New Portal Matches Buyers & Sellers to Boost South African Wine Sales Abroad

In a bid to sell more South African wine overseas, a new matchmaking portal has been launched to bring together buyers and sellers of Western Cape wine.

Cape Export Network is a platform for South African wine producers to freely advertise their products and connect them with international importers and buyers of wine, and has been launched by the provincial government, its investment arm Wesgro and export group Wines of South Africa.

CEN’s primary function is to help importers looking for wines to fill their portfolio in a fast and secure manner by selecting five criteria, including wine type, red or white grapes, tasting notes as well as the region. Based on their selection, the platform presents wines listed that meet these criteria.

The impact of months of lockdown, no exports and no sales at restaurants and liquor stores has hit the industry badly, creating a need for this kind of solution, Wesgro said in a statement today.

The Western Cape is the eighth-largest wine region in the world, selling one million bottles of wine a day, according to Wesgro CEO Tim Harris.

“Our new platform will now take more of our quality product to more buyers around the world,” he added.

“We welcome the launch of the Cape Export Network as an initiative to support and rebuild the industry,” said David Maynier, Western Cape Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities. “The platform also creates an exciting opportunity for new and emerging wine producers to be discovered by importers so that more people around the world can taste the finest wines that we have to offer in the Western Cape.”

South African producers of wine also have access to a free-to-use ‘How to Export guide’ created by WOSA, as well as other materials they have available via the platform.

International importers entering the South African wine market for the first time and wanting to gain more knowledge about the industry and its products have the opportunity to do the free Wines of South Africa Online Wine Course. It takes the user through six informative modules that help them better understand varietals, wine styles and the history of the Western Cape and the South African wine industry. It also gives them insight into the wine-growing regions of South Africa.

The portal will eventually link to the Wesgro/Western Cape Export portal that will be launched in the coming months.

To access the Cape Export Network portal, go to: https://supportbusiness.co.za/capeexportnetwork/and if you need help registering and loading your product, go to: https://supportbusiness.co.za/capeexportnetwork/producer-registration-guide/