Editorial: SA wine branding still has room for improvement

There is now quite a long tradition among South Africa’s boutique winemakers of naming their wines without any heed for convention. As ever, it was Eben Sadie who drove the process naming what was the Old Vine Series (“Ouwingerdreeks”) and is now the District Series (“Distrikreeks”) after artefacts and animals reflecting the geography and culture of the Western Cape. Hence, we have the likes of Skerpioen, Pofadder, ‘T Voetpad and Treinspoor.

Duncan Savage uses familiar figures of speech and turns of phrase for his range of wines giving us such names as Never Been Asked to Dance for his Chenin Blanc and Thief in the Night for his Cinsault. John Seccombe of Thorne & Daughters uses childhood toys to connect his range thematically and hence we have Paper Kite Old Vine Semillon and Rocking Horse Cape White.

Some find these names bizarre, whereas I tend to think of them as whimsical. The question that needs to be asked, however, are these names a sign of our winemaking cohort’s boundless creativity or is it just endearing but ultimately obtuse?

Part of the problem in many instances is the lack of land tenure. It’s risky to name your wine after the vineyard or the farm that provide the grapes, as is so often the case in Europe, if there’s a chance that you may not have access to those grapes at some point in the future.

You wouldn’t have thought that certainty of land tenure was an issue when it comes to Vergelegen, the prestigious (and hardly boutique) Helderberg property owned by multinational mining company Anglo American, and it’s fascinating to see the outcome of its recent design revision process. An octagonal shape inspired by the historic Octagonal Garden adjoining the homestead now features across all tiers of the range but essentially the Vergelegen decision makers have opted for a classical approach, retaining all the traditional cues with tasteful line-drawings of the homestead, the vineyards, the region’s defining character. Does it convey a compelling sense of self? It’s probably as much of a tweak that could be achieved given the associated historical baggage.

Smaller wineries are not nearly as constrained by circumstance and a certain amount of innovation is to be welcomed. It can, for one thing, only help demystify wine and thereby grow the consumer base. Consequently, I’m all for an approach to not just packaging but branding in its entirety that transcends established modes and genres that gives South African wines a truly distinctive edge.

My sense is that South African wine branding has come a long way but is still failing to accomplish the goals of differentiating itself from the competition and motivating the consumer to buy at the very end of the attempt.

The relationship between the wine industry and the marketing and graphic design sectors seems to be closer than it used to be but still not as intimate as it should be. When the Old Vine Series suddenly changes to the District Series, a lot of brand equity is being thrown away. Calling your one Pinot Noir from Elandskloof “Nom” and your other from Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge “Om” as Saurwein does are just too similar sounding. B Vintners, the spin-off project of Raats Family Wines, became Bruwer Vintners just at the point that the former was gaining traction. Alheit changed “Fire By Ridge” to “Broom Ridge” and then back again. Hogan’s white wines have red typography and her red wines have green typography…

There was a point when the wine industry appeared too burdened by its own history to successfully harness it to define itself and happily that no longer seems to be the case. Finally, there seems to be some pride in local heritage and a compulsion to embrace it, everyone inclined to have a lot of fun along the way. However, branding needs to happen in a considered and coherent manner it it’s going to be successful and that this is not always the case again points to how young the modern era of South African wine is.

The Label Design Awards 2024: Wine and Beer sponsored by Rotolabel are now open – see here.