It’s been a promising year for the South African wine and spirits company, DGB, as they continued their focus on driving their prestige portfolio of brands in global markets, underpinned by crafting exceptional wines from some of South Africa’s finest vineyard sites.
“Our positive results for the year, on the heels of the news of our investment in six key sites across the Helderberg Mountain, demonstrate DGB’s healthy growth displayed across the business,” says DGB’s chairman, Tim Hutchinson.
DGB Helderberg
Particularly encouraging given the company’s ongoing focus on premium, is the double-digit growth within the premium tiers of wines, which is evident across several brands and categories.
Boschendal’s Nicolas, aided by consistent global recognition for its quality, has now established itself as one the top five wines in the very competitive, local, premium red blend category and is maintaining exceptional momentum in the South African market. While the brand’s Cap Classique range is also performing exceptionally well with significant double-digit growth. The Cap Classique category is on the rise locally and sales for the brand have tripled over the last three years.
And while premium is certainly the focus, the company is equally happy with the performance of their ‘everyday wines’ (those priced under R100 per bottle) which are also showing double-digit growth.
Looking towards recent acquisitions, the two newly acquired wineries – Fryer’s Cove and Backsberg - have been very well received by DGB’s loyal customer base, both locally and abroad, with new markets opened in the UK and key markets in Europe, North America and Africa.
The impressive reception of Fryer’s Cove has subsequently seen the property undergo a well-considered revamp to support its popularity with resolute commitment to maintaining the charm and personality the winery has become so well-known for; and continues to support the Doring Bay community.
This focus on community is evident throughout the greater business as DGB continues to bottle all of their wines in glass and in-country, preserving and providing jobs for local communities.
Internationally, DGB is experiencing multiple new and exciting opportunities for premium South African wine, particularly, in the USA with premium tiers growing at +33% - in part, driven by the American’s newfound appreciation for Cap Classique.
Across the Pacific, growth in the Far East has been equally encouraging, so much so the company has appointed a regional director based in Hong Kong to support the markets. This growth is driven by multiple Asian regions which have delivered triple-digit growth, a growth trend also experienced across many Indian Ocean Islands of Seychelles.
The encouraging performance can be attributed deliberate alignment and focus across many facets and multiple divisions, from local and global sales teams to world-class operations and years of continuous, well-considered and diverse marketing activities.
Sponsorships of iconic South African events (the likes of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Di-Data Pro-Am, and the Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards amongst other flagship events) are supported by various brand activations and promotions (a recent duty free campaign, which ran at both OR Tambo and Cape Town International Airports was lauded as the most successful campaign the travel retailer had run to date).
The culmination of this work was recently recognised by the Canadian based “Advantage Survey” which ranked DGB as the #1 Liquor Supplier in South Africa where they received top scores for trust, capability and experience, communication, and cross functional alignment.
Advantage Survey - Lauren Filen & Jarrod Stewart, MD of DGB South Africa
Ricardo Ferreira, Group CEO of DGB says, “This achievement underscores our culture of excellence in our customer-centric approach across all our global markets. We keep our brands at the forefront of our business and will continue to nurture our longstanding relationships with our customers and consumers, maintain this momentum.”
In addition to the company's premium wine strategy, yet certainly congruent, is that of DGB’s premium spirits. Locally, the division has shown market-leading growth, led by liqueurs and single malt whiskies – high-demand categories for the local, luxury market.