Two Oceans more than cresting

Distell’s drive wine brand Two Oceans is nudging the one million case mark, as sales worldwide continue to reflect double-digit growth, says brand manager Brad Gold.

The easy-drinking, unpretentious lifestyle brand with an increasing off and on-consumption support, sells a range of fruity and refreshing whites and soft, well-rounded reds on every continent, although its major markets are in Canada, South Africa and Sweden. All three are showing sound growth even in the face of the global contraction in consumer spend. Moreover, excellent headway is being made in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia, as well as in the US, where AV Imports was recently appointed its distributor.

Gold says the success of the brand has been built on extensive investment in infrastructure, a longstanding network of suppliers across the Cape’s premium wine-growing areas and the application of viticultural management and cellar techniques designed to maximise cost-efficiencies while delivering excellent value.

“These are the building blocks that ensure we are able to continually enhance our offerings and strengthen our competitive advantage, while growing volumes to keep pace with demand and still stringently maintain quality to perform exceptionally well alongside many of our higher-priced competitors on international benchmarking events.

“All our wines are planned in the vineyards, with canopy management and other viticultural protocols established in line with envisaged wine style and price point,” says Gold, who qualified as South Africa’s youngest Cape Master of Wine at the age of 25.

“As a part of the Distell group, we not only have access to international research and best-practice but we are also able to source from prime vineyards and are assured uninterrupted supply across a broad geographic base, affording us consistency in both quality and style.

“Our viticulturists have given particular focus in our own vineyards, as well as those of our suppliers to developing trellising systems and canopy management techniques that provide an optimal balance between effective leaf surface area, yield and quality. We have also introduced measures to combat the advent of climate change by bringing down ambient temperatures around grape bunches, which impacts on colour, acid levels and grape flavours.”

In the cellars, the benefits of being part of the Distell group “mean we have the use of world-class equipment and the advantage of economies of scale.”

With these credentials in place, he maintains that Two Oceans is well-placed to service the multiple grocers and on-consumption channels and show the South African wine category in an extremely positive light.

He says that as the brand plans for the long-term, Distell’s dedicated plant nursery is conducting development work to identify newer cultivars, clones of well established cultivars and alternative rootstocks suited to the new climatic conditions, while potential new wine-growing areas are also under observation.

Gold says the entire Two Oceans supply base is compliant with the eco-sustainability demands of the Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) programme, one of only two such programmes anywhere in the world to be independently audited. Fruit is also sourced from a range of drylands vineyards and from vineyards that are members of the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative (BWI) created to protect natural habitat in wine-growing areas and minimise further loss.

“Sustainability is central to the entire Two Oceans production process and Distell’s involvement in the international initiative to establish a globally accepted basis for calculating greenhouse gas emissions is also prompting new ways for us to lighten our carbon footprint.”

Brand positioning is also being centralised as Two Oceans builds its universal profile and packaging is being upgraded to better reflect product intrinsics. “The brand look is much more consistent now with the product offering. Quality cues and brand identity are clearly and effectively expressed in a way that claims immediate shelf attention.

“We believe we are ideally positioned to build the brand still further, underpinned by our extensive resources and solid distribution.”