Andrea Freeborough, who has over two decades of winemaking experience, drives and oversees HEINEKEN Beverages’ biggest wine portfolio. She leads a team of winemakers, viticulturists, farm managers and agricultural specialists. Her leadership style is underpinned by a deep sense of care for her teams – encouraging them to take risks and aim for excellence.
Q&A
Your role oversees the wine production of HEINEKEN Beverages’ biggest wine portfolio – tell us about what this exciting role entails.
The purpose of my role is to provide group wide leadership and create long term strategic value through the allocation of grapes and wine, and the provision of standards and processes for the wine portfolio within Heineken Beverages and the company’s partners in producing countries.
This is aligned with global leading practices and strong stakeholder relationships in order to promote the image and credibility of the company and the endorsement of quality products at the various price points of our portfolio.
Apart from winemakers, our team also includes viticulturists, farm managers and an agricultural specialist so we are responsible for a number of aspects broadly highlighted below:
- Grape sourcing and producer relationships together with Procurement (contracting aligned with volumes and wine styles, cellar throughput optimization)
- Sustainable agriculture and all related activities and practices (climate change study, sustainable farming models considering social, environmental and financial aspects)
- Localisation of apple production (approved apple farming model, low chill apple cultivar evaluation & selection, trellis system evaluation, mechanization trials, orchard establishment)
- Wine NPD (delivering on NPD brief, independent trialing of technologies related to trends)
- Research and innovation (quality improvement, cost saving, production waste management and an extensive number of projects supporting sustainable agriculture)
- Operational support (standardisation, problem solving, governance, training and technical support, in-country production of wines and vineyard establishment, communities of practice)
You have two decades of winemaking under your belt – what still excites you about the future of winemaking in SA and in particular the role of women in it.
Firstly, the diversity of our terroir (areas where our vineyards are planted). This allows South Africa to offer our customers and consumers unique offerings of outstanding quality which compete against the best in the world. Secondly, the passion of the people working in our industry which is palpable and infectious.
Once a male dominated industry, this is certainly no longer the case when you consider the demographics of the graduates of the B.Sc Agric Viticulture and Oenology degree programme offered by Stellenbosch University. The average number of female graduates was 54% for the period 2010 – 2020. In addition, 15 of the 25 individuals that hold winemaking and viticulture qualifications in our company are women.
The sustainability of the wine industry is however currently under pressure, but what also excites me is the opportunity that innovation offers. We have several projects driven by various members of our wines and vines team, which will not only positively influence our own farms and vineyards, but ultimately those of our producers too.
A lot has been said about leading with purpose and the power of WHY – tell us, what your Why is.
Seeing individuals and teams grow and flourish is genuinely fulfilling. I find my “why” in collective vision inspired goals, collaboration within the team as well as across the broader business and industry, coaching and mentoring. And then, recognising our successes when we reach various milestones.
What leadership qualities do you think are vital for transformational leadership.
While performance delivery is important, the environment we create as leaders to allow individuals to grow by feeling safe to fail and learning from failure is an important aspect. However, it is often overlooked. We all win when potential is unlocked and it is our responsibility to encourage curiosity through encouragement, understanding and building trust. Being authentic is key.
What is your favourite brand to introduce to friends?
This is always a difficult one to answer as we really have some beautiful wines made by our passionate team of winemakers. A lot does depend on the occasion and who we are with. Durbanville Hills wines are expressive and reflect the influence of the cool climate in which the grapes are grown, while Nederburg wines have a wonderful heritage and an extensive portfolio to suit many different palates.