The KWV was founded in 1918 on the initiative of Charles Kohler to bundle marketing efforts, regulate production and thus help winemakers to earn a secure income. Almost all winemakers on the Cape quickly joined, creating the largest winemaking cooperative in the world. Minimum prices and harvest quantities were anchored in law. In order to regulate the overproduction, the surplus was used to make brandy.
In 1997 the cooperative was transformed into a group of companies and the winemakers became shareholders. However, the KWV still regulates and controls large parts of the South African wine market. To this day it is the largest producer of brandy in the country. KWV's Worcester distillery and winery is one of the largest in the world. Your visit will also be used for tourist programs. The KWV wine-growing region extends around Stellenbosch.
Between 2007 and 2009, the structure of the group was simplified, sales reorganized and all unprofitable subsidiaries sold. The German sales partner Eggers & Franke merged with A. Racke GmbH & Co. KG, creating the largest German liquor distributor, which has since been sold again. In 2009 the stake in the South African Distell Group was sold.
The KWV Group achieved sales of almost 729 million rand in the 2010 financial year (ended June 30, 2010). [2]