SAA chooses Indaba wines, a boost for education

Pictured at the SAA Wine Awards are from left: Sylvain Bosc, Chief Commercial Officer of SAA, Andre Shearer, Chairman and CEO of Cape Classics, Bongi Sodladla, Global Food and Beverage Manager at SAA, and Nico Redelinghuys, Cape Classics General Manager.

Indaba wines are produced by Cape Classics, the New York-based wine importer with roots in the Cape Winelands. One of the reasons SAA chose Indaba to be part of its wine programme is that it will be supporting the brand's commitment to social responsibility via education - this broader social scope has always been a key part of the Indaba philosophy, with a portion of the proceeds from global sales funding the Indaba Education Fund.

The Indaba Education Fund supports various initiatives including the WELL (Winelands Early Living and Learning) Project, a collaboration with the Sustainability Institute and the Newberry House Montessori School in Somerset West.

The Indaba Education Fund and SAA will be joining forces to take it a step further, by working with the Future Project that trains Dream Directors who are placed at troubled schools to transform them into places of possibility. The Future Project and the Indaba Education Fund aim to bring the Dream Director vision to Africa, and SAA will provide transportation for Africa's first Dream Director candidate to travel to the US for training at the NY Dream Director Academy in February 2015.

Cape Classics chairman Andre Shearer said by selecting Indaba Wines, SAA would automatically become a foundation partner to Indaba in the WELL Project and the vision of transforming the educational opportunities of the most marginalised children of the wine industry will be strengthened.

International exposure

The two Indaba wines were selected out of over 800 wines tasted. They will be packaged in recyclable, 187ml Burgundy-shaped PET bottles and will be available on domestic and international flights with the Sauvignon Blanc running from July - September and the Chenin Blanc from October - December 2015.

"The annual wine selection is one of SAA's most hallowed traditions and one that we - and the industry - take seriously," says SAA's Global Food and Beverage Manager, Bongi Sodladla. "SAA is a showcase for South Africa on many fronts, not least of them our excellent local wines. One can imagine how desirable it is to be on this list. Not only would you get huge orders, but you also get great exposure to markets worldwide."