Kumala, the biggest-selling South African wine brand, has been ranked the 15th most powerful wine brand in the world and is the only South African wine or spirits brand to be ranked on The Power 100 for 2009. Now in its fourth year, The Power 100 index highlights the key issues and trends in the international spirits and wine industry. It also identifies which brands are increasing their equity using a unique measure defined by measuring brand score and volume data.
The Power 100 researches nearly 10 000 brands in the wine and spirits sectors to derive a list of the 100 most powerful of these brands in the world. Power is defined by a brand’s ability to generate value for its owner. Value is classified as by a series of hard measures (share of market, brand growth, price positioning and market scope) as well as soft measures (brand awareness, relevancy, heritage and perception). A panel of eight leading experts in the drinks industry independently ranked each brand out of 10 on these measures. The scores given by each panel member where then aggregated and averaged to reach a score for each brand. A total score was achieved by multiplying a brand’s weighted volume by its brand score within a defined range. This results in a ranking of the world’s most powerful alcoholic drinks brands.
“We are delighted* that Kumala has climbed the ranks with a six percent increase in overall brand score this year,” says co-winemaker Bruce Jack. “It is a strong endorsement of South African winemaking talent, as well as a consolidation of Constellation Wine’s faith in the local industry.” Constellation Wines are the owners of Kumala.
“Interestingly, only one ?+¦-+???+¦-ú?-¦?+¦-ú?+¦+¦ Torres of Spain – of the top 15 wine brands is from the traditional Old World wine country,” says Ben Jordaan, Jack’s co-winemaker. “Seven were American (Gallo, Robert Mondavi ?+¦-+???+¦-ú?-¦?+¦-ú?+¦+¦ owned, by Constellation Brands, Beringer, Sutter Home, Blossom Hill, Kendall Jackson and Inglenook), five Australian (Hardy’s – also owned by Constellation Brands, Yellowtail, Jacobs Creek, Lindemans and Wolf Blass) while Chile has a sole representative.”
Overall, Constellation came in as the seventh biggest brand owner, while South Africa was considered only the 21 most powerful country of origin, making Kumala’s achievement even more remarkable.
Kumala Zenith Chenin Blanc/Chardonnay 2008 and Kumala Zenith Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz 2008 are both available from R25.99 to R29.99 from leading stockists.
*WineGoggle takes no responsibility for the frustration caused by the word “delighte”d. For fuck’s sake, Bruce.
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