Whe distillery produces Blue Agave spirit — a liquor that is made from the same plant as tequila — which it markets as Flore d’Agave. It currently sells to local distributors and exports containers of the liquor to Europe, whence it is sent to distributors in the United States.
There is a world-wide shortage
of tequila and the liquor is at a premium since Mexican production dropped drastically after a fungus plague destroyed thousands of agave plants in Jalisco state, the tequila-producing area in Mexico. In addition, peasant farmers had limited plantations because they weren’t being paid enough by distillers.
The local distillery has cashed in and enquiries about blue agave spirit have been pouring in from distributors in Mexico, the US and even Ireland. Factory manager Roy MacLachlan has refused to give exclusive rights to a Mexican distributor who wants 22 000 litres a month (worth $22 000 a month). ‘We could easily meet the demand,” says MacLachlan, ‘but why should we enter into exclusivity agreements when we’ve had so many requests from elsewhere in the world?” He cites a letter from an Irish distributor wishing to ‘source a supply of 100% agave alcohol”.
A distributor in the US sent a group of ‘blind” tasters to the Karoo distillery in May and the product met with huge approval. Orders are expected to roll in. In reaction ‘certain Mexican government bodies” have, according to MacLachlan, complained to the US Department of
the Treasury Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that illegal reference is being made by the distillery to the word tequila — an allegation that is, according to MacLachlan, ‘entirely untrue”.
But it is the campaign by Mexican tequila suppliers to threaten wholesalers with boycotts if they import Flore d’Agave from South Africa that has really got MacLachlan’s back up. ‘This is nothing less than harassment, and it is entirely unethical and illegal,” he says. He complains that the Mexican government is trying to prevent them from selling their product in the US, which has given label approval for the product. MacLachlan regards this as an ‘illegal” action that could have the effect of barring the South African product from the lucrative US market.
When approached to comment on the fact that the liquor being exported is sold as Flore d’Agave and not as tequila, Aldo Aldama of the Mexican embassy seemed unconvinced. He expressed support of the strategy adopted by the Mexican suppliers — ‘provided it is legal” — and he was quick to insist that South Africa should ‘play by World Trade Organisation rules”.
The Department of Trade and Industry is prepared to write to US customers to confirm that there is no breach of agreement with Mexico or tequila manufacturers. And as far as the boycott goes, the department is prepared to take action if the threatened boycott of US purchasers of Flore d’Agave goes ahead.
Hannes Myburgh of Meerlust Wine Estates has been embroiled in a similar conflict over the production of grappa. He says: ‘Countries holding others to ransom in order to protect certain traditional trademarks is outdated in our global village. Having different names for identical products is confusing and counter-productive. The promotion of any drink — whether it be tequila, grappa or port — must surely encourage consumption worldwide.”
In the meantime, at least, there’s gold in them thar Karoo hills and vlaktes, and locals call the large, rather unsightly plant that litters the veld ‘blue gold”. Brought in via cattle feed from South America early in the 19th century, this is one alien invader that doesn’t harm the veld.
Along the N9, vast expanses of grazing land have been converted to fields of agave. Tim Murray, a sixth-generation farmer in the Graaff-Reinet district, has invested R300 000 in the plant. He is one of seven suppliers in the area who hope to share in the bonanza that Agave Distillers anticipates.
When questioned about Mexican threats, Murray’s face creases with concern. ‘South Africa needs innovative ways of ensuring foreign investment — and Graaff-Reinet desperately needs this injection into its local economy. Also, with falling prices and stock theft forcing farmers to look to alternative sources of income, agave farming is a viable enterprise, and no one should be allowed to take this away from us.”