ABSTRACT
Wines of South Africa (WOSA), the non-profit marketing body for the South African wine industry, has invested heavily in the branding strategy DNA SA: A Brand Blueprint for South African Wine. The strategy incorporates the well-known slogan ‘variety is in our nature’. The emphasis on ‘variety’ references the topographic and biological terroir diversity of South Africa’s Winelands, and also the area’s cultural diversity. Together, these forms of diversity make up a ‘utopian’ terroir. DNA SA gives WOSA’s narrative an evolutionary aspect – evoking heritage, and genealogical rememberings. However, this is a heritage that is political and contested, and the industry’s history of racialised power relations remains conspicuously present within its formal and informal institutions alike. WOSA’s careful construction of South Africa’s wine utopia is part of a broad effort to distance the industry from the troubled aspects of its history, whilst still leveraging heritage to market the industry’s unique aspects within a positive ‘rainbow nation’ framing. The defining aspect of this strategy has been the widespread uptake of ‘ethical’ labour and environmental certification, which allows the industry to both acknowledge and distance itself from its historical reputation in the eyes of consumers. Based on qualitative field research undertaken in South Africa’s Western Cape, this chapter examines the evolution, construction and outcomes of ethical labelling. On a local scale we find that historic power asymmetries are reproduced within ethical certification networks. Market-led certification fetishises and depoliticises post-apartheid transformation, largely for the benefit of European retailers.
