Durban - Public relations (PR) practitioners tell clients their comment in editorial stories is much more valuable than in paid editorial spaces or advertorials.
This is because it is seen as independent input from an industry specialist that carries more weight as the journalist has researched the story, visited the scenes and spoken to several sources to get a first-hand account for in-depth knowledge.
When seasoned wine journalist Claire Hu, writing on Africa for CNN’s travel website, tells her employer she has spent a decade visiting the most famous vineyards globally, but “for sheer beauty, the winelands of South Africa come top of the list”, the wine industry PR machine can revel in that success.
An experienced news, wine, food and travel journalist, Hu has worked for The Guardian, London Evening Standard and The Evening Argus.
She has held senior positions on Wine & Spirit and Harper’s magazine, and writes for Beverage Review, Classic Wine, Food & Home Entertaining, www.wine.co.za and Taste as well as working for CNN.
These credentials give weight to her CNN Top 10 recommendations that will hopefully bring wine lovers globally flocking to our shores.
Her winners were:
Creation Wines in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley (location);
La Colombe restaurants at Constantia Uitsig (food);
Upland Estate in Wellington (hippie vibe);
Waterkloof in False Bay (views);
Groote Post on the West Coast (Cape Dutch heritage);
Blaauwklippen in Stellenbosch (child-friendly);
Weltevrede in Robertson (accommodation);
Crystallum Wines in Walker Bay (innovation);
Fairview in Suider-Paarl (extras)
and Stark-Conde Wines in Stellenbosch (unusual tasting experience).
There can also be a high five for the news that respected venture capitalise and former First National Bank (FNB) chief executive Michael Jordaan has been appointed Wines of South Africa (Wosa) chairman.
Hailed as one of the country’s most visionary and progressive business leaders, the appointment of the one-time CNBC Africa Business Leader of the Year for Southern Africa brings creative thinking to the chair as South Africa seeks to broaden its global reach.
During Jordaan’s tenure, BAI-Finacle Global Banking Innovation Awards ranked FNB the world’s most innovative bank. Jordaan’s entrepreneurial strengths, strong customer focus and imaginative use of technology were a catalyst for others to update their business models.
A boutique wine producer committed to environmental sustainability, Jordaan owns, with his wife, Rose, the 40ha farm Bartinney outside Stellenbosch. The farm has been accorded Biodiversity and Wine Initiative (BWI) champion status for rehabilitating the land, restoring it to indigenous condition, and had been recognised for its contribution to energy efficiency in the Nedbank Green Awards.
Outgoing Wosa chairman and Kanonkop co-owner Johann Krige says wine exporters can “only be enriched by exposure to Michael”.
“Here is arguably South Africa’s leading banker, who could be working anywhere in the world, choosing to remain and contribute his strategic, marketing and media skills with imaginative flair and rigorous analysis,” he says. - The Mercury
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