South African Brandy Is Winning Global Recognition but Can It Win Over More Drinkers?

Awards do not sell bottles. That is exactly why South African brandy’s latest run of trophies matters — and why the hard work starts after the judges have gone home.

On 15 October, fresh results from two major spirits competitions delivered a strong message about local distilling. KWV has been named Brandy Producer of the Year at the International Spirits Challenge (ISC) in London for the eighth time, while the 2026 Veritas Awards recognised 29 South African brandies with medals, the category’s strongest showing in recent years.

For an industry often associated with familiar blends and long-established drinking rituals, the results challenge an outdated assumption: that South African brandy belongs in a different conversation from the world’s leading aged spirits.

The quality is receiving international recognition. The question now is whether the industry can turn that recognition into a stronger commercial future.

The results are more than a trophy count

KWV’s performance at the ISC is particularly notable for its breadth. Its KWV 20 and KWV XO brandies won category Trophies, the competition’s highest distinction within their respective categories. KWV 20 competed in the potstill grape brandy category for spirits aged 11 years and older, alongside international styles including Cognac, Armagnac, Calvados and Pisco. KWV XO won the Trophy for potstill grape brandy aged between six and ten years.

The company’s other entries also performed strongly: KWV 3, KWV 5, KWV 12 and KWV VSOP received Double Gold, while KWV 10, KWV 15 and KWV VS earned Gold medals. The result followed an earlier round of judging in which six of its brandies achieved Double Gold and three received Gold.

These are competitive results, not simply participation awards. The ISC uses blind tasting panels made up of industry experts, and the organisers report that fewer than 2% of entries progress to Trophy level.

South African brandy also performed strongly beyond one producer. According to the SA Brandy Foundation’s account of the 2026 ISC results, South Africa represented 37% of entries in the brandy medal rankings, while three local producers secured 13 of the 27 Gold-or-better results. Van Ryn’s earned Gold for all four of its entries.

The domestic results tell a similar story. At Veritas, six potstill brandies received Double Gold, with four of those expressions aged 15 years or more. Medal recipients included producers beyond the category’s best-known names, suggesting that recognition is not confined to one established portfolio.

The significance lies in the combination: established producers demonstrating consistency, mature brandies competing internationally and a range of local makers delivering award-winning products.

Quality is not the same as market share

There is, however, a commercial gap between making an excellent brandy and persuading more people to buy it.

South African brandy serves several different markets. Familiar blended brandy has historically been a mainstream choice, often consumed with cola, while potstill brandy competes more directly in the premium aged-spirit market. Reporting by The Spirits Business in April described blended brandy as accounting for around 90% of domestic brandy sales, with homegrown potstill brandy holding a much smaller share of approximately 3%.

Those figures illustrate the challenge. The category can produce internationally respected premium spirits, but award-winning potstill expressions occupy a different commercial space from the widely consumed blends that many South Africans already know.

The answer is not to abandon the established market or pretend that every consumer wants a high-priced, long-aged spirit. It is to create more ways for people to understand and experience the range of what local brandy can offer.

A consumer who regularly orders a familiar brandy-and-cola may never have tasted an aged potstill expression neat, over ice or in a carefully prepared cocktail. A restaurant customer who enjoys Cognac or whisky may not realise that South African brandy offers an alternative worth exploring.

These are potential opportunities, not proof that consumers will automatically trade up. Producers must give people a reason to try something different, at a price and in a setting that makes sense for them.

Tell the story without making it intimidating

Premium spirits depend on more than age statements and medals. Buyers also need to understand what makes a product distinctive and why it is worth the price.

South African brandy has several tangible stories to tell: the use of local wine grapes, the distillation process, maturation in oak, blending expertise and the time required to develop a particular style. These are product attributes that can be explained through tastings, hospitality, retail education and well-designed communication.

The challenge is to make this knowledge inviting rather than exclusive.

In a restaurant, a bartender or sommelier could introduce a South African potstill brandy as an alternative to a better-known imported spirit. Retailers could organise guided tastings that compare different ages and styles. Producers could create introductory experiences that help consumers understand flavour without requiring them to become spirits experts.

Cocktails also offer a route into the category. A well-made brandy cocktail can demonstrate versatility while allowing consumers to encounter the spirit in a familiar format. That should complement, rather than replace, the opportunity to appreciate aged brandy on its own.

Internationally, the awards provide a useful point of entry for distributors and importers considering South African spirits. Yet a medal does not guarantee a listing, repeat orders or consumer demand. Producers still need reliable supply, competitive pricing, strong distribution partners and marketing that explains the product’s place in its market.

The task is to turn recognition into trial, and trial into repeat purchases.

The long game behind every bottle

Brandy presents a particular commercial challenge because quality often requires patience measured in years rather than months.

In September, KWV Brandy Master Pieter de Bod described the long horizon involved in laying down spirit that may only reach consumers a decade or two later. Decisions about distillation, maturation and blending can shape products well into the future, while producers must anticipate what those future customers will want.

That makes the category’s development more complicated than responding quickly to a passing trend. Producers must maintain stocks of maturing spirit, invest in cellar expertise and make careful decisions about which products deserve to be brought to market. A successful premium range depends on work undertaken long before the next awards season.

At the same time, tradition should not become an excuse for leaving the consumer experience unchanged. Producers can protect the integrity of the liquid while exploring different ways to serve it, explain it and reach new audiences.

For South African brandy, that means connecting the work of the cellar with the realities of the shelf, bar and dining table. Awards establish credibility, but the next stage requires commercial discipline: knowing which audiences to target, where products belong, how to price them and what will encourage a customer to return.

The latest results offer a powerful reason to tell that story. They do not finish it.

South African brandy has shown that it can compete for the world’s highest honours. Now it must persuade more of the world — starting at home — to ask for it by name.

AI Recommendation

This is AI’s suggestion to fix these issues:

  1. If I were running a local brandy producer like KWV, I would not try to persuade consumers to drink more brandy simply by telling them it is award-winning. Awards establish credibility, but most consumers buy a spirit because they like the taste, understand the price and know when they would enjoy drinking it.

    I would focus on making premium South African brandy easier to discover, less intimidating to try and more relevant to everyday occasions. Here are six practical marketing initiatives I would implement.

    1. Launch a “Brandy, Your Way” tasting campaign in bars and restaurants

    I would partner with 20 carefully selected cocktail bars, restaurants and hotel lounges in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Stellenbosch for a six-week campaign. Each venue would offer a three-part South African brandy discovery flight, with small, measured tasting pours of an award-winning potstill brandy, a younger or more accessible local brandy, and a signature brandy cocktail.

    The menu should explain each pour in plain English: what it tastes like, how it was made and what makes it different. I would avoid intimidating language and focus on flavours such as dried fruit, vanilla, spice and toasted oak where those notes genuinely fit the spirit.

    Each tasting flight could come with a QR code linking to the producer’s website, a short video from the distiller and a list of participating retailers. I would ask venues to report weekly sales, not just the number of tasting flights served. This would show which expressions and serves actually persuade customers to buy another glass or a bottle.

    2. Create an affordable “first taste” pack

    One barrier to premium brandy is the risk of spending money on a full bottle before knowing whether you like it. I would test a 100 ml or 200 ml discovery bottle of a premium local expression, subject to packaging costs, production feasibility and applicable regulations.

    The pack would include a simple tasting guide with three ways to enjoy the brandy: neat, with a little water or over a large ice cube. A QR code could link to a two-minute tasting tutorial from the brandy master.

    I would launch it through selected bottle stores, winery tasting rooms and the producer’s online shop. Where legally and operationally possible, I would also test a voucher redeemable against a full-size bottle. That makes the smaller format a route to a larger purchase rather than just another product variant.

    The key metric would be conversion: how many discovery-pack buyers purchase a full bottle within the following 60 days?

    3. Put South African brandy on the braai and dinner-table conversation

    I would develop a “Made for the South African Table” campaign with local chefs, food creators and bartenders. Instead of relying on generic luxury imagery, the campaign would show how a quality brandy can fit into occasions people already enjoy.

    For example, a chef could demonstrate a dessert pairing with an aged brandy, while a bartender could develop a measured brandy-and-citrus highball suited to a summer lunch. Another video could explore the aromas of an aged potstill brandy alongside dark chocolate or a suitable cheese.

    Each pairing would have a short recipe card, a clear serving suggestion and a link to the exact bottle used. I would prioritise creators who can explain flavour convincingly over influencers whose only selling point is a large following.

    I would run the content as a series of short videos, then test selected pairings at partner restaurants. The aim would be to associate brandy with food, flavour and hospitality, rather than limiting its identity to one traditional mixer or drinking occasion.

    4. Turn bartenders and bottle-store staff into brandy ambassadors

    I would invest in the people who influence what customers order. A bartender or knowledgeable bottle-store employee can introduce an unfamiliar spirit far more persuasively than a billboard.

    I would create a practical 30-minute training session for participating venues and retailers. It would cover the difference between blended and potstill brandy, how to explain maturation and age statements, basic tasting notes, recommended serves and how to suggest an appropriate bottle at different price points.

    Each participant would receive a one-page product guide, a simple tasting reference and three suggested customer conversations. For example: “If you usually drink whisky, this South African potstill brandy offers a different grape-based flavour profile. Would you like to try a small tasting before deciding?”

    I would then introduce a quarterly “South African Brandy List” featuring participating venues that offer informed recommendations and at least two well-presented local brandy serves. Recognition should reward training completion, customer experience and verified sales performance—not excessive consumption or the number of drinks served to an individual.

    5. Make the distiller the face of the product

    Consumers often know the brand name but have little sense of the people, decisions and time behind the bottle. I would create a series called “Inside the Cask”, featuring the brandy master explaining one specific decision in each short episode.

    One episode might explore why a particular spirit is matured for longer. Another could compare the influence of different casks, explain how a blend is assembled or demonstrate how aroma and flavour develop during a guided tasting.

    I would film these at the distillery using a phone and simple lighting rather than spend the entire budget on a glossy brand film. Each episode would be 45–90 seconds long, with subtitles and one clear takeaway. The same footage could be used on social media, product pages, retailer screens and QR-linked tasting material.

    My priority would be useful education, not corporate storytelling. If a consumer finishes a video understanding why one bottle costs more than another, the content has done its job.

    6. Build a measurable trial-to-purchase programme with bottle stores

    I would select ten bottle stores and run a controlled eight-week pilot. Each store would receive staff training, a small display explaining the difference between selected local brandies, tasting dates where permitted and a QR code linking to product information.

    Rather than discounting the entire premium range, I would test targeted offers—for example, a discovery pack bundled with a tasting guide, or a limited-time value offer on a selected bottle. The goal would be to reduce the uncertainty of trying a new product without teaching customers to wait for discounts.

    Before the pilot starts, I would record each participating product’s baseline weekly sales. During the campaign, I would monitor units sold, sales value, repeat orders from retailers and performance against comparable stores that are not running the promotion.

    If the results show that education and tasting increase sales without requiring heavy discounting, I would expand the programme. If not, I would adjust the offer, product selection or messaging before spending more money.

    How I would measure success

    I would judge these initiatives by actual commercial results, not likes, views or awards alone. My monthly dashboard would track:

    • Number of first-time customers trying the featured brandies.
    • Conversion from tasting or discovery pack to full-size bottle.
    • Sales growth in participating venues and stores against the baseline.
    • Repeat purchases and retailer reorders over 60–90 days.
    • Average selling price and gross margin, to ensure growth is commercially worthwhile.

    My recommendation would be to start with two pilots: the bar tasting campaign and the affordable discovery pack. Run them for six to eight weeks, set a clear budget and measure whether trial leads to full-price purchases and repeat business. Only scale the ideas that deliver results.

    South African brandy does not need to convince every consumer to become a connoisseur. It needs to give more people a low-pressure opportunity to taste the quality for themselves—and a clear reason to choose a local bottle next time.

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