“Recent acquisitions such as Landskroon, Neil Ellis Wines, Survivor Wines and Overhex Wines, are merely the latest steps in a carefully calibrated long-term strategy to nurture, sustain and grow individual specialty brands, each with their own identity,” explains CEO Philip Retief.
Well-known for Four Cousins, the Almost Zero dealcoholized collection and Tangled Tree wines, the company has also been steadily amassing awards* for its prestige labels such as Christina, the eponymous Van Loveren Family Vineyards (VLFV), as well as Zandvliet.
For more than a decade, VLFV has been investing in vineyards, infrastructure and skills to bolster its presence in the specialty wine sector with the emphasis on top-notch reds. “Doing so enhances our regional diversity, versatility and resilience, allowing us to trade across a wider spectrum, and future-proofs us for changing market and consumption trends,” he adds.
Retief heads the independent family business, founded in 1937, that he runs with his brother Neil and cousins Bussell and Hennie. Over the past 25 years, this third-generation quartet has built some of South Africa’s most successful local wine brands. Its commercial nous and distribution strengths have seen it achieve market leadership in a variety of wine segments domestically while growing exports to almost 70 countries.
Now, with its newly enlarged portfolio, VLFV has broader representation across the Cape’s top wine-growing areas and direct access to site-specific vineyards from its home base of Robertson to as far afield as Paarl, the Swartland, Stellenbosch, Darling and even Tradouw near Barrydale. This is to meet its escalating aspirations in the premium-plus sector locally and abroad, while unlocking synergies across the business. And it brings some well-established talent in both wine-growing and winemaking into the circle, while allowing for greater economies of scale and improved operational, sales and marketing efficiencies.
Landskroon Wines on the south-western slopes of Paarl Mountain, held for five generations by the De Villiers family, is the latest of VLFV’s three recent purchases, made in June. It includes 67 ha (of which 30 are planted to vines), access to a further 100 ha of rented vineyards, as well as a well-equipped and fully operational winery, with extensive bottling and warehousing facilities. Preserving the legacy winery’s historic identity is an essential part of the plan.
“We are acquiring in full a family-run heritage winery invested with a huge level of personal pride and professionalism. We admire and understand these qualities as we live them ourselves, every day. What we are doing is providing the opportunity for Landskroon to scale up while protecting its inherent quality and values.”
The same goes for the acquisition late last year of Neil Ellis Wines in Stellenbosch, he adds. “This is another highly respected, family-owned winery. Our majority share injects the necessary capital for growth, building on the considerable pioneering legacy and spirit of Neil Ellis and his son Warren Ellis.”
The third of the acquisitions is a 100% stake in Overhex Winery with its successful Survivor label and a network of top growers across the Cape Winelands, notably the Swartland, Darling and Breedekloof regions. Similarly, critically acclaimed cellarmaster Pierre Wahl, a member of the Cape Winemakers’ Guild, joins VLFV.
As it capitalises on the growing wine tourism market and the potential still to be realised along the Suid-Agter-Paarl route, VLFV will develop a multi-purpose brand home and tourism venue for Landskroon, as well as for the Survivor range. Each will be presented separately to protect their respective brand identities with individuated tourist offerings and experiences.
“It’s a vibrant rural area that is coming into its own as a major tourist drawcard and development node. We want to be a part of that growth.
“Until last year, our focus was primarily on Robertson for its obvious advantages. The region’s dry climate is naturally resilient, making vineyards less prone to disease while still benefitting from access to both mountain and dam water. Pronounced differences in day and night temperatures contribute to wine colour, structure and quality, while the alkaline soils make for beautifully soft-textured wines.
“In 2018, we invested in Isabeau, a 65ha farm in the De Hoop Valley at the foot of the Langeberg Mountains, that brings our total area under vine in Robertson to over 1 000ha.”
To make the most of thepostive attributes, the business has invested in the costly and labour-intensive echalat^(Vine-by-Pole)vine-training system, where each vine is trained to grow up its own pole. Retief says it brings freshness and elegance to wines with soft tannins but firm structure and good palate length.
He also makes the point that the widely awarded VLFV Christina range is successfully adding to Robertson’s reputation as the epicentre of Cap Classique excellence.
“But as we build our profile and ramp up our participation in the specialty sector of the market, we also want to be able to tap into some of the Cape’s other celebrated wine-growing areas with their unique attributes.”
The Retief cousins are taking changing global wine consumption patterns in their stride. “Yes, overall consumption has declined, but there are new entrants coming into the market domestically and abroad. And, very encouragingly, there appears to be a consensus that despite recent prophesies of doom and gloom, Generation Z is in fact engaging with alcohol and that very much includes wine.”
In an IWSR Bevtrac survey this year across 15 markets, including South Africa, it was found that 73% of Gen Z adults claimed to have consumed alcohol in the previous six months, up from 66% two years before. While this cohort is more likely to have sober interludes, or practise abstinence intermittently, it is embracing wine and other alcoholic beverages as its members enter the workforce and acquire spending power.
“We believe there are always opportunities to be taken. Our role is to be where they are, along with all our other consumers,” Retief stresses. And that’s apart from VLFV’s popular wine offerings and comprehensive collection of spirits, liqueurs, RTDs, beer, and cider products.”