Wine Industry Report

Du Toitskloof Winery in Rawsonville has acquired the brands of Lost Horizons Premium Wines from its American owner, Charles Jacquins Inc., and will be the sole owner as from 1 April 2006.

Lost Horizons Premium Wines was established in 1995 as a wine trader in the South African wine industry with Du Toitskloof Winery being the main supplier of the products and Charles Jacquins the owner of the brands. This American company, with its head office in Philadelphia, is the producer of among others the world-known Chambord French liqueur.

In South Africa Du Toitskloof Winery is renowned for high quality and excellent value products. A good example is the 2006 Wine Magazine Best Value Wine Guide, in which Du Toitskloof was selected as the Best Value Cellar Overall for the third time in five years.

Although Du Toitskloof Winery is now the sole owner of the brands of Lost Horizons, which include Quantum, Hemisphere, Guardian and Panorama, Charles Jacquins Inc. will for the next three years continue with the sales and marketing of Lost Horizons and its brands in the USA. The brands vary from high priced bottled wines in the on-consumption and off-consumption market to premium priced wines in the on-consumption market.

Seventy percent of the Lost Horizons wines are exported to markets such as USA, Germany, China, Brazil, Japan and the Caribbean. The balance is sold in the local market.

During the past ten years of cooperation between Du Toitskloof Winery and Charles Jacquins Inc., more than 34 hectares of vineyards aimed solely at the Lost Horizon brands have been planted and cultivated at Du Toitskloof.

“Because Du Toitskloof Winery is now both the main supplier of the products and the owner of the brands, we will obviously focus on even higher quality and service than before,” says Johan de Wet, chairman of Du Toitskloof Winery.

“Taking the Lost Horizons brands in-house makes sense. The strong rand has caused a lot of financial pressure and to survive and grow at the same time, the marketing chain must be as short and efficient as possible. Jacques Jordaan, general manager of Lost Horizons, will now join us at Du Toitskloof as marketing manager of all the Lost Horizons brands. His focus will be on brand building and maintaining all the good business relationships he has built up through the years, locally and internationally,” says Johan.

According to Jacques Jordaan, Lost Horizons always was and still is very much focused on the export market and the Du Toitskloof wine brands can also benefit from it.

“Rationalisation in the South African industry is crucial in maintaining success. It is necessary to have the balance between nursing the local market for financial stability and exploring the international market for bigger growth. The wine industry is at its lowest point in many years with the stronger rand effecting export profits and the many brands from all over the world competing in all the countries. Fortunately the Lost Horizons brands are well-settled in several markets and with the new streamlined business structure, it can stay stable and even grow further at quite a pace,” says Jacques.

[by ML Communications. source: wine.co.za]