The Cape Wine Academy (CWA) has joined forces with the SA Wine Routes Forum (SAW) to improve service levels at wine cellars throughout South Africa in an effort to maximise the country’s wine tourism potential. This entails offering a new wine course focusing on improving the services offered by wine cellar personnel.
Announcing the new course on Thursday, the CWA and SAW said the two-day course was designed after representatives of the CWA and the 13 districts represented by the SAW unanimously agreed that better service levels at the cellar door were necessary if South Africa wished to become a serious player in wine tourism.
According to Nicolette de Kock, chairperson of the SAW, wine tourism is one of the fastest growing components of the wine industry.
“Cellar guides, sales and wine tasting personnel must be seen as being just as important to a winery’s success as wine makers and viticulturalists. Our studies show that one bad experience at a cellar’s tasting room or sales area can cause a tourist to write-off not only the cellar, but also the wine of that specific region and country.” she observed.
“During a recent SAW meeting it was decided to take active steps in ensuring that all wine cellars of South Africa’s 13 wine regions meet the minimum expected standards in service and wine knowledge. Their professionalism and focus on service will also be compared to that of the world’s greatest wine countries.”
She added that the SAW acknowledged that there was ample room for improving service levels and, although South Africa had made progress since joining the international wine industry, the focus on training was essential if the country’s cellars were to rise to a higher level. As South Africa’s foremost wine education facility, the CWA was ideally suited to assist in the further education of cellar personnel.
Reinier Matthee, managing director of the CWA, noted that the CWA’s activities were not only directed at the public and other interested parties wishing to learn more about wine. The academy was also planning closer co-operation with the wine industry. – I-Net Bridge