From Bordeaux to Bottelary: why French wine capital loves the Cape

To find out how French wine producers are meeting challenges such as low general profitability in the SA industry and plunging wine consumption back home in France, Currency spoke to Naretha Ricome, vice-president of Advini South Africa. Advini is the local branch of the century-old French wine company that has investments all over its home country, and in one other place: South Africa.

Turns out, it’s complicated. Advini has over the past 15 years gradually bought five wine farms in South African, all in Stellenbosch: L’Avenir Estate in 2010, Le Bonheur Estate (2016), Ken Forrester Vineyards (2016), Stellenbosch Vineyards (2018) and Kleine Zalze Wines (2022).

The SA portfolio of the company now constitutes about 13% of its 2024 turnover of 278 m euros. Advini is listed on Paris Euronext stock exchange, and was founded in 1870. It currently owns 27 wine properties, estates and winemaking facilities in many of the main French wine regions.

The SA wine industry is hugely attractive emotionally and from a lifestyle point of view, but the local wine producers’ body, Vinpro, estimates that only about 14% of producers are truly profitable, while another about 44% break even, and the rest are loss making. Then there is declining alcohol consumption in France, particularly wine, and a host of other challenges including climate change and, most recently, global trade battles.

Yet Advini is delighted with its SA acquisitions, and its plans to expand further means there are clearly niches of success, and that this is particularly true in SA. Ricome says Advini believes there is still a lot of untapped potential in the country’s wine industry. The company did look at other wine countries, including Chile, but couldn’t see more opportunities than it does in South Africa.

Generally, the SA industry is top heavy, with a few strong brands masking widespread fragility. It’s also in a consolidating and transitioning phase, in an effort to move towards the premium end of the market and diversify away from bulk exports. But there is lots of young talent coming through, good global recognition of quality, and lots of tourism potential.

French involvement in the SA wine industry is not huge, but in pockets it has a fairly long heritage and it is now expanding fast. The scion of the famous French-Swiss banking family, Edmond de Rothschild, established the Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons in 1997 with SA’s Rupert family.

More recently, the Oddo family, known for their wine ventures in France and Sicily, expanded into South Africa by acquiring three estates in Stellenbosch, including Taaibosch, while Les Grands Chais de France bought Neethlingshof in 2022 and Villiera in 2023. Famously, Glenelly Estate was founded in 2003 by May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, former owner of Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in Bordeaux.

Advini’s approach in SA

Advini’s approach in SA, much like in France, has been to focus on five key aspects: vertical integration from planting all the way to bottling and sales; strong business principles; careful selection of properties to focus on strong brands with key differentiators and grape varieties; a focus on premium wines; and a focus on a single region, Stellenbosch.

Each of its wineries is encouraged to maintain its independence and unique identity. “We are not overbearing. Take your own story and your history, make the best wines from the varieties your terroir is suited to, and back in France we will provide support, especially through sales and distribution,” Ricome says.

For the SA producers, the absolutely key aspect is international marketing and sales. Advini exports to 110 countries, which has resulted in Le Bonheur Chardonnay becoming the largest white wine brand in Canada, for example.

Advini’s SA adventure started with one of the few SA wine farms that actually had a French name,  L’Avenir, which means “the future” in French. The estate specialises in Pinotage and Chenin Blanc grapes, and Chenin particularly has an important role both in the company and in the SA industry.

“You find Chenin all around the world, but only South Africa and France take it seriously,” says Ricome. She says it’s time for the South African wine industry to “claim the grape” in the same way that New Zealand claimed Sauvignon Blanc, and Argentina claimed Malbec. This is particularly relevant since there is now more Chenin under vine in SA than in France, where the grape originated. Some SA clones are now even being planted in France, Ricome adds.

Pinotage, South Africa’s home-made cultivar, was also an important part of Advini’s approach. “It actually fits the profile of Advini: your vineyards, your estate, your specialisation.” The grape does have its detractors in SA, but Ricome says this was based on a style of production that has now been phased out, and that its popularity is growing, particularly among sommeliers looking for something unusual and distinct.

Financially, Advini’s most notable success has been with Le Bonheur, which the company bought out of the Distell premium estate group when Distell decided to streamline its wine portfolio to focus on core brands like Nederburg, Fleur du Cap and Durbanville Hills.

Ricome says with increased international marketing and some particular focus, the brand paid itself back in less than five years. Brand building is a crucial part of the business: Le Bonheur is certified by the World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) as a Biodiversity Champion, and is a Fair Trade accredited wine producer, the largest in Stellenbosch.

The company also has two empowerment enterprises at Kleine Zalze and Stellenbosch Vineyards – Visio Vintners and the Arniston Bay Trust – where employees are direct shareholders in exported wine brands. Sustainability is also part of the mix, with the Arniston Bay wine brand, produced by Stellenbosch Vineyards, focussing on the plight of the threatened African penguin, and particularly on reviving a penguin colony on the Southern Cape coast, close to the village of Arniston.

As much as SA has good potential, Ricome says the “perceived value of South Africa as a brand in the wine industry is not high enough. And we have to work on that and Advini  does that – we work very hard to position the South African wines in our portfolio. The past 15 years have been tremendous, but we believe the best is yet to come,” she says.

_{Cover image: L’Avenir Estate}