My retrospective continues…
Living through the turn of a century was a rare privilege, though in 1999, the air was thick with Y2K anxiety. While the world feared computers would crash at midnight, the reality was a digital awakening. As businesses rushed to upgrade their systems, the South African wine industry finally found its "on-ramp" to the web. For us, it was a revolution; we pivoted from marketing via fax machine, a concept today’s millennials might find prehistoric, to crawling under desks getting the winery's modems connected!
Having started wine.co.za in the Republic of Hout Bay in 1996 and finding that my little red golf was putting on a ton of mileage getting to and from wineries, we set our sights wider – and looked for the right spot to house wine.co.za and also to raise our two young children.
In the high-pressure world of business, we are often told that you must start with an "exit strategy" in mind. We chose a different path. Our strategy wasn't about leaving; it was about living.
Our focus was simple:
- To provide the South African wine industry with personal and professional service
- To generate a stable income to support our team and their families
- To maintain the flexibility to be present for all of our children
In 2001, we found what might have been the ugliest facebrick house in Somerset West. It wasn't about the aesthetics; it was about the location: right on the R44, with a separate flat which we converted into our first official winelands headquarters. For ten years, that space was the engine room of wine.co.za, where we balanced high-level IT systems with the everyday realities of family life.
We had many interesting chats in the kitchen till late, while Garth perfected his chilli poppers. Many a prawn party was enjoyed, and we even did a team jolly to Cederberg Winery. Bowls of popcorn, and sometimes even beer, were ever present!
Sidenote: The aesthetics did get to us, and major renovations took place. We opened up the house and created a light, welcoming home, where we hosted many meetings and social events, including our Solstice Soiree Open Mics.
So much happened in the early 2000s...
WineTrader launched to move bulk wine
In response to a growing need in the industry to move wine between wineries, we launched WineTrader as a joint venture with Gert Bormans. It was an effective wine trading platform that put buyers and sellers in touch. It was responsible for moving a lot of wine from 2000 to 2008. In 2008, we decided to focus more on bottled wine and sold WineTrader to Colors.
Winelands Boules League
One of the most fun activities in those early days was the monthly Sunday winelands boules days. Launched in 2003, these took place, come rain or shine, at various wineries where much red wine was consumed. Our best memory is the Boules Championship, organised by the inimitable Clive Torr and Andy Baker at Ronnie’s Sex Shop on the R62. Clive and Tanja's baby daughter, Juliet, took pride of place in the winning cup. She is now 23 and following in her parents' wine footsteps! Read more HERE about the Boules League launch, when the average bottle of wine cost only R25.
Resuscitating the Boules leagues would definitely get the wine consumption needle moving up!
Great team names like The Nobel Rotters, The Lasses, Domaine Clivet and The Red Tops abounded, with Jonathan Snashall's team ( he was instrumental in the wine.co.za Ads history), called FIGJAM. Any guesses as to what FIGJAM stands for?
Boules Champs at Ronnies: Ali and Andy Julian, Sarah Papenfus, Kevin Kidson, and Judy Brower.
World's largest online wine tasting?
We arranged possibly the world’s biggest ONLINE wine tastings in the early 2000s with WorldOnline and various partners, including Martin Moore and Krige Visser from Durbanville Hills, Adi Badenhorst (then Rustenberg), and Motti Lewis from Steven Rom Liquors (then our shop partner).
These tastings had wine lovers joining us online from internet cafes in New York, London and of course Cape Town, attracting about 400 people per tasting. There was no video chat or Zoom in those days, so it was all text chatting – very avant-garde. Much hilarity ensued, especially when Adi was involved, of course!
Fundraiser for epilepsy
We hosted a wonderful fundraising cabaret evening for the South African National Epilepsy League (SANEL). The inimitable chef and entertainer Francois Ferreira, alongside our host Ken Forrester, was a recipe for success. Ken is a man who can sell a simple lemon for thousands for a good cause! We bought many of our wooden wine crates from SANEL's workshop – beautifully made and still in use.
CapeWine 2000
The first CapeWine was held at Nederburg in April 2000, with Su Birch at the helm of the newly formed Wines of South Africa (WoSA), having replaced its predecessor, the South African Wine and Spirits Export Association (SAWSEA).
Just over 100 producers exhibited at the inaugural exhibition of South African Wines, presenting to 500+ enthusiastic international wine buyers and journalists. 25 years later, CapeWine 2025 showcased over 400 producers, with 1 600+ attendees.
Lesley Beake, Rita Schietekat, Michelle Ladewig, Judy Brower, Sarah Papenfus, and Kevin Kidson at Cape Wine 2002.
wine.co.za was responsible for creating the printed catalogues for CapeWine and the rest of WOSA's big wine exhibitions. We worked closely with their PR specialists at the time, Tessa de Kock of De Kock Communications and her excellent team. Our team's Renée Barnard was the Catalogue Queen of the day!
Dionysis Wine Show at Kirstenbosch
In November 2002, in collaboration with Kirstenbosch and Artscape, we also hosted our first (and only) wine show at Kirstenbosch, the Dionysis Wine Show. Hats off to all wine festival organisers. It is a LOT of work! Click HERE to find out more.
Wine tourism and Winescape Magazine
We worked closely with the Wine Tourism Forum (driven largely by Andre Morgenthal and Lucy Warner), but with no government support, we decided to do it alone and launched the first wine tourism magazine, Winescape. With Lesley Beake on editorial and legends like Jos Baker on Food, Neil Pendock on wine, and Judy Brower on advertising and distribution, we proudly produced three beautiful magazines annually.
Lesley Beake, Jos Baker, Marlise Rupping, Tanja Morgan, Cecily Rocher and Judy Brower with the 2003 Launch edition
Our launch edition of 30 000 copies won Gold at the SAPPI Africa Print Awards. International interest was keen, and it was distributed far and wide: Lufthansa’s first and business class, WoSA (UK mostly), Virgin Wines UK, SA TIMES London, wine distributors and agents worldwide, South African embassies, Kaufhof Germany, ROVOS Rail, Singita Lodge, Birkenhead House, Ellerman House, Le Quartier Français, and Le Franschhoek, to name a few.
The magazine was well known for its high-quality images, featuring work from renowned photographers such as Graeme Robinson, Geoff Spiby, Alain Proust, Keith Phillips, Craig Foster, and Emma Borg.
After four exciting years, we sold it to Future Publishing, who sadly ran it only for a year after that before closing it down. Anyone keen to start it up again?
Wine stats and surveys
With wine tourism being on everyone’s agenda, it is interesting to look back at our Winelands Experience Survey that was started in 2006 with fresh-faced Allister Kreft, newly graduated from UCT. He joined wine.co.za and drove the Stats project, collecting feedback through our Winelands Experience Survey, a fairly simple DL Form giving visitors the opportunity to give feedback on their demographics, service levels at the winery, and purchasing behaviours.
41 wineries participated in WineStats, and we received 2 757 responses, which we analysed, and Allister presented to the Rootstock Forum (also a project we were involved in to bring information and discussion to the younger participants in the industry). Click HERE to read more.
Had that system continued, we would be sitting on 20 years of continuous visitor insights. This isn't just a record of the past; it’s a predictive map for the future. It would have allowed us to track the evolution of the wine tourist with surgical precision. Such a missed opportunity.
We also used the surveys at the many Soweto Wine Festivals we attended – much fun was had. The message was clear from all our data: people want to learn more about wine.
30 years of connection
Today, wine.co.za remains rooted in that original vision: Using systems thinking to tell human stories.
What began as an on-ramp for an industry in transition has evolved into the reliable central hub where that industry meets, grows, and shares its success with the world.
We would not be where we are without the support of our many friends, our clients, the industry, and, of course, our wonderful team. A huge thank you to all!
For more on wine.co.za and our 30 years, click HERE. Keep an eye on our 30th Birthday Spotlight for more stories.
Let the countdown begin! This article is the second in our Countdown series – one per month till August, when we celebrate our 30th birthday.