Leading South African wine brand, Two Oceans is defying the downturn, showing double-digit growth in sales volumes worldwide, while continuing to charm influential critics.

Last year it was Robert Parker’s authoritative Wine Advocate according A+ scores to the 2007 Shiraz and 2008 Sauvignon Blanc.  This time it’s another leading US magazine, Wine Spectator, giving A scores to the 2008 vintage of the Two Oceans Cabernet/Merlot and the Sauvignon Blanc in its March 2009 issue, while noted Canadian wine critic Rod Phillips has included Two Oceans in his international line-up of the 500 best-value wines offered in 2009 by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the world’s biggest retailer of wines.

Phillips, who also judges on international wine panels, has given a four-star rating to the 2007 Two Oceans Sauvignon Blanc, describing it as “lovely”, with “well-defined and nicely concentrated flavours and a crisp, clean texture”. The 2006 Shiraz, he has called, “flavour-filled”, “easygoing in texture” with the capacity to deliver “a very pleasant mouthful”.

The 2008 vintage of the Shiraz has been recommended by widely syndicated US wine writer Fred Tasker, who has lauded its “smoke, back cherries and milk chocolate” profile and its softness.

Says brand manager Brad Gold: “The positive reviews, across different vintages, sometimes of the same wines, reflect a consistency in quality. Easy-going, well-made wines delivering outstanding value, their popularity continues to rise, thanks to a combination of accessible styling, prominent fruit flavours, refreshment and outstanding value.

“The trend is by no means confined to America.  Two Oceans is flourishing in traditional wine-producing countries like France and Germany, as well as in Scandinavia.  It has captured the palates of New Zealanders in a big way and is performing well in developing markets such as Brazil, Russia and China.  Back home, South Africans are more than ever voting for Two Oceans with their wallets.

“Frugal is the new fashion. People are demanding value, irrespective of price point, and Two Oceans is more than able to meet their needs.”

The Two Oceans success story, said Gold, had been built on extensive investment in infrastructure, a longstanding network of suppliers across the Cape’s premium wine-growing areas and the application of viticultural management and cellar techniques designed to maximise cost-efficiencies.

Locally Two Oceans wines retail from around the mid-R20s.

ISSUED BY DKC (DE KOCK COMMUNICATIONS) 
Source: www.winecountry.co.za