Tag Archive - wine

Varietal labelling – some clarifications (Varietals: 3)

July 4, 2007 in Consumer marketing, marketing with 2 Comments

Peter May, of the Pinotage Club and also the author of a site and book about wine labels that is definitely worth checking out, made some comments on my pet subject which I thought I ought to post here to clarify a few points.

You can read his comments on my posts on varietal labelling here. In response, I would say:

First of all, I have nothing against listing the varietal make up of a wine. Whether this should be 85% or 100% of the wine is open for debate but it isn’t the fact that it is listed, but rather that the wine packaging focuses too heavily on this one element to speak to the consumer.

Second, with regard to the “flaw in the argument”, I would have to disagree. It is EXACTLY because Stellenbosch, Napa and Margaret River cannot be linked to one style that I argue that the old world countries SHOULD do more to focus on regions. Although this is often regarded as negative, this could be a positive thing. A (protected) regional name is unique, uncopyable, defensible. However, it must be made to be meaningful through proper quality systems and common agreement otherwise it will be eroded.

If, as many believe and you seem to agree, the right (or even best?) varieties are planted in such regions, then there is no need to change the product itself, but maybe focus on the other elements, especially communication. They may not have done it well to date, but that is not in itself a reason not to do it.

I agree that my points were made with a very “old world” view of the world, and you rightly point out that the same argument does not necessarily transfer to New World regions. However, there are many regions of the world that are trying to replicate this model, so there is a future for it. Hunter Semillon? Barossa Shiraz? These regions do try and associate style with the regional name.

Let me make it clear that I am not advocating removing the varietal information from labels. I just think that marketers should be willing to consider relegating it a little further down the order of importance. The current mantra in the industry seems to be “varietal above all else” and I’m only trying to raise a possible counter argument.

I may, of course, be totally wrong.

Isn’t that the wonderful thing about blogs?

Wine Blog Watch

June 25, 2007 in blogs with 4 Comments

According to this article in Harpers from about 18 months ago (about the start of the Stormhoek phenomenon), there were 56 WINE blogs.

This number was according to the list on the Wine Blog Watch, a useful site created by Jarrett Byrnes in the US.

As a foodie with an interest in wine he helps to bring some order to the chaos of the blogosphere by listing all those wine blogs out there (there is a sort of arbitrary “must be 75% about wine” rule, which is fine by me) and even when they were last updated. Pretty nifty!

This site has just been added (I think the list must have refreshed recently) and now can be found amongst the other 448 currently listed.

448 represents pretty substantial growth for the category, but is a tiny fraction of all blogs. In fact, according to BlogPulse, “wine” is only mentioned in an average of about 0.35% of all posts.

Must do better!

UPDATED & CORRECTED 28/06/2007

Losing the Blue Nun habit?

April 30, 2007 in wine culture with 0 Comments

Headline from The Telegraph, “Wine lovers kick the Blue Nun habit“.

The gist of the story is that sales at £10+ are increasing at a fabulous rate in Tesco while Waitrose’s average wine spend per bottle is £8 and Jeroboam’s is £10.

Great!

So why is the average price of wine still below £4? This is because the main outlets for wine sales are continuing to sell cheap wine at a discount. It is great to hear that Tesco’s sales of wine above £10 increased 75%, but they hardly sold any in the past and now they have created a Fine Wine area. It would be much more interesting to see what their average price per bottle had done over the last few years. I doubt it has increased.

However, it is heartening to hear that a greater number of people are buying a decent quality wine, and, according to the article, finding good wine fashionable rather than elitist. If this is true, and I don’t see hard evidence of the fact, this is a pretty major breakthrough.

Unfortunately there is a long time to go before I quite believe the hyperbole of certain supermarket chains, as quoted in the article:

“Jason Godley, the wine manager for Tesco, said: “Britons used to be perceived by the rest of the world as a nation of beer drinkers, but this is changing fast. Many Brits think nothing about spending £10 for a bottle of wine at a supermarket and if the occasion is really special then perhaps even £100.”

£100 for a bottle of wine in my local Tesco? I think not.

And as for kicking the Blue Nun habit, I think Blue Nun sales figures might dispute that conclusion.

Great with … wine.

March 28, 2007 in wine culture with 0 Comments

I was alerted to a new US based wine branding business earlier today.

Wine That Loves™ is a concept that has been seen before, at least in this country, in Tesco under the name “Great With” (something like Great With Chicken and Great with Fish). They did not last, but some wines did OK for a time.

This new drive supposedly comes from a top sommelier with credentials, Ralph Hersom, so I would assume the wines themselves are of a reasonable quality.

On the positive side, many people starting their personal exploration of wine want to have it at home, and most likely with food. The sheer range of wines available in most countries is off-putting if you have no knowledge, so any pointer as to what is “good” will help. I know that the limited food matching suggestions on the back labels of supermarket wines can have a big impact on their success, so it makes sense to offer this information up-front.

The problem for most regular wine labels is that they want to appeal to the broadest possible group of people, so they try to be helpful whilst also not trying to turn anyone away.

“This wine is great on its own, but is a perfect match for fish, chicken, beef, vegetables, pasta, and any other food I don’t have space to mention.”
Not very useful.

These wines, on the other hand go to the other extreme.

“Wine That Loves Pizza“.
Erm, nothing else? Might it not be OK with some pastas then?
“No!” Screams the bottle. “Buy Wine That Loves Pasta for that instead. Oh, and it must be Pasta with Tomato Sauce“

What I find particularly unusual is that they don’t even seem to want to tell you what the wine is. If you do use this as an introduction to wine, then you might discover that wines can be a great match for pizza and pasta, but how do you then take it to the next level, ‘Fly Solo’ as it were? Maybe it is on a back label, but the site certainly doesn’t give anything away. In fact their descriptions are somewhat vague and unhelpful, but simplicity is a key I suppose.

From the perspective of building a Wine Culture, I applaud the effort to reach new audiences with a very specific message. However, taken to the extreme this could result in the further commodification of wine as merely a food match, so maybe this should be accompanied by some ongoing wine education?

Oh, and if I were starting a company like this, I might include some mention of how to get hold of the wines that have been so carefully selected and packaged. Just a thought.

Alternate truths and statistics

March 26, 2007 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Hmmm…

Time is a factor. I will continue to monitor this, but this does not look like much of a major change from the background levels, certainly not over time.

Of course mentioning this skews the stats, so no reference to the viral marketing campaign nor to the originating site, but you can follow the link here and read the previous views here if this rings any bells.

I have done research and analysis, but not for some time, but these graphs would seem to support my view that although there has been an undoubted spike recently, it has not lasted nor did it have the lasting effect of the first campaign. I have also searched on both potential versions of the retailer’s name as it has an impact on the results (as you can see).


Over 2 months

Over 6 months

As I committed myself to be a nay-sayer from the start, I am monitoring this with interest, but would be very interested to know more about the impact on sales (as opposed to mere “mentions”). I wonder if we’ll ever get these?

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