South Africa's Sodbuster wine targets UK farmers

By Gemma McKenna

Published: 29 July, 2014

A South African wine has decided to bypass the usual UK retail channels in favour of directly targeting farmers as its would-be consumers.

Sodbuster, which is bottled in South African by Boland Cellars, is describing itself as a wine made by farmers, for farmers. It is being handled by Broadland Wineries agency arm.

Sodbuster South Africa's Sodbuster wines to appeal directly to UK farmersNiche markets are a useful source of revenue if you have the flexibility to be able to cater for them, says Mark Lansley, managing director of Broadland Wineries in Norfolk.

The grapes are grown in South Africa's Paarl Valley by Boland Cellar, who are looking to maximise value for consumers by selling direct to farmers rather than through retailers. Broadland already buys bulk wine from Boland and thought the farming community would be a good niche to target.

According to the firm, South Africans use the term 'sodbuster' to refer to a hardworking, proud countryman who farms vines on his land.

Broadland's managing director Mark Lansley told Harpers.co.uk: "We have a range of products aimed at very specific niches - such as communion wine which we sell to churches, fruit wines, mulles wine at Christmas and Wincarnis, which we sell to London's Caribbean community and overseas. Ivory Coast buys communion wine from us, and we do mead which is often bought by people putting on medieval plays. We have heritage products for micro niches. We also bring over tankers and pack here. It's horses for courses and that's all part of our being flexible."

"We have a very small change over time and can do large or small runs from 2,000 litres to 100,000 litres on our bottling lines. We're quite adept - the on-trade is a good market for us as small pub and restaurants often want their own wine.

With Sodbuster, Lansley said it had researched the size of the UK's farming community, and thought there was a market there. Boland Cellars is advertising the Sodbuster wines through the National Farmers Union website, with sales redirected back to Broadland.

The Sodbuster range includes a 2013 Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, both weighing in at 13.5% abv, with an rrp of £7.99.

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