Cape Town - Boschendal, the multiple award winning wine estate outside Franschhoek, while somewhat "starved of love, care and marketing attention" under Anglo American Properties and suffering from brand neglect, is now the biggest empowered wine business, according to managing director Franco Barocas.
Barocas, who took over as managing director in March, when the wine estate changed hands in a deal valued at R323 million, said that since the conclusion of the deal, Boschendal was at the forefront of black economic empowerment (BEE), with no window dressing.
Already 22 percent of the new management team is made up of historically disadvantaged individuals, one of them a woman. The company did not specifically look for a woman, but wanted the best. The management team inherited from Anglo American was all white.
Barocas said Boschendal was "absolutely committed" to transformation, not only because it was a legal requirement but because "it's the way of the future".
The estate, which has 344ha of vineyards with a yield of 250 000 cases of white and red wine a year, was sold when a 35 percent stake was bought by an international consortium of investors, Luxembourg-registered Citation Holdings, led by Clive Venning, and an equal stake by South African investors.
The remaining 30 percent was bought by a BEE consortium, Kovac Investments 608, of which Chris Nissen is the chairman.
The business is divided into three operations: wine making and sales, the hospitality and tourism arm, and the property arm. Barocas is responsible for wine, hospitality and tourism.
Barocas said that when they took over he found an organisation that had all the basics in place, very good systems, good people policies and sound administration but "a brand that had been neglected".
He said: "Anglo American Properties, which also owns the Vergelegen wine estate at Somerset West, had focused on that property for the past five to seven years and Boschendal was starved of love, care and marketing attention.
"We needed to make changes in a number of areas, specifically the marketing side. We have re-worked the brand, done research among retailers, the public and the industry to find out what the brand means to people, and what we want it to be."
Boschendal sells 190 000 cases a year locally and exports about 80 000 cases to its main markets in the UK, Holland and Germany. The next big opportunity is the US, which Boschendal hopes to enter in the higher price bracket.
"Boschendal is the brand and the wine for the people. We would like this to be an icon brand."
"Nelson Mandela is an icon, he's not exclusive to some people but belongs to everybody."
"Table Mountain is an icon and belongs to everyone. This business is not about producing 400 cases of award winning wine but about quality wine which is available to all," Barocas said.
Another change the new owners made was to appoint Charles Quint as transformation officer to look at the skills and training of the 220-strong workforce, the company's procurement policies, joint ventures and helping people in local enterprises.
"'To us BEE is more than management and shareholding."
"We qualify as a black empowered company. If we wanted we could sit back and say we're empowered. But that's not what we're about, otherwise we would not have appointed a transformation officer."
"It is our belief that if you do do BEE right it could add business to your company."
Barocas was confident that Boschendal would be a far more empowered company 12 months from now but wondered aloud why there was little empowerment in the cork, bottling and labelling sectors, which remain in the hands of a few white companies.
Andre Morgenthal, the communications manager for Wines of South Africa, welcomed the changes at the estate.
"We are delighted to see that these kind of initiatives are launched in the wine industry. This is the way forward."
"We feel there should be long-term sustainability with tangible results for the individuals and communities involved."