The past few weeks seems to have been a pretty busy time in the London wine trade as numerous international producers descended upon the capital to pound the pavements, meet and greet and generally reinvigorate their various business and consumer channels after a noticeably sluggish and cautious start to Spring for many merchants, restaurants and retailers.
Customers, on the other hand, certainly do seem to be fairly thin on the ground at the moment as many families have taken the opportunity to travel further afield for a proper Easter break after the pandemic disruptions of the last two years.
Undoubtedly, the onset of the international wine judging season with the commencement of the International Wine Challenge tastings and Decanter World Wine Awards in the next couple of weeks has also acted as an additional attraction for many visiting wine trade professionals who join the various tasting panels for several days or longer. But with the uncertainties of the 2023 global economy becoming more and more apparent, many wine merchants are going to have to up their work rate and improve their offerings if they are going to match let alone exceed the wine sales of the past year or two.
What is not in doubt is that every producer visiting the UK is desperate to try and increase their sales in a noticeably unresponsive consumer market. But for many of these wineries, what exactly is the most expeditious way to try and achieve this? For numerous producers from South Africa that I have met up with over the past weeks and months, many seem to be seriously considering rationalising their offerings to the UK market with an added focus on fewer but more premium high-quality brands, while the other half seem to be contrarily contemplating the merits of further value brand extensions, primarily for the more affordable end of the wine market. So who is pursuing the correct strategy, or could they both possibly be correct?
The list of premium South African producers who set out with the express intention to keep things small and compact, especially when it came to their wine ranges, is long indeed. Some of the most famous include the Polkadraai Hills winery De Toren, who famously set out to produce only one flagship wine in the form of their five varietal Bordeaux blend Fusion V, only to decide that the numerous off-casts, as there were obviously always going to be when undertaking such an ambitious large scale blending endeavour, where far too good to sell off to other wineries, thus leading to the birth of the now famous Edition Z right bank styled Bordeaux blend.
To read full article, click HERE.