About Us

Wines of South Africa (WOSA) is a fully inclusive body, representing all South African producers of wine who export their products. WOSA, which was established in its current form in 1999, has over 500 producers on its database, comprising all the major South African wine exporters. It is constituted as a not-for-profit company (sec21) and is totally independent of any producer or wholesaling company. It is also independent of any government department, although it is recognised by government as an Export Council.

WOSA's mandate is to promote the export of all South African wines in key international markets. Traditional markets include the United Kingdom, Germany Sweden and the Netherlands. More recently, WOSA has also been developing markets for South African wines in the United States, Canada, Russia, and Asia.

WOSA is funded by a levy per litre on all bottled natural and sparkling wines exported.

Michael Jordaan, venture capitalist and former CEO of First National Bank (FNB), was appointed chairman of WOSA. He succeeded Johann Krige, CEO and co-owner of Kanonkop Estate, who was chairman of the marketing body for the past five years

WOSA's CEO is Siobhan Thompson, who was appointed in November 2013. An international marketing specialist, prior to this she was Distell's global head of marketing for Amarula and the company's other liqueur brands from 2010. She was previously Distell's group general marketing manager for brandies and cognac, including Bisquit. She also worked for several years marketing the company's sparkling wines and was responsible for the launch of the luxury Pongracz Desiderius Cap Classique. Before joining Distell in 2001, she was responsible for the UCT Graduate School of Business’ marketing and public relations.