It all began in an attempt to pick a topic to dialogue about the art of wine when the Acacia Photography Contest was born. Castel Winery Ethiopia called competitors to send their pictures consisting of Acacia Trees and the Castel Wine named after it.
That is when Natnael and Getaneh applied along with 110 applicants.
The name Acacia was chosen by Castel winery to introduce itself to the Ethiopian market. There were many trees on the way to Zeway, where the wine farm was located.
Acacia trees are not affected by draught and are known for being sturdy so they, were chosen to represent the strong background of the company, according to Alem Bekele, Castel’s sales and marketing manager.
The posts reached 300,000 people were shared numerous times. There were other interesting pictures and fun combinations of wine and Acacia trees.
“The campaign was very successful,” said Alem. “We were able to raise the issue of what makes wine a special drink both in history and quality.”
There are three categories of wine globally. The table wine, which is the most common one, consists of no gas and has a limited amount of alcohol, 11 percent. Sparkling wine, which consists of gas, is mostly known for champagne which is produced in northeast France. Fortified wine, which consists of an extra distilled spirit and has more than 11 percent alcohol.
Wine has two categories, one uses the fresh grape and the other is the grape powder. Castel winery uses the fresh grapes cultivated on its 169 hectares of land in Zeway town, 167 km south of Addis .
There are Red, Rose, and White wines. Red and white wine are directly made from the grape juice of their color while rose is created by mixing the two. Castel produces  all the three types of wines which makes the Ethiopian factory more successful than its other  two plants in Africa, Morocco and Tunisia.
“The contest was expected to award only one individual a local round trip,” said Alem. “However, as the campaign has reached more people than expected the company extended its prize to a flight to Eritrea for the winner and second place a flight to Bahir-dar.”
Castle, which is the third largest wine producer globally, was founded by the nine brothers and sisters. The company which joined the Ethiopian market with a 25 million Euro investment is also undertaking an expansion project with an additional 85-hectares of land.