Sourcing Seven Sisters Wine: A story of growth and opportunity

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It all began at a wine festival. In September 2005, Vivian Kleynhans set up a tasting booth at her very first wine show -- the Soweto Wine Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa. Vivians family had recently begun producing wine in the Swartland winelands on the western coast of South Africa. That same day, Selena Cuffe, founder of what would become Heritage Link Brands, was in Johannesburg for a business trip and discovered that there was a wine festival nearby. She became intrigued by its location in Soweto, an urban area in Johannesburg which had a reputation for political violence and was also a former home of Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa. She decided to spend some time in Soweto sampling wines and learning more about wine production in the country. As fate would have it, Vivians booth was one of the first Selena visited that day. After being wowed by a few of Vivians selections, Selena asked her where she might be able to find her wines in the United States. Vivian responded that she had been having trouble entering even the local chain stores; the U.S. market wasnt even on her radar. As their discussion continued, Selena learned that of the $3 billion wine industry in South Africa, only 2 percent of wines available were from black family-owned wineries. I had been trying to get into the local stores, Vivian said. I called on some retailers at least nine times in a year to see if they would take on my product. Vivian never secured a commitment from any of them, having been told by a few of the retailers that they would think about it, but she never heard back from them. She continued to follow up. I sort of almost gave up, she said. The familys story Vivian is one of eight siblings seven sisters and one brother. They are from Paternoster (pictured at right), a small fishing village 150 km outside Cape Town. In 1981, when Vivian was 16 years old, her father lost his job. The family lived in a companyowned house, and, shortly thereafter they found themselves evicted, having little choice but to split up and move in twos and threes with relatives and start over. It was all very strange to us, Vivian said. (To learn more about the familys story, watch this video.) Because of this life-changing incident, Vivian said, in my mind, I always wanted to make a change in my family. Twenty-five years later, after extensive research and a start in the winemaking industry, she saw a real opportunity to start with the change. Then I found Selena at the festival. It was my first wine show. The idea was to launch locally. America was so not in my mind. I had no inclination or idea that Id ever be able to have a product in the U.S.

The birth of two new brands Vivians story was the spark that led Selena, a former brand manager at Procter and Gamble for product brands such as Pringles and Tampax, to launch a new business devoted to importing and marketing wines from black-owned wine producers in South Africa. If I can market potato chips, Selena remembered saying, I can market wine. A month after her visit to South Africa, Selena launched the new company, called Heritage Link Brands. A year later, Heritage Link Brands helped Vivian and her family to launch their wine brand, Seven Sisters, in the U.S. Seven Sisters is owned and operated by Vivian and her siblings. Each sister has a wine named after her, starting from youngest to oldest: Bukettraube (Odelia), Pinotage-Rose (Twena), Chenin Blanc (Yolanda), Sauvignon Blanc (Vivian), Pinotage/Shiraz (Dawn), Merlot (June) and Cabernet Sauvignon (Carol). Each of them has a role in the company. Their brother John farms the land. Heritage Link brands first introduced Seven Sisters wine to the U.S. market in 2007. They quickly caught the attention of American Airlines, and their 2009 Seven Sisters Sauvignon Blanc (Vivian) became the first South African wine in the airlines history to be served on flights worldwide. In 2008, Selena, who had worked with Walmart and Sams Club in her past life with P&G, met and established a relationship with Gillie Brandolini, the Wine and Spirits Buyer at Sams Club, and introduced a couple of brands into their SKU mix as a test. But the fledgling companies struggled to keep up with demand and out-of-stocks, finding it difficult to catch the attention of stronger distributors. We had tons of challenges there ... only 12 months of being in business, trying to get distribution, mostly dealing with large players and publically traded companies. To get their attention was difficult, said Selena. Gillie was patient with them and was committed to telling the Seven Sisters story at Sams Club. Fast forward a couple of years. Enter Global Sourcing In October 2010, when Walmart announced its intent to acquire Massmart, the Global Sourcing leadership team asked Jack Licause, Senior Sourcing Manager Global Food Sourcing, to work on a special project: Find stuff to source from Africa. He identified wine early on as a viable option. It had an established presence in South Africa, having been produced there since the 17th Century. It was also produced in a highly sustainable manner.

Our goal was to not just go to Diageo or Gallo [large multinational producers and distributors of alcoholic beverages]. We could have easily done that. Our goal was to seek product on the ground in South Africa, where we could potentially make the biggest impact, Jack said. Jack contacted Gillie Brandolini, who introduced him to Selena. In the first conversation I had with Selena, I told her we wanted to make an impact. We knew, through Gillie, about her relationship with Seven Sisters and other black family-owned brands, and we started down that path. My jaw dropped when Jack called, said Selena. What their story represented to us was -- on so many different levels -- so meaningful. My husband and I are African-American. We wanted to tell the good news story in Africa that no one hears. Jack also connected Selena with Jason Fremstad, then the Sr. Buyer for Wine and Spirits (recently promoted to Director), to review wines from South Africa for incorporation into their product line-up. Jason and his team initially reviewed nine different wineries from two distributors. They brought the wines to Bentonville to do a tasting. From there, they narrowed it down to three brands. From those brands, Seven Sisters was selected. According to Jason, the Seven Sisters brand was chosen because their wines had several factors in their favor: First, the style of their wines was in line with what Walmart customers are looking for: easy and soft to drink, regardless of the varietal. Second, the label has been designed in a way to grab the customers attention and then delivers a deeper story once the customer has picked it up off the shelf to read further. Finally, the prices fit into a range which appeals to Walmart customers. As of late August, Walmart has carried two SKUs in Walmart stores: Seven Sisters Bukettraube (Odelia) 750ml and Seven Sisters Cabernet Sauvignon (Carol) 750ml. These wines are currently carried in 58 stores and will soon expand to 300 stores next year. They also carry the Pinotage-Shiraz (Dawn) blend at Sams Club. Seven Sisters is a 100 percent Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) brand owned by women. The wines have been certified 100 percent sustainable by WIETA, a non-profit voluntary organization that actively promotes ethical trade in the wine industry value chain. From a merchant standpoint, said Jason Fremstadt, to discover new items and brands from across the world is one of the cool things about Walmart. We have this access to new suppliers and new items that you dont get working just anywhere. The Seven Sisters story hopefully will be a success story for all of us. The impact on the Seven Sisters and Heritage Link Brands businesses has been small from a revenue standpoint so far, said Selena. But where Walmart has been unique and helpful is in enabling them to get a stronger infrastructure from a distribution perspective. Before, we had no relationships with larger distributors. For them to get a phone call about our out-ofstocks those calls went unanswered, said Selena. We are now poised to strategically plan with Walmart and Sams Club in a way that just didnt exist in that first year [during the test with Sams Club].

The Seven Sisters family has been able to expand their operation over the past couple of years. In 2011, they added a tasting room. Theyre planning to add a restaurant on the farm property in the future so that more of Vivians sisters will have employment. Jack said, This has taken legs like nothing Ive ever seen with my 20 years with the company. I believe thats happened because of the way we went about this in the beginning. Making sure that the impact to Seven Sisters was right. Making sure were able to deliver, to get the right people engaged at the right time. Making sure that everyone understands the impact we are having on this small producer of wines. It takes a village, Jack said. The more people who know the story of Seven Sisters, the bigger the impact on these small wineries. The impact is right there. When you hear Vivian talk about this restaurant and giving her sisters employment that is what we set out to do, he added. This has had a big impact on our family, Vivian said. Thank you for what youre doing. Walmart is really helping us to achieve our dreams.

Images provided and used with permission from Heritage Link Brands

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