A founding partner in Boekenhoutskloof, the highest-profile but lowest-volume of his various wine business interests, he was also the driving force behind Porcupine Ridge, Robertson Winery, Krone, The Wolftrap, The Chocolate Block, Reyneke, Porseleinberg, and Vinimark, the largest independent wine-distribution business in SA.
His enterprises were built on a combination of inspired marketing, sound management practices, tough but fair trading arrangements, carefully established partnerships and a much broader vision than many of his competitors’.
He trained as a lawyer, but found himself uncomfortable with the application of justice in the old SA. He joined Stellenbosch Farmers Winery, completed an MBA and became a founder of City Lodge. Those in the know say much of the detail of the concept, as well as the branding, was the result of his input.
In 1985, he launched Vinimark with his wife, Linda. A relatively new and untested concept in SA, it was a wholesaler, broker, distributor combination whose original focus was the burgeoning supermarket wine business.
As it grew, it took on the supply logistics for an increasing number of smaller, independent properties whose route to market had become threatened by consolidation within the trade, or by the arduous stock management conditions imposed on them by supermarkets and chains.
As this component of Vinimark grew, it expanded into on-consumption sales. The mere fact of enhanced distribution helped to build brands. Rands recognised that the vehicle he had created could also be an important tool in creating his own portfolio of wine properties.
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