The year in review… thus far!

Its about time that we take a look back at everything that’s happened in the Brave New World of Wine. 2022 hasn’t exactly gone to plan, and whilst that’s a continuum of the status quo from the past 2 years, there are some very exciting things that have come to life and several others that are in development.

Global sea freight is in one of the worst states we’ve ever seen. Our loyal Acquire customers together with many of our retail partners have been patiently waiting for their stock to arrive in Australia… since orders were placed in early January 2022. A perfect storm of Covid lockdowns in China, dock worker isolation in the US & Singapore and the war in Ukraine has resulted in equipment shortage (Refrigerated containers) on a scale never before seen, massive backlogs and many routes being bypassed – including Cape Town. We have even been investigating ordering some of our partner vineyards stock out of other locations, including Belgium, Tokyo, California and the Philippines. But there maybe some great news on the horizon, and whilst we don’t want to get too excited just yet, there has been a lot of activity with our freight forwarders over the past week. Stock is being consolidated and there may just be a boat sailing in the next 7-10 days. Fingers crossed.

So, whilst that’s been a major challenge, if COVID taught us anything, it was to pivot. Enter wine auctions,merchandise and accessories.

Moving forward, Brave New World Wine will hold a monthly auction of premium wines, not only from South Africa, but from Australia, New Zealand and other countries as appropriate. We were motivated to explore this further following the highly successful Strauss & Co NFT auction recently held in South Africa which featured the wines of Kanonkop, Meerlust, Vilafonte, Klein Constantia and Mullineux. The results speak volumes – South African fine wine is on par with any wine producing country in the world! Check out the results at Strauss & Co NFT Auction

So whilst we cant offer all of these wines, we are the proud importers of Kanonkop & Meerlust, and through our many contact have access to some very special wines. There will be something for collectors every month – be sure to get involved.

If you’re anything like me, you love a good T-Shirt. I’m wearing my new Led Zeppelin T-Shirt as I write this email and believe it is powering me to type away… or maybe that’s the glass of Chenin already poured and sitting next to the keyboard. The BNWW crew have been toying around with fun ideas for t-shirt designs for many months, and we have finally got this section up and live on the website. Custom designed his & hers shirts in a range of sizes and colours are available online, with lots of additional designs being finalised. Be sure to check back… make your friends jealous.

As great party trick for your next dinner party, you should really consider getting one of these amazing wine carafe decanter aerators – the Menu Wine Breather Carafe. Watch this space for a video on how to use this amazing device – coming soon.

We’re now a Corovin partner too… and if you haven’t heard of Corovin, you really should. I swear by these amazing wine gadgets. If you ‘re looking for the perfect present for the wine lover in your life, or yourself…. Corovin! The ability to taste your treasured wines over an extended period of time is priceless. Check out https://www.coravin.com.au/ .

But wait.. there’s more! Yes, new arrivals to our online product offerings. We’ve secured a small allocation of the cult wines Testalonga. We’re hoping to have them listed online in the next 2 weeks once we take delivery. So if you’re after any of this, be sure to let us know. Rustenberg Winesfrom Stellenbosch also join our online offering, as do Radford Dale, Boekenhoutskloof and Chocolate Block.

Whilst talking about Boekenhoutskloof, we have secured a small allocation of back vintage Cabernet from 2014, 2015 & 2016. Highly desirable wines, small quantities – again if interested, please let us know.

Lastly, there’s other long terms projects, which are incredibly exciting but that we cant yet elaborate on – suffice to say that when we pull them off, it will disrupt the industry, for the good!

Let us know your thoughts on the wines and services that we offer. We are a small team driven by the loyal support of our established community. What would you like to see more of?

Until next time, keep your glasses filled and your Ugg boots on.

Jo-Ann, Werner & Ross