Interview: Cape Classics Chairman & CEO Andre Shearer

New York City-based Cape Classics is the leading U.S. importer of South African wines, with volume at just above 300,000 cases for 2017. The company also imports a small but growing stable of French wines. Cape Classics chairman and CEO Andre Shearer met recently with SND assistant editor Shane English to discuss the state of South African wine and prospects for the company’s expanding French portfolio.

SND: Which of your South African brands are performing well right now?

Shearer: Bayten, a brand that’s been in the market for 25 years, is undergoing substantial changes. We’ve changed the name from Buitenverwachting to Bayten, which spurred an instantaneous turnaround. It’s at 10,000 cases now and growing by 15%-20%. Jam Jar (projected at 85,000-90,000 cases this year) remains an incredibly strong brand with nine years of consistent growth. This year we’re up 15%-17%. Based on where we are now, it could rise 20% next year, or possibly more. Pharrell Williams posted a little video with a bottle of Jam Jar and we’ve been in contact with him to explore a possible partnership.

SND: How much of your business is in French wine now?

Shearer: France is probably 10%-12% of our business. Growth is accelerating rapidly and our French growth from 2016 to 2017 was in excess of 25%-30%. We’ve had tremendous success in the Loire from Touraine through to Vouvray. We’ve had fantastic success in Sancerre with Le Roi des Pierres. This year we added Petite Sirène, one of the labels of (Bordeaux classified growth) Chateau Giscours. We also brought Burgundy’s Domaine Auvigue onboard this year. And we’ve launched Château du Raux, a tiny producer in the Médoc that had never previously been exported to North America. We’re up to 18 French wines. We’ve noticed an acceleration of South Africa with France alongside. France has opened doors to certain restaurants that haven’t necessarily wanted to look at South Africa per se, but will check out what we offer when we bring in French wines. French wines could help us grow revenue by almost 50% over the next few years.

SND: How is the on-premise portion of the business performing?

Shearer: We have a remarkably good split. We do a lot of business with big chains, including Whole Foods and Wegmans, and we work with the Darden Restaurant Group. In terms of on- versus off-premise business, we’re close to 50-50. Our barrier isn’t the wine professional, somm or the journalist. The South African wine industry hasn’t been funded by the government. We have Wines of South Africa, which has a rather limited budget that does the best it can, but if you think of the volumetrics of the U.S. in terms of population, we don’t do nearly enough. We’re a long way from having any form of national brand awareness campaign in the United States. That said, we’re committed to reaching consumers. We have faith that as people taste our wines, they’ll discover the quality and value that South Africa offers.

Tagged : Bayten, Cape Classics, Petite Sirène

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