- Title: KENYA: BACKGROUND FEATURE - WINE MANUFACTURE
- Date: 8th July 1997
- Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (RECENT) 1. YOUNG KENYANS IN A CLUB 2. MAN AND WOMAN DRINKING WINE IN RESTAURANT 2. MAN BUYING SOUTH AFRICAN WINE IN MARKET 3. CLOSEUP OF VARIOUS BRANDS OF SOUTH AFRICAN WINE LAKE NAIVASHA, KENYA (RECENT) 4. NAIVASHA WINES BEING LABELLED ON CONVEYER BELT 5. VINTNER JOHN D'OLIER ON HIS LAND 6. JOHN D'OLIER SAYING, "WE ARE DOWNSCALING. WE ARE WHAT YOU CALL IN MODERN PHRASEOLOGY, RETRENCHING - ACTUALLY REMOVING A GOODLY PROPORTION OF OUR WINES, ABOUT 50-PERCENT. WE ARE TAKING OUT MOST OF OUR RED GRAPES AND WE ARE HOPING TO REPLANT WITH AN IMPROVED VARIETY AND WE ARE SPREADING OUR FEET A BIT AND TRYING OTHER CROPS AS WELL AS THESE TO GET US BY." (ENGLISH) 7. D'OLIER AND HIS WIFE ELLI SAMPLING SOME OF THEIR WINE 8. GRAPES ON THE VINE 9. WIDE VIEW OF THE VINEYARD 10. GRAPES BEING TAKEN OFF THE VINE, PLACED IN BINS 11. CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE BEING CORKED 12. JOHN D'OLIER SAYING, "OUR SELLING POINT HAS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE THE FACT THAT THE WINE IS GROWN ON THE EQUATOR - IN FACT WE ARE THREE-QUARTERS OF A DEGREE FROM THE EQUATOR HERE. WE HAVE A RATHER UNUSUAL CLIMATE HERE - WE ARE 1,900 METRES ABOVE SEA LEVEL, WE ARE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RIFT VALLEY BUT WE HAVE STRONG SUNLIGHT AND GOOD RIPENING CONDITIONS." (ENGLISH) 13. GRAPES ON THE VINE 14. GRAPES BEING PICKED 15. JOHN D'OLIER SAYING, "OUR COMPETITORS, BE IT IN FRANCE OR SOUTH AFRICA, THOSE COUNTRIES THAT EXPORT WINE TO KENYA, THE WINE INDUSTRIES HAVE GROWN UP IN AN ENVIRONMENT THAT'S TAX FRIENDLY. THE ENVIRONMENT IN THIS COUNTRY IS NOT TAX FRIENDLY AT ALL." (ENGLISH) NAIROBI, KENYA (RECENT) 16. BOTTLES ON CONVEYER BELT 17. WINE BOTTLES BEING LABELLED ON BELT YATTA, KENYA (RECENT) 18. GENERAL VIEWS OF THE VINEYARD 19. VARIOUS SHOTS OF TYPES OF WINES ON THE VINES 20. PAUL CHEMNG'OREM SAYING, "SO FAR WE HAVE HAD GREAT SUCCESS IN ALL THESE VARITIES. WE HAVE HAD 100-PERCENT GERMINATION AND WE GOT OUR CONSULTANCY FROM A SOUTH AFRICAN FIRM AND THEY REGULARLY VISIT US AND CHECK HOW THE VINES ARE DOING AND SO FAR WE HAVE HAD NO PROBLEM IN TERMS OF DISEASE. THE VINES ARE DOING VERY WELL." (ENGLISH) 21. VARIOUS SHOTS OF VINEYARDS 22. PAUL CHEMNG'OREM SAYING, "IN OUR VISION WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE WINE THAT WILL ENABLE KENYANS TO HAVE THEIR OWN WINE AND ALSO TO COMPETE INTERNATIONALLY. WE WOULD LIKE TO BE SELF-SUFFICIENT IN 20 YEARS' TIME." (ENGLISH) 23. VATS OF WINE SITTING OUTSIDE THE WINERY LAKE NAIVASHA, KENYA (RECENT) 24. JOHN AND ELLI D'OLIER SAMPLING SOME OF THEIR WINE narration at 10.09.30 to 10. 14.47 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 23rd July 1997 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NAIROBI, LAKE NAIVASHA AND YATTA, KENYA
- City:
- Country: Kenya
- Reuters ID: LVA4Z1KF9YY50HOMLHD6IZXRD1L1
- Story Text: - INTRO: At the end of a long day, some folks like nothing better than to relax with a nice glass of wine -- red or white, according to one's taste. Many wine lovers consider France, Italy, Germany and the United States the world's best wine-producing countries. But as Reuters' Goolnar Bradbury reports, there's a new challenger on the scene.
------------------------------------------------------------ Traditionally a nation of beer drinkers and producers, Kenyans are increasingly turning to the fruits of the vine.
But rather than choose a home-grown tipple, the majority of drinkers are opting for imported wines, more often than not from South Africa.
In supermarkets in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, five-litrecardboard boxes of South African wine fill the shelves.
The flood of this relatively cheap wine into the country follows the opening up of South Africa three years ago.
Even though prices have recently risen sharply, it currently dominates the market.
Hardest hit has been Kenya's most established home-grown grape wine, produced on the banks of Lake Naivasha, 75 kilometres northwest of Nairobi.
Eighteen months ago the vineyard was producing up to 7-thousand cases of wine a year. Now, it's down to 2-thousand cases. The change in the market has forced Kenyan vintner John D'Olier into a radical re-think.
------------------ CAPTION: JOHN D'OLIER, NAIVASHA WINE "WE ARE DOWNSCALING. WE ARE WHAT YOU CALL IN MODERN PHRASEOLOGY, RETRENCHING - ACTUALLY REMOVING A GOODLY PROPORTION OF OUR WINES, ABOUT 50-PERCENT. WE ARE TAKING OUT MOST OF OUR RED GRAPES AND WE ARE HOPING TO REPLANT WITH AN IMPROVED VAREITY AND WE ARE SPREADING OUR FEET A BIT AND TRYING OTHER CROPS AS WELL AS THESE TO GET US BY." (ENGLISH) ------------------ John and his American wife Elii started the vineyard 15 years ago with high hopes.
With vines imported from California, they planted their 20 hectare plot from scratch and by 1985 the first wines were on sale.
Until the last couple of years, business was flourishing.
Producing two red and two white wines - and more recently a limited range of champagne - they had trouble keeping up with demand.
----------------- CAPTION: JOHN D'OLIER, NAIVASHA WINE "OUR SELLING POINT HAS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE THE FACT THAT THE WINE IS GROWN ON THE EQUATOR - IN FACT WE ARE THREE-QUARTERS OF A DEGREE FROM THE EQUATOR HERE. WE HAVE A RATHER UNUSUAL CLIMATE HERE - WE ARE 1,900 METRES ABOVE SEA LEVEL, WE ARE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RIFT VALLEY BUT WE HAVE STRONG SUNLIGHT AND GOOD RIPENING CONDITIONS." (ENGLISH) ------------------ But in their present difficulties, they feel the Kenyan government has badly let them down.
Many wine-producing countries offer tax concessions to their wine makers...in Kenya there are none.
---------------- CAPTION: JOHN D'OLIER, NAIVASHA WINE "OUR COMPETITORS, BE IT IN FRANCE OR SOUTH AFRICA, THOSE COUNTRIES THAT EXPORT WINE TO KENYA, THE WINE INDUSTRIES HAVE GROWN UP IN AN ENVIRONMENT THAT'S TAX FRIENDLY. THE ENVIRONMENT IN THIS COUNTRY IS NOT TAX FRIENDLY AT ALL." (ENGLISH) --------------- Despite the increasingly competitive market, several other Kenya companies are currently looking into grape wine production. Most ambitious is the parastatal Kenyan Wine Agencies, Limited.
Producers of popular fruit wines for many years, the company now has a selection of home-grown grape wines aging at its winery in Nairobi.
Nine different varieties of vines, all imported from South Africa, are being grown on an area of 20 hectares.
------------------ CAPTION: PAUL CHEMNG'OREM, KENYA WINE AGENCIES LTD.
"SO FAR WE HAVE HAD GREAT SUCCESS IN ALL THESE VARITIES. WE HAVE HAD 100-PERCENT GERMINATION AND WE GOT OUR CONSULTANCY FROM A SOUTH AFRICAN FIRM AND THEY REGULARLY VISIT US AND CHECK HOW THE VINES ARE DOING AND SO FAR WE HAVE HAD NO PROBLEM IN TERMS OF DISEASE.
THE VINES ARE DOING VERY WELL." (ENGLISH) ------------------ Wine making is expensive and the project is likely to cost a million dollars by the time the first wine is on sale next year.
The long-term ambition is for Kenya to eventually find a place among the great wine-producing nations of the world.
------------------ CAPTION: PAUL CHEMNG'OREM, KENYA WINE AGENCIES LTD.
"IN OUR VISION WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE WINE THAT WILL ENABLE KENYANS TO HAVE THEIR OWN WINE AND ALSO TO COMPETE INTERNATIONALLY. WE WOULD LIKE TO BE SELF-SUFFICIENT IN 20 YEARS' TIME." (ENGLISH) ------------------ Kenyan vintners are currently lobbying the government for tax breaks - a more they see as vital if the industry is to prosper.
If it does, the hope for Kenyans is that within the next few years they'll be able to look to home-grown wines for both quality and value for money.
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