ALLIANCE Wine has expanded its portfolio with the addition of South African producer Iona Wines.
The Beith-based supplier took over the importing and distribution of the wines from Enotria earlier this month.
Iona Wines’ vineyards are said to be the coolest in South Africa and are situated on a mountain plateau 420 metres above sea level overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, meaning that the grapes ripen a full two months later than other Cape vineyards.
Garech Byrne, wine buyer at Alliance Wine, said Iona produces some of the best wines in South Africa.
“It is always important for us to seek out top quality producers and we feel that Iona will be a very important addition to our portfolio,” he said.
Iona Wines owner Andrew Gunn, who took over the farm in 1997 and renamed it Iona to reflect his family’s Scottish heritage, said: “The UK has always been a very important market for us and we are looking forward to working with Alliance Wine in order to continue to raise our profile in such a competitive marketplace.”
Meanwhile, Alliance said it is confident about the quality of Spanish wines this year, despite what it described as an “eventful and challenging” harvest.
After a cool spring and a later than usual harvest, Spain was hit by heavy storms.
Alliance said having an in-house wine maker on the ground in Spain this year meant it was able to be react quickly to the adverse weather conditions.
It plans to release a number of new own-production Spanish wines in 2014.
