Palm | Kelapa Sawit

Wines of South Africa (WOSA) will have a series of international braai festivals, a World Cup for sommeliers, and a range of other novel initiatives to highlight abroad South Africa's hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Details of the soccer-themed programme were unveiled to producers at a spring seminar in Stellenbosch, at the same time as a long-term positioning strategy was launched for South African wine.

The braai festivals, to be held in key export destinations such as the UK, Holland, Germany, Scandinavia and countries in Latin America and the Far East, will be scheduled to coincide with important matches of next year's tournament. The events will feature high-profile South African chefs, as well as winemakers at venues where matches are being televised.

Linked to the braai festival concept is the publication and international distribution of a book of special braai recipes created by local winemakers to match their wines. The compendium of recipes will appear with styled photographs, and marketers all over the world will have access to the recipes and images to use in their South African wine campaigns.

A World Cup for sommeliers, to be held in a number of countries selling South African wine, is intended to increase awareness of local wines among on-consumption buyers. The winning contestant from each participating country, judged on the basis of their ability to identify a series of local wines and pair them successfully with foods, will be flown to South Africa late in 2010 for the finals.

WOSA has also developed a special logo for 2010 that includes a soccer ball, approved by FIFA. It will be available to producers to feature in their marketing material and on wine bottles in those countries where legislation permits. In Sweden, for example, local legislation forbids a link between alcohol and sport in any advertising or merchandising.

The organisation's CEO, Su Birch, said an animated wine and soccer video was being produced for release at next year's ProWein trade exhibition in Germany in March, and which would be made available internationally.

WOSA was also collaborating with national and Cape tourism bodies and would be offering to host lifestyle journalists attending the 2010 World Cup for part of their stay, she said.

Birch confirmed that the project linked to the sale of Fundi wines to create 2,010 new wine waiters ahead of the games was well under way, with over 50% of the candidates already trained.

Drawn from the hospitality industry as well as the ranks of the unemployed, they had undergone special courses in Cape Town, the Cape Winelands, Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth.

She added that the WOSA website had been significantly extended and revamped to give international marketers and media access to copyright-free images of South Africa. It was also running articles in a range of languages to cater to those countries with a high level of involvement in soccer. More interactive, it now included blogs and tweeti