Saving South African wine, one hashtag at a time - Keep the #SaveSAWine conversation going

Friday, 14 August, 2020

wine.co.za, Trudie Webb (Editor)

"Level 3 Day 74 - Feeling good. Feeling positive." Quoting one of the very few remaining positive South Africans, comedian Schalk Bezuidenhout, as we face a dragging second alcohol ban. While staying positive like @schalkiebez is becoming more and more difficult, industry bodies are fighting to get alcohol sales going again. Here's what YOU can do to help the wine industry now.

Hashtags, love them or hate them, now is the time to share a few - #SaveSAWine , #DrinkSouthAfrican and #JobsSaveLives. We're under no illusion that these hashtags will save the South African wine industry but they are spreading the story of a crumbling wine industry far and wide and gaining some much needed help from an international audience. With local sales banned under Level 3 regulations, exports are what we've got and we encourage all expats and lovers of South African wine to show support and buy South African wines wherever they are in the world.

Malu Lambert and WineLand Magazine recently wrote insightful articles on the current alcohol ban. If you need to get up to speed on the state of affairs, you can read these articles:

Why South Africa's wine farms are on their knees - imbibe.com, Malu Lambert

Alcohol ban: Saving lives or livelihoods? - wineland.co.za, Anton Pretorius

The loss of income and possible job losses are enormous figures with a constant presence in our minds. We know what's at stake, but it's up to the (unreasonable) powers that be to free a locked down wine industry, and until then, campaigns such as #SaveSAWine and #JobsSaveLives, seek to give a voice and put a face to the nearly 300 000 jobs and livelihoods hanging in the balance due to lockdown restrictions.

The #SaveSAWine Campaign

The campaign is WineLand Media's response to the ban on local sale of alcohol and aims to raise awareness of the plight of the SA wine industry.

Primary producers, wineries and other businesses in the wine value-chain have shared photos of their teams with the amount of jobs and dependents at risk. These images have been an in-your-face confrontation with the real people affected by the lockdown regulations. Jobs on the line range from 20 - 200+ per winery or wine business and breaking it down to these numbers makes it a smaller, yet much harder truth to swallow.

Help keep the #SaveSAWine conversation going by sharing posts from wineries and wine businesses and use the hashtag #SaveSAWine and #DrinkSouthAfrican whenever enjoying a bottle of South African wine.

The #SpectacularSouthAfrica campaign

Wines of South Africa (WoSA) have been encouraging importers, retailers, trade and media to come together and get involved in their monthly campaign. It's a more positive campaign, focusing mainly on spreading the message of how, you guessed it, spectacular our wines are. Each month has a new category and wineries can open a bottle of their wine and share it on their social media channels.

Here's what's planned for September and October, do join in and share your pics using #SpectacularSouthAfrica:

1st September – MCC

10^th of October – Pinotage

Where to buy South African wines abroad:

USA (thank you to Erica Taylor from Uncorkified for sharing these)

Cape Ardor
Southern African Products USA
MacArthur Beverages
Southern Hemisphere Wine Center
Total Wine & More
Wine.com

About the Winelands compiled a comprehensive list to find SA wine abroad

peroldwinecellar.co.uk