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Johannesburg - South Africa's wine industry is hoping that the country's exposure during the2010 FIFA World Cup will result in increased sales on the global market.
Danie de Wet, owner of the De Wetshof Estate near Robertson in the Western Cape, on Wednesday said their sales alone had increased by 40% during June.
He believed the soccer tournament provided the perfect opportunity to improve this and dispel perceptions that South African wines were "cheap and cheerful".
The positive branding the country had received through the smooth running of the event provided the perfect opportunity to promote its wines, he said in a statement.
The last time such an opportunity arose was when former president Nelson Mandela was released from prison and economic sanctions against the apartheid regime were lifted.
This provided opportunities to make further inroads into China, India and South America where wine consumption was on the increase, and meant that consumers would not be able to walk past a shelf of South African wines in a shop without knowing where the country was, or what reputation it had.
The country's raised profile might also attract international buyers willing to pay "more realistic" prices. Although sales volumes are high, the actual value of the sales is relatively low as wholesalers source the wines at low prices and carry this over to the consumer, said De Wet.
According to a report on the SA Wine Industry's website, the average price of a bottle of South African wine in the UK was €3.99 (about R50) a bottle.
With South Africans responding to the global economic crisis by choosing cheaper wines, exports to international markets have saved the local wine industry from distress, according to the report.
The amount exported increased from 115 million litres in 1998 to 407 million litres in 2008.
The wine industry also contributes about 2% of the country's annual gross domestic product at around R26bn, and employs over a quarter of a million people - 58% of them unskilled.
- Sapa