La RicMal Wines and DTIC Open Global Doors for SA Wine

For La RicMal Wines, exhibiting at international trade fairs is about much more than placing its own bottles in front of prospective buyers. Each international platform provides an opportunity to showcase their Proudly South African wine brand while also contributing to the visibility and growth of the country’s broader wine industry.

That was once again the case at the Feira Internacional de Angola (FILDA), held in Luanda from 21 to 26 July 2026, where La RicMal Wines participated as part of a South African business delegation supported by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic).

For La RicMal owner Malcolm Green, the opportunity extended beyond promoting his own Black-owned wine company. In engaging with Angolan and international wine buyers, Green was also able to speak about the depth, quality and international standing of South African wine, including the growing contribution of Black winemakers to the industry.

La RicMal Makes Its Mark at FILDA

The response to La RicMal at FILDA was encouraging, with importers and distributors showing interest in the brand’s products.

Green attributed the positive response to the combination of product quality, pricing and packaging, while also identifying an opportunity that could extend well beyond Angola itself.

“We received a good response from importers and distributors based on the quality of the product, the price and the packaging,” Green said.

He noted that some businesses operating in Angola also serve markets beyond its borders, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Namibia.

“This creates an opportunity for products to enter Angola and subsequently move into other regional markets,” he said.

That regional potential was central to Green’s assessment of FILDA, which he described as an important conduit for South African businesses looking to expand their presence elsewhere on the continent.

“My experience from FILDA is that the opportunity for South African businesses is now,” he said, adding that the exhibition had grown and that there was “a clear appetite among the international business community to invest in Africa.”

For La RicMal, that appetite presents an opportunity to build its own international footprint while simultaneously putting South African wine in front of new markets.

WATCH: La RicMal CEO, Malcolm Green, speaking at FILDA 2026

Speaking for South African Wine

One of the most significant aspects of Green’s participation at FILDA was his engagement with a gathering of Angolan and international wine buyers.

In addressing the buyers, Green placed La RicMal within the much bigger story of South African winemaking, pointing to an industry that has developed its expertise and reputation over more than 360 years.

South Africa’s wine industry is now internationally recognised for the quality of its wines, but its competitive advantages extend beyond what is in the bottle. Green highlighted the country’s established logistics infrastructure and the relative affordability of South African wine when compared with products from other major wine-producing regions around the world.

In that setting, Green was not simply making a pitch for La RicMal. He was presenting the case for South African wine as a competitive proposition in international markets.

This is particularly significant given La RicMal’s position as a Black-owned South African wine producer. The company’s presence at international trade exhibitions provides visibility not only for an individual brand, but also for the growing number of Black entrepreneurs and winemakers contributing to the transformation and development of South Africa’s wine sector.

DTIC Support Creates Access

The FILDA participation formed part of the dtic’s efforts to actively shape export markets by expanding opportunities for South African companies and strengthening export promotion across the African continent.

The South African pavilion attracted more than 2,000 visitors during FILDA 2026. Participating companies collectively recorded 82 trade leads, met with 341 buyers and took part in 55 facilitated business-to-business meetings.

While the delegation represented a range of sectors, including agro-processing, steel and metal fabrication, engineering and mining, and chemicals, the wine industry’s presence added another dimension to the country’s export offering.

The value of the dtic-supported model lies in creating an environment where South African businesses can engage directly with international buyers, distributors and potential partners.

For smaller and emerging businesses in particular, access to major international exhibitions can be difficult to achieve without institutional support. The opportunity to exhibit under a South African pavilion places individual companies within a broader national export story.

For La RicMal, it also provides a platform from which the South African wine industry can be introduced to buyers who may not otherwise encounter its products.

A Global Footprint for La RicMal

FILDA is only one part of La RicMal’s continuing participation in international trade exhibitions.

Earlier in 2026, La RicMal exhibited at FOODEX Japan, the major Asian food and beverage business platform, where Malcolm Green represented the company alongside thousands of global brands from more than 80 countries.

In May, La RicMal also exhibited at the London Wine Fair in Olympia, London, joining other South African brands from the wine and spirits industries at the UK’s biggest, and arguably, their most influential drinks exhibitions.

These appearances demonstrate a consistent strategy of taking La RicMal into international markets rather than waiting for international buyers to discover the brand at home.

They also mean that wherever La RicMal exhibits, South African wine is part of the conversation.

This has become evident over the past several years that La RicMal participated in ProWein in Düsseldorf, Germany, one of the world’s major international wine and spirits trade fairs. The company’s participation there highlights the importance of international exhibitions in building relationships, increasing brand visibility and allowing a South African producer to benchmark itself against wine brands from across the globe.

La RicMal Wines Shine at ProWein Germany Global Trade Fair

Even The French are in Love with La RicMal Wines
A true testimony to the quality of La RicMal was when Mr Malcolm Green attended the Grand Pavois Boat Show in La Rochelle, France 20-25 September 2023, during France’s hosting of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. La RicMal sold all of their premium-quality South African wines, La RicMal Supreme, within the first 3 days of the 6-day event.

That level of international exposure continues to help reinforce the idea that South African wine belongs in conversations about quality and competitiveness on the world stage.

Opening Doors Beyond Angola

The significance of FILDA ultimately lies in what happens after the exhibition closes.

Trade fairs can create the first contact between producers and potential buyers, but the resulting relationships need to develop into distribution agreements, partnerships and commercial opportunities. Green’s observation that Angola could serve as a gateway into neighbouring markets therefore gives the FILDA experience a wider regional relevance.

For South African wine producers, this is particularly important as the continent’s markets continue to develop and growing consumer demand creates new opportunities.

Green’s assessment is straightforward: “the opportunity for South African businesses is now.”

For La RicMal, taking that opportunity means continuing to place a proudly South African wine brand in front of international buyers. For the broader industry, however, the benefit is potentially greater.

Every time a Black-owned South African wine producer enters an international exhibition, engages buyers and demonstrates the quality and competitiveness of its products, it adds another layer to the global perception of South African wine.

Through its partnership with the dtic at exhibitions such as FILDA, La RicMal is therefore doing more than pursuing its own international ambitions. It is helping to open doors through which the wider South African wine industry, and the country’s burgeoning community of Black winemakers, can increasingly walk.

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Any comments or trade enquiries may be sent to Ricardo Green: rgreen@laricmal.com or you may visit www.laricmal.com