Law firm Adams & Adams recently sponsored The WineLand Seminar - an annual day-long event, which is enjoying growing popularity.  The forum aims to provide topical updates on developments and important issues in the wine industry, promote debates and exchange of ideas through panels of expert speakers and audience interaction.

“Adams & Adams serves various wine industry businesses in the field of IP (intellectual property), litigation and commercial law matters.  We are a large representative of IP interests in the wine industry.  Our international IP expertise, and footprint, across the African continent and abroad gives us an excellent vantage point to provide our services to wine producers and exporters.  We are at the cutting edge of IP issues in the wine industry,” says Suzaan Laing, partner at Adams & Adams.

“The WineLand Seminar provides a natural platform for us to engage with the industry and our clients at large, to contribute our knowledge and experience, and to take away the knowledge and input gained at the seminar ourselves.  We believe that initiatives like this are important to render a contribution to what is an important South African export industry.  We are proud to be associated with the seminar.”

The seminar attracted a packed audience including persons with an interest in the wine industry – bigger and smaller wine producers and cellars – wine retailers and exporters, and other businesses who service the wine industry such as designers and industry consultants.

Each speaker and panel brought something of interest to the day.  Panel discussions included a dialogue on wine labels.  Tanja Beutler of the Topaz Wine Company spoke about red tape-issues relating to what needs to appear on wine labels, what has to be considered when designing and printing labels, and what scope there is to be more creative (within the regulations applicable) on wine labels.  The team from Funakalo spoke about innovative trends in the design of wine labels and shared their experience as cutting-edge designers. 

Adams & Adams’ presentation focused on providing simple answers on IP issues in the wine world, ranging from why IP is important at all, what should and could be protected, and how.  It also included a look at who the various players are when it comes to protection and enforcement of IP and what would happen if IP rights were not protected.  The talk also focused on practical matters such as costs, strategy on protecting IP in export territories, remedies available in infringement situations, licensing, IP transfers, and hypothecation of trade marks.  The main focus being trade marks and copyright.

The second panel involved an economic outlook of where South African wines find themselves in export markets (mostly in the UK) and amid other New World wine competitors.  Pieter van Niekerk of Vinpro looked at where the growth area in South African export markets is, what competitors are achieving, and provided interesting data and statistics.  The conclusion being that the SA wine industry at large should move away from the cheaper wine retail bracket, move away from bulk, and move into the medium price range (around eight Pounds per bottle) where the growth in that market lies.  It was also emphasised that the South African industry should stand and go to it together to promote South African wines as a category, rather than each producer attempting to go at it alone with their own marketing initiatives.

This was followed by a blind tasting of New World wines as available in a certain price bracket in the UK market. 

The afternoon session was taken up with a panel including, Nico Spreeth (CEO of Vititec), Caroline Rilema (wine retailer) and Ken Forrester (wine producer and restaurateur) on new wine varietals – both what is available to be planted, what is being planted, and what South African consumers are likely to try and not. It emerged from the discussion, that SA consumers are likely to take a lot of convincing and ‘hand-selling’ to take to buying new, unknown varietals in substantial quantities.  It was followed by a blind tasting of some of these new varietals.

“The seminar was very well attended, and provided excellent and casual networking opportunities.  A lot of knowledge and experience were disseminated, received and exchanged.  It is an important platform for an industry that needs to stand together in a competitive international industry to promote South African wines in general, and a good opportunity to brush up on essential information, and the experience of others,” concludes Laing.

Contact: Suzanne Laing, partner, Adams & Adams