There is a constant search in the Cape Winemakers Guild for the perfect balance between the requirements of producing a wine of excellence and a wine that will sell by appealing to the market, whether through intrinsic quality and style, price or marketing. Guild members do not want to be perceived as inhabiting an ivory tower. But wine quality and integrity are non-negotiable.
The annual Guild auction grew from a sale of just 18 wines (in 12-bottle cases) in 1985 to an event in 2011 that moved nearly 3 000 six-bottle cases of 58 different wines, with a total turnover of nearly R5,3 million. The average six-bottle case price of R179 in 1995 increased nearly tenfold over almost two decades to R1 789.
Amid suggestions that the auction would attract greater interest if held in Johannesburg, it was subsequently decided at the 2008 Beyerskloof strategy planning session that the event would remain in the Cape and the organisation would continue to be handled in-house. In order for the sale not to become too big and to retain the Guild auction's reputation for exclusivity and 'rarity' of wines on offer, it was also agreed that batches of wine produced for the auction should not be larger than 200 six-bottle cases. There had always been a limit of 900 litres, but it had never before been officially set down.
Although members now paid a percentage-of-sales levy to cover the costs of the auction, it remained an individual profit-making exercise. However, the marketing aspect, as well as the building of 'brand South Africa' globally, has been regarded as invaluable by participants. It's been through the auction that the Guild continued to extend its overseas visibility (and by association the presence of Cape wine in the top echelon of international wine-growing regions) as it traversed its third decade.
In 2007 the Guild auction wines received noteworthy publicity in the United States when tasted for the first time by two leading American wine critics. They soon featured regularly in Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, an acclaimed bimonthly publication and assessment by its editor and publisher of wines from across the world. Wine Spectator senior editor James Molesworth, whose specialist field as a taster for the publication included Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Loire as well as South Africa, now also covered the annual Guild auction wines, gaining a definitive insight into the Cape as a quality wine producer.