South Africa was in a good position to increase its wine market share in the Netherlands from 13.5% to 15.5%, but at the same time it needed to start trading up in that country.


Rabobank’s global wine and spirit specialist, Arend Hiejbroek, said research done in conjunction with marketing and lifestyle analysts showed that there was strong momentum for Cape wines to move to the next level.


Addressing a Wines of South Africa marketing seminar on the Dutch market, he said the image of the country was very good. However, he warned that it was important for Cape wines to trade up into the more price sensitive sector of the market and break out of the €3 range the majority of its wines were in.