KWV South Africa (Proprietary) Limited (founded as ''Ko-operatiewe Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika'') is one of the leading wine and spirits producers in South Africa. Its brands include Roodeberg, KWV Wines & KWV Brandies, and Laborie. KWV Head office in Paarl South Africa

History

KWV was founded as a winemaking co-operative on 8 January 1918 by

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

makers from the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, with Dr. Charles Kohler as its chairperson. The name “Koöperatieve Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Suid-Afrika” is Afrikaans for "Co-operative Winemakers Union' of South Africa". The purpose of KWV was to create unity amongst the wine farmers of South Africa and to ensure continuous improvement in the quality of South African wines and brandies. From the early 1920s, the co-operative was granted increasing legislative control over the production, sale and export of South Africa's distilling wine and spirits, which allowed the body to experiment with innovations in the industry which aided its development. The organisation also invested a great deal in the promotion of South African wine and brandy both locally and abroad. KWV's legal hand over the industry was lifted with the end of Apartheid in 1990 and subsequent change in government, and in 1997 converted from a co-operative to a company structure. In 2004, KWV negotiated the South African wine industry's largest

Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is a policy of the South African government which aims to facilitate broader participation in the economy by black people. A form of affirmative action, it is intended especially to redress the inequalities creat ...

(BBBEE) deal with Phetogo (Pty) Ltd, attaining 25.1% shares. For the first time, KWV products entered the local market with its branded wines and brandies, having previously only been available to international consumers. In 2010, KWV formed a subsidiary of Niveus Investments, part of the HCI black empowerment investment group, and was the only South African producer listed on Drinks International's Most Admired Wine Brands Global register. In October 2016 KWV was acquired by the Vasari group under leadership of Mr Vivian Imerman. Based in London, Vasari is a consumer focussed investment group that acquired the operational assets of KWV for ZAR 1.15 billion. KWV Brandies are regular winners of Best brandy of the world and best brandy and cognac producers of the world accolades. The KWV Headquarters and main production complex are situated in the Cape Winelands in

Paarl Paarl (; Afrikaans: ; derived from ''Parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a town with 112,045 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the third-oldest city and European settlement in the Republic of South Africa (after ...

References

External links

KWV website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kooperatieve Wijnbouwers Vereniging Van Zuid-Afrika Bpkt Food and drink companies established in 1918 Economy of the Western Cape South African wine Wineries of South Africa Wine industry organizations Paarl