Marketing UK wines
How do you market a product that is far more expensive to produce
than many of its competitors, produces a good crop only occasionally
and is burdened by a level of tax far in excess of its competitors and
by a government that is at best indifferent and at worst downright
hostile to it ? In a disgraceful article in Decanter (January 1997),
Nigel Lawson, ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer was quoted as saying that
he thought Mrs. Thatcher's serving "British wine "(sic) was "carrying
patriotism a bit far". Had he been French he would have been hung from
the nearest lamp-post for the comment. Current government legislation seems, for some
unknown reason, to avoid putting extra tax on Scotch whisky and to put extra taxes on
English wine. I wonder what nationality the Chancellor is ...?
English wine falls into the medium price bracket. It cannot
compete with Bulgaria , Chile or Hungary on price (about £2-£4 a bottle.)
nor can it command the
price of prestige French wines (Latour Premier Cru Pauillac 1995 is
quotes at £995 a case !) so each vineyard must have their own marketing
strategy.
- Denbies sell a large amount of wine through supermarkets at £4.99.
they use the corks as 'bait' to lure visitors to the vineyard, (A free
vineyard tour if you bring 2 corks). There they sell their higher class
of wine at up to £8 a bottle.
- Some vineyards market on regional pride. Wothenbury vineyard and the other Welsh vineyards sell
'Welsh Quality wine'
of that city on their labels.
- A number of vineyards try to build up a loyal customer base.
Bearsted for example had a wine club , with an annual fee and a
newsletter. The fee can soon be regained through discounts and free
deliveries. Leeford,Lamberhurst
and the organic Sedlescombe have large
mailing lists sent out to gain mail-order wines.
- Many vineyards rely on the 'tourist trails' for custom. they advertise
in tourist brochures as major attractions. Thus Devon, Cornwall,
Herefordshire , East Anglian and Kentish brochures all have
advertisements for the vineyards.
- One or two have ventured onto the Internet and allowed the world
to find them. This method has not yet become very popular butHidden
Spring,Carr Taylor ,
and the remote Pembrokeshire outpost of Cwm Deri
have all ventured onto the International stage.
- A final method is to tell the press and let them give free
advertisements. Vineyards in northern areas, such as Halfpenny Green
in the Midlands and
Leventhorpe in Yorkshire have been featured often
as they are so unusual in their area. A newspaper picture of workers
harvesting grapes under a darkening Birmingham sky is better publicity
than any number of expensive advertisements !
- In a talk to the Thames & Chiltern Regional Wine Growers Association, David Barnsley, who has grown grapes in New Zealand
for 30 years gave advice on market positioning. He noted that 15 years ago, New Zealand wine was a joke. Now it
has a very large export market (and even larger imports !). His main advice was
i) Give up growing poor quality grapes unsuited to the market or climate (e.g. Muller Thurgau)
ii) Start winning some medals in competitions ABROAD where the wines will be noticed. Word will then trickle back
to Britain and people will start buying English (& Welsh) wines.
- The opposite argument to this is that the British Isles needs to concentrate on niche production. Tbe world is
awash with Chardonnay. New Zealand has cornered the Sauvignon Blanc market and the French own the high price end
of the market. The vast majority of wine in Britain is sold under the 'Chateau £3.99' label - i.e. cheap. Our
vineyards cannot compete in these markets.
The alternative is to produce dry wines with flavour from the Muscat cloned vines that exist e.g. Bacchus, Huxelrebe,
Schonburger and Seigerrebbe. This competes mainly with Alsace at the £6-8.00 a bottle area.Given the low production
of most English vineyards, this would be economic . The only problem then is to persuade supermarkets and wine shops
to stock them, or, as David Stanley said, compete abroad.
Three Choirs -A modern success story
Nicholas Ingham, Director of Three Choirs exaplained recently how they had become a commercial success. In 1990,
Three Choirs was a tiny operation with 6 years wine in store and a new Chairman who had just invested
£1million in a new winery and 40 acres of vines. With a limited marketing budget, Three Choirs set
out to make a name for themselves in the following ways.
They ised the new Eurostar , plus aircraft and vintage cars to transport an ANGLAIS NOUVEAU
to Albert Roux's English restaurant in Paris on Beaujolais Nouveau day. This ensured press publicity
and sold a large amount of new wine.
They develped a small proportion of high quality wine and took it to Vinexpo in Bourdeaux. After gaining
a silver medal, they went to British Airways and showed them what English wine was capable of. A large order
followed.
They changed the labels so that unknown terms such as 'Reichensteiner/Seyval Medium Dry' disappeared
to be replaced by 'Lightly Oaked Vintage'. The labels were redesigned and the price was made competitve.
Supermarket bulk sales followed.
The current trend is to create specialist single-varietal Quality wines which can be sold at a higher price at
the vineyard gate. The winery is now working to full capacity, so this is a case of re-adjusting their
position in the market place.
They have created a very high quality restaurant which, together with vineyard tours, attracts
over 90,000 visitors a year. For a vineyard in rural Gloucestershire, miles from the normal tourist
circuit, this represents a major success.
Three Choirs have also made use of the Internet which is relatively cheap. They do not actually
sell wine via this medium yet, but are using it to announce their existance to the world.
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