The latest prices of South Africa’s most highly rated wines
AT LAST COUNT, the number of visitors to Groot Constantia stood at around 450 000 a year. It’s been the most popular wine farm in South Africa’s Cape winelands for some time, which is not to be confused with wine sales – gone are the days when ‘Joe Soap’ and ‘the man in the street’ would queue up at the place, with very little to be had at under R200pb. And number two in the popularity stakes? We’re told that Fairview and the Spice Route destinations in Paarl are attracting close to 300 000 people per annum. Each. And then? Possibly Boschendal in Franschhoek, although in Stellenbosch, Blaauwklippen on the R44 to Somerset West/Strand is attracting the numbers, as is Spier, when roadworks on the R310/Baden Powell Drive aren’t getting in the way.
Not that wine lovers have to travel the wine routes to get what they crave at the best prices. Sometimes online stores and retail wine shops in the towns and cities can be as competitive or better. And of course, there are some gems in the winelands that are off the beaten track, just as there are some top wine cellars closed to the public for most of the time, if not all year round. The thing is, whereas retail prices can vary from area to area and store to store, cellar-door prices tend to be what all other prices revolve around, albeit that they’re not always constant either.
March, after the budget speach by the government’s minister of finance, is traditionally when many but not all SA wine producers push their prices up – some prefer to effect their annual increase later in the year, some do so in two ‘instalments’, while others opt to make adjustments whenever they release a new vintage. Tax hikes, inflation, exchange rates, marketing strategies, politics… The cause of wine industry price increases vary in nature and magnitude, and while price decreases are almost unheard of, they do happen, albeit mostly because stock isn’t moving or a brand is being repositioned…
For the latest prices ex-cellar of all SA wines most highly rated by the top panels over the past 12 months, click here, and for those of them rated during the past six months that are (still) selling for under R150pb, click here.
