Two new Cape Wine Masters (CWM) have graduated from the Cape Wine Academy (CWA), bringing the total number to attain this elite self-study qualification in its 42-year history to 111.
They are Helena Melis, marketing manager and spirits, wine and confectionery buyer at Big Five Duty Free in Johannesburg, and Mark Philp, a director of the Selfords and Donford Motor Group in Cape Town.
Adding to the body of wine knowledge are their two highly topical dissertations.
Helena Melis’s dissertation is on the unique marketing platform that Big Five Duty Free (BFDF) offers to local wine brands in terms of showcasing their products to foreign markets, the merchandising options to promote consumer purchasing in a diverse international marketplace and the promotional value of wine brand ambassadors in selling wines.
Mark Philp’s dissertation aims to create greater awareness of the main factors contributing to the carbon dioxide generated by the wine industry in the processes of wine-making, packaging, distribution and in wine consumption. It offers useful measures for neutralising, sequestering or eliminating such emissions to achieve that desirable net zero carbon footprint.
These dissertations are available in full on the Institute of Cape Wine Masters website: www.icwm.co.za
According to ICWM chairperson Jacques Steyn, general manager at Jordan Wine Estate, the diplomas will be handed to the new CWMs at a formal awards luncheon to be held in August this year at Van Loveren Family Vineyards.
In 2003, the Cape Wine and Spirit Education Trust granted the Cape Wine Academy the right to award the Cape Wine Master (CWM) qualification and confer the Cape Wine Master’s title, in collaboration with the Institute of Cape Wine Masters.
More than 220 000 wine enthusiasts have attended the lectures and training programmes of this wine education and industry service (CWA) which was instituted as part of the Stellenbosch Farmers' Winery (SFW) Wine plan in 1979.
Dissertation details and short profiles of Helena Melis and Mark Philp follow below.
Profiles and dissertations
Profile: Helena Melis
As marketing manager and spirits, wine and confectionery buyer at Big Five Duty Free, Johannesburg, Helena Melis helps to market and promote South African wine and spirits brands to international clientele.
Armed with a master’s degree in Economics and after years of marketing and brand building in association with leading international liquor brands, Helena has pursued her twin goals of education and consultancy since she started working in the wine and spirits sector in 2007. She furthered her studies at the Cape Wine Academy in 2014, completed the diploma course in 2016, enrolled in the CWM programme in 2017, and attained the coveted Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 4 Diploma in Wines and Spirits too.
Helena Melis's dissertation: A case study of the Big Five Duty Free outlets as an important marketing channel for South African wine brands to international travellers
This dissertation provides a better understanding of the unique marketing platform that Big Five Duty Free (BFDF) offers to local wine brands. BFDF brings new insights to help local wine producers direct their attention to the best foreign markets for their products and has become a window for the world to experience and purchase South Africa’s excellent standard of wines. This research outlines the defining criteria considered by BFDF for including a wine in the company wine portfolio and discusses the requisites for a business partnership between BFDF and wine producers to keep an attractive, diverse and continually changing wine list. It also illustrates merchandising options which make it easy for their customers to identify and locate their desired brands.
This research takes into consideration the nature of the target market while listing new wines, preparing the merchandising planogrammes, and planning the promotions for BFDF: the large spectrum of destinations that people travel to, the mixed nationalities and different buying patterns of almost every ethnic group, the inability to communicate owing to language differences, and the spending power of shoppers from different countries.
This paper also highlights the importance of wine brand ambassadors and their role in promoting and selling wines. The findings indicate that the local wine industry acknowledges BFDF as a model consumer-orientated platform for marketing and promoting their wines.
Implementation of the recommendations made in this research for BFDF and the wine industry will enable BFDF to be an even better marketing channel and retail platform for the fine wines of South Africa, where international travellers can select their desired wines with ease and confidence.
Profile: Mark Philp
Mark Philp, who was born, bred, and educated in Stellenbosch, the heart of the winelands, has been associated for the past 40 years with the Selfords and Donford Motor Group of companies where he is a director.
Mark has been interested in wine since his days at university and his desire to understand more of the complexities and magic of wine led to him enrolling for the initial Cape Wine Academy courses and completing the Diploma level course in 2007. He embarked on the Cape Wine Master course in 2018 and qualified in 2022.
Mark started making wine as a garagiste in a barn on a farm on the outskirts of Stellenbosch in 2008 under the watchful eye of mentor, wine making partner and CWM, Andy Roediger – something he still takes pride in doing to this day, as he learns the lessons of each new vintage in his quest to make an enjoyable wine.
Mark Philp's dissertation: Towards carbon neutrality in the wine industry
The dissertation aims to achieve a greater awareness regarding the main factors contributing towards the carbon dioxide (CO2) generated in the wine industry via its processes of wine-making, packaging, distribution and in wine consumption. It offers useful measures for neutralising, sequestering or eliminating these emissions.
With the planet warming up faster now than at any previous time in history, across the globe, grape growers and winemakers are seeing the effects of climate change as the temperature rises and the changing weather patterns become more severe. Appropriate efforts to maintain environmentally friendly practices in both vineyards and cellars must be made to ensure long-lasting and sustainable viticulture.
While wine is a relatively eco-friendly product, the international wine trade is making a sizeable contribution to humanity’s CO2 emissions, with each bottle currently generating an estimated 1,2 kg of CO2 during its lifetime (Buehner, 2012).
For a winery to mitigate the consequences of global warming, it needs to make viticulture and vinicultural adjustments by, for example, moving towards using the right rootstock, planting drought-resistant grape varieties, planning the planting spacing, restricting irrigation, using carbon friendly materials and machinery, and restricting non-eco-friendly chemicals. This, however, is just the start. The research reveals and offers 80 practical guidelines for wine producers to reduce their carbon footprint.
The real commitment, however, is to become carbon neutral by achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released into the atmosphere (carbon footprint) with an equivalent amount of carbon sequestered and offset, and thus achieving a zero carbon footprint.