the art of winemaking?

AI is poised to revolutionise the wine industry, transforming the traditional methods of harvesting, fermentation, and ageing. By analysing vast amounts of data, AI can make more accurate predictions about the quality of a vintage, optimise grape cultivation, and create more complex and balanced wines.

AI can also improve the wine tasting experience for consumers by creating a "flavour profile" based on the chemical composition of a wine. Additionally, AI can streamline the supply chain and distribution process by analysing consumer preferences, allowing winemakers to allocate resources more effectively and target marketing efforts. This could lead to increased sales and a more efficient distribution process.

Despite the wine industry's traditional roots, embracing AI can lead to a brighter and more innovative future for winemakers and enthusiasts.

Read the story.

Just some general housekeeping: You've come to the wrong spot if you're seeking doom and gloom about everything that's happening. Here, we only offer upbeat assessments. Kevin Kelly summed it up perfectly: “The future will be shaped by optimists.”"

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This week we feature Alex Starey, Keermont’s passionate winemaker, plus we showcase Bravo Design’s modern take on the iconic Nederburg Wine Brand.  

Discover the Passion Behind Keermont Winery: An Interview with Winemaker Alex Starey

Keermont Vineyards is a boutique Wine Estate nestled between the Helderberg and Stellenbosch Mountain ranges. Keermont Vineyards grows all of the grapes used to make their wines.

The Wraith family, Keermont's owners, relocated from Gauteng to the Western Cape in 2001 and purchased two nearby farms in 2003, which became Keermont Vineyards.

The farm was redeveloped in 2005, and Alex Starey has been in charge of the vineyards and the creation of the Estates wines since then.

Alex Starey, Keermont's passionate winemaker for the past 18 years, is today’s guest.

Can you describe your winemaking philosophy?

I love the great outdoors. I get incredibly excited when I'm in a beautiful vineyard and see the views around it and the soil it is growing in. The combination of the farmer’s agricultural practices and the natural surroundings gives each vineyard its own unique character. My aim has always been to portray this character in the wine I make. I believe that low-intervention winemaking allows the character of the vineyard to come through in the wine. When you're working with an interesting vineyard, the wine will be just as interesting. So, wild yeast fermentation, minimal additions to the must, gentle elevage, handling, and bottling of the wine have become important to me.

You travelled to Chile and Spain to work harvests after earning your BSc in viticulture and oenology at Stellenbosch University. What experiences in Chile and Spain influenced your approach to viticulture and oenology?

These harvests were very early in my career, and so I was learning every day. Chile was a couple of months in a large cellar on a beautiful farm in Maipu. We harvested day and night, and I was put in charge of the night shift. I didn't speak a word of Spanish, so I had to learn quickly! It was a gruelling harvest, and the winemaking was very technical, so I learned a lot about fairly formulated ‘new world’ winemaking. At the time, Chile was very highly regarded for its viticulture, and that was the main reason for my wanting to go there. The farm was very well managed, and it was great to live among those vineyards for a couple of months.

Spain was quite different. I landed in Spain without a job and backpacked around looking for one until I just about ran out of money. Fortunately, I caught a lift with a guy who told me that they were starting to pick grapes for Cava in Penedes and he was heading that way. The next day I landed a job making base wine for Cava in Penedes, Catalunia. The work was very basic, but the money was good. The Catalan people were great with such a rich culture, and I worked with a super team.

While I was there, I visited the Priorat with Chris Mullinuex and a couple of other friends. We visited Eben Sadie to see his project there and a winery called Clos Erasmus where I tasted the best wine I had ever tasted! I decided to go back there the following year to work, and that really set me on the path that I am on now. At the time, there were a few producers in the Priorat who were really focusing on tiny plots of old vines and making incredible wines from each parcel. Small batch winemaking.

You are a member of the prestigious Cape Winemakers Guild, and all Keermont wines have received 4 1/2 stars from Platters. That’s next level. Do you make your wines to please the audience, or do you "do it for yourself" and then others say, "Wow?"

I have been incredibly fortunate to call Keermont home for almost my entire career so far. 18 years! The vineyards deliver vibrant and intense fruit. As you would have gathered from the first question, I just try to guide this fruit through the cellar and into the bottle. My winemaking has definitely been influenced by tasting great wines from around the world, and I try to stay in touch with what is trending in terms of styles, but you can't chase that too hard. I believe that if you keep changing your style to try to suit the audience, you won't develop a style of your own. People who like your wine will be put off if you change too much from year to year. I try to stick to my guns and hope like hell that people like it.

What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a winemaker?

Nowadays, a lot of winemakers are very involved with keeping the lights on in the business. The wine industry is a wonderful industry to be in, but it is competitive, and you have to work hard to sell your wine. I do enjoy it, but marketing and selling wine is probably the biggest challenge.

What do you enjoy most about being a winemaker?

My job has so many facets. I can be in the vineyard pruning in the morning, in the cellar tasting barrels in the afternoon, and in a top end restaurant presenting a wine dinner in the evening. The things you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel during a day like that are incredible. I enjoy the mental and sensorial stimulation.

Whom do you most admire in the world of South African wine, and why?

I am surrounded by such an amazing network of winemakers that it is hard to single out one. We are blessed with an industry full of characters and such nice people that you feel you can touch base with at any point. If I had to single out one winemaker I admire, it would probably be Eben Sadie. I believe he has had such a big influence on the South African wine landscape. He has created beautiful and iconic wines and a successful business. He started that without a Hectare of land to his name. Eben and a couple of others showed a way for a whole generation of young winemakers to create great wines and small businesses. I believe that this has really raised the bar in the South African wine landscape.

What will be your primary focus in the coming years, and do you have any exciting plans to share with us?

I have always aimed to create a solid foundation for Keermont. I would love to think of Keermont going on to be an internationally regarded estate in the years to come. This remains my focus. I would love to see a conversion to more organic viticulture at Keermont. But this is a big project that will require more focus.

Alex, thank you for taking us along on your incredible journey. We wish you and your team the very best in the future.

INSIGHTS TO FUEL YOUR MIND

Exploring some of the marketing challenges that wineries face in the wine industry.

The wine industry has been chastised for its marketing strategies, and there are several reasons why many wineries struggle to market their products:

• Cost: Because smaller wineries frequently produce their wines at a higher cost, it can be difficult for them to sell their wines at a price point that is appealing to younger consumers. Furthermore, the wine industry spends significantly less on advertising and promotion than other industries, such as beer and spirits.

• Target Audience: Historically, the wine industry has targeted a specific demographic, which can be seen as homogeneous and exclusionary. As a result, there is a lack of diversity in the industry, and many younger consumers believe that wine is not marketed to them.

• Expertise: Customers are frequently perceived by wine producers as having limited expertise and inconsistent, difficult-to-predict preferences. This can lead to a focus on pleasing industry experts rather than consumers, resulting in wines that are not appealing to a wider audience.

• Margins: The wine industry operates on thin margins and is vulnerable to weather changes, making it difficult to invest in marketing and advertising.

To address these concerns, some experts believe the wine industry should modify its marketing strategies to better target younger consumers. This could include making wines that are tailored to their budgets and preferences, as well as investing in targeted marketing campaigns.

In order to gain control over the stories that reach the public, wine producers may need to focus on developing relationships with industry movers and shakers.

Finally, to keep up with changing consumer preferences, the industry may need to embrace new formats and evolve its marketing strategies.

Celebrating Heritage: Bravo Design's Modern Take on the Iconic Nederburg Wine Brand

Bravo Design, founded in 2007 by Brenden Schwartz, is a specialist design studio in Cape Town, South Africa, with over 15 years of experience in packaging design. Every design challenge is a creative opportunity waiting to be unlocked for Bravo's creatives.

John Nicolson, Art Director at Bravo Design, shared some insights with us.

In your opinion, what makes good wine packaging?

Good wine packaging can be broken up into some core areas, on the physical packaging, you have glass (colour, shape, and quality), paper (there are countless options), and it is really important to choose the correct bottle and pair it with the best paper or label material to suit the design and to cover the technical requirements (for example, the print techniques used, or if the product needs refrigeration, ice bucket-safe paper and adhesive).

Then, on the visual and tactile design front, strong iconography is key to good packaging. There are a few aspects we consider: colour (is it a unique colour?) shape (is the shape ownable for the brand) or form (do we create a distinctive icon to use). Good wine packaging requires you to carefully choose every aspect of the design; otherwise, the brand will lack a clear message and become cluttered. Balance is key.

Tell us how you approach a new project?

We start by really delving into what the core message is, or what we want it to be. Storytelling is really important to us, and we need to find a story or brand language that the client and consumer can believe in.

Please share with us how you adapt your wine label designs to remain relevant and appealing to consumers?

We always keep up with the latest design trends. By doing this, we get to read between the lines about what consumers have seen and might be tired of. It allows us to come up with fresh ideas that suit specific markets or consumer groups. Some markets like to hold onto all things traditional in general, while others are very open to purchasing a wine that doesn’t typically suit the category. It’s about finding that balance.

THE NEDERBURG STORY

“Nederburg has gone through many changes over the years, both in positioning and identity, and some more dramatic than others. We wanted to maintain the leadership (position) of the brand in the wine category,” says Jackie Oliver, Marketing Manager at Nederburg. “We want the consumers to see a familiar wine brand, a brand that’s been within the South African industry for 200 years, a brand that has a story to tell, a brand that has equity. To retain the familiarity within the Nederburg brand, we had to look back at all the logos and how they’ve changed over the years. We had to try and find certain elements that bring across the symbolism of Nederburg and specifically its values.”

THE BRIEF

With this as background, the team at BRAVO was briefed to look at the entire Nederburg range, from Nederburg’s flagship Two Centuries to its Foundation series. An immediate focus was the brand’s iconography; what it stood for and what it revealed became important aspects to consider.

Without compromising on any of the owned elements of the brand, BRAVO Design had ‘free reign’ to update the wine labels with a design that would work in local and international markets. The goal was to simplify and refine the existing labels, while also introducing a new style of wine. “Our heritage is important to us, and we wanted it to stand out with a clear name and crest, the latter of which we wanted to have a more refined look by incorporating Nederburg’s iconic red,” explains Jackie. They also didn’t want to compromise on any of the owned elements of the brand—the diagonal shape of the label and the Nederburg font.

THE EXECUTION

“An immediate focus was the Nederburg shield, and the two anchors, that have always been present on Nederburg labels,” says Brenden Schwartz, Owner and Creative Director at BRAVO. “When we began our research, it wasn’t clear what the brand connection to Nederburg was. What we found was that the shield resembled that of Haacke Beck brewery, where one of the Graue’s was a director in the 1800s.” The goal was to respect the old iconography but infuse it with meaning.

“For Nederburg, and for this specific rebranding, we really delved into the depths of the brand’s identity. It is so important for brands to understand their own identity,” says Brenden.

THE RESULT

Nederburg’s new labels very clearly draw on the past, while also being distinctly refreshed; the brand’s new labels offer clearly enhanced assets, with the Nederburg crest, in vivid red, enjoying prominence in its center. “The shield and its anchors now also stand for something,” says Brenden.

The anchors that are used as a symbol of hope and steadfastness have been further developed to not only be inspired by the original Haacke-Beck Crest but also to represent Nederburg’s vision, with the flame above the left anchor and a star on the right representing the brand’s journey of innovation and discovery. Unity, the core value of Nederburg’s success, is represented by the rope tying the anchors together. On the left of the mantel are the Oak trees, and on the right are the iconic flowers of the cork trees, with the crown representing Nederburg’s craft and pride in viticulture. Together, all the iconography in the crest represents the modern-day values and heritage of Nederburg.

Across the range, the brand name is presented at a diagonal angle, with Nederburg, in a black high-build varnish, mirroring the 35° slant at the bottom of the ‘cork cream’ labels. An intricate border in gold foil reveals a delicate pattern of vine leaves and tendrils, adding a sophisticated edge to the label.

“I believe this brand refresh not only respected the premiumization of the brand, but also created value. Superfluous elements have been removed, with each of the remaining elements conveying something about the brand,” says Brenden. “It was amazing working with one of the biggest brands in South Africa, one that is known internationally, and to integrate this global standing in the design we developed for the new labels.”

“It was a dynamic experience, and we believe the new labels reflect the dynamism represented by this well-established brand,” added Brenden.

Read more on Nederburg Wines.

Thank you, Brendon, for sharing the fascinating Nederburg case study with us. We wish you and the Bravo team every success in the future.

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• Winemakers On Fire is written by Mike Carter and published every Sunday. My vision is to be recognised for giving more than taking and to use my talents and skills to positively impact others. Albert Einstein put it succinctly: "Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."