How provincial protectionism makes it more difficult to sell French wines Vin de France, that is the new name for “vin de table” (wine without a specific appellation, AOP, or IGP), can now have the grape name mentioned on the label. Except for some varieties. It used to be that Vin de Table (now Vin [...]
Tag Archives | marketing
Champagne is like haute couture?
More and more champagne houses mention the disgorging date on the label. A champagne often spends several years in the cool cellar of the producer, resting on the dead yeast from the second fermentation. Removing the lees is called disgorging. It is quite fashionable today to put this date on the label, along with information [...]
Fat Bastard on video
Arrogant Frog and Fat Bastard are two rather unpleasant brand names for unpretentious French wines. And they happen to be big sellers on the export market. If the names show foreigners’ idea of the French or just what the French think is the opinion of them in other countries, we really don’t know. Now the [...]
South Africa wants to be recognized for its high-quality wines too, says PIWOSA
A new association to promote South African quality wines South Africa is probably most famous for its wines in the entry and middle price segment, often with “plenty of wine for the money”-aspects. Now a new association called Premium Independent Wineries of South Africa (PIWOSA) wants to make the world aware of their top class [...]
Biggest wine suppliers to Sweden: Italy and South Africa
Italian wines overtook South African in 2012 as most popular During four years South Africa has been the best selling wine supplier country to Sweden. In 2012 they had to hand over the top spot to Italy. Sales of Italian wines increased strongly in 2012. Swedes bought 20% more wine from Italy in 2012 than [...]
Maine lobster from Kansas? Scotch from the Jura? American Champagne?
Americans must learn to respect names of origin. The Champagne Bureau USA has tried before to teach them and now it is trying again. A new advertising campaign has just been launched in the United States. The idea behind the campaign is to show Americans that it is wrong to call American bubble Champagne. To [...]
Saint Emilion and Stradivarius for lunch
In late October we were invited by Bernard Magrez to a luxurious lunch at Le Cinq, star restaurant at the Hôtel Georges V in Paris. We were there to celebrate several things. Bernard Magrez’ Château Fombrauge in Saint Emilion had just been given its new classification, Grand Cru Classé, and he had only a few [...]
Organic wines in fancy restaurants
74% of the gastronomic restaurants (which means that the bill, without wine, is at least 45 euro) in France have organic wines on their wine list. Many of them are also planning to expand its range of these wines. The restaurants indicate two major reasons to have organic wines on the wine list: These wines [...]
Modern era commerce and customer service arrives at the Swedish alcohol monopoly
The Systembolaget alcohol monopoly in Sweden has been given green light by the government to start a trial with home delivery of alcohol. There has been an intense debate in Swedish political circles on this issue for some time; not even the government coalition parties have been in agreement. Some say it would be a [...]
Wine marketing or luxury silliness: Penfolds’ The Ampoule
In marketing you can find a lot of very strange and curious ideas, not least in the wine sector since wine marketing is very restricted in most countries. But the latest idea from Penfolds must be high up on the list among the most silly things and most over the top ideas. Or have I [...]
When marketing goes over the top and becomes grotesque: Penfolds’ “The Ampoule”
The £100,000 wine bottle now for sale In marketing you can find a lot of very strange and curious ideas, not least in the wine sector since wine marketing is very restricted in most countries. But the latest idea from Penfolds must be high up on the list among the most silly things and most [...]
Beginning of the end for the primeur sales? Chateau Latour quits
Talking about primeur wines (previous note on Lafite), Château Latour has announced its intention to stop selling its wines en primeur, that is to say, in spring following the harvest. Vintage 2011 will be the last vintage they sell in this manner. Instead they will sell their wines when they are ready to be drunk. [...]
What’s in a (wine’s) name…
Complicated wine names may be good for sales I have always thought that a complicated name on the wine label made the bottle harder to sell. But maybe it’s just the opposite. On www.lavigne-mag.fr we read that a Canadian study shows that wine drinkers are more attracted to strange names that are difficult to pronounce [...]
Like us on Facebook!
Facebook can be a fun and easy way to keep in contact with old (and new!) friends and to get informed about what’s going on. We at BKWine have recently changed fundamentally how we work with Facebook. Before, we had one single page with everything in a big jumble (that was actually Per’s personal page). [...]
Independent Swedish internet wine merchants – a new sales channel for producers?
Internet wine shops can today sell directly to Swedish consumers and bypass the monopoly. The Swedish wine market is dominated by the monopoly retailer, Systembolaget (just like Alko in Finland and Vinmonopolet in Norway). Since a few years back there are a number of independent internet-based wine merchants selling directly to Swedish consumers. A interesting [...]
Twittering about wine more and more popular: an introduction
There are more and more people in the “wine community” that twitter, both professionals and “amateurs” (in the French sense of the word). We have written a short introduction in two parts to get you started on Twitter, hoping that you might join the conversation. Wine Tweeting 1: How to get started on Wine Twitter Wine [...]
Independent Swedish internet wine merchants – a new sales channel
Internet wine shops can sell directly to Swedish consumers and bypass the monopoly The Swedish wine market is dominated by the monopoly retailer, Systembolaget (just like Alko in Finland and Vinmonopolet in Norway). Since a few years back there are a number of independent internet-based wine merchants selling directly to Swedish consumers. A interesting new [...]
The 1855 classification in Bordeaux, a quick introduction
The most famous of all wine classifications was made more than 150 years ago. The 1855 Bordeaux Grand Cru Classé Classification, made for the World Exhibition in Paris that same year. The people responsible at the time could hardly have imagined the impact this classification would have. It is mentioned constantly whenever Bordeaux and Bordeaux [...]
Champagne in Beaujolais? Are the Champenois crazy?
We all know that Champagne is protecting its name with an almost fanatical intensity. God help the non-champagne-producer who puts the name of Champagne on the label. We read in the French wine magazine La Revue du Vin de France that the latest region to experience the wrath of the Champagne producers is Fleurie, one [...]
What do the wine consumers think about the wine, asks DoILikeIt
Wine producers usually know very little about what the wine consumers think about their wines. That was at least the opinion of three veteran drinks people in the UK. So they decided to launch a new type of market research business called DoILikeIt (terribly difficult to type). According to what they say, they want to [...]
How to sidestep the law on moderation in alcohol advertising
In Sweden advertising for wine must be very restrained, as in many other countries (France for instance). In principle, you are only allowed to show the product in the ad i.e. the packaging. In recent years it seems that the rule may have been slightly relaxed so that you are allowed to show a glass. [...]
New French symbol for food “made in France”
France has just launched a symbol to brand agricultural products with French origin: fruit, vegetables etc, but also wine. The symbol is a stylised Eiffel Tower with a scarf in French colours around its neck. (It exists also in other colours.) The symbol has been developed by Sopexa and the French Ministry of Agriculture. More [...]
Sex and wine: when is the packaging too suggestive?
A while back we wrote about a wine that had been banned from the Systembolaget shelves in Sweden (the monopoly retailer) because of what was judged an offensive packaging: pouting lips on the label and the name “Wacky Chicks”. Poor taste no doubt, but so bad that it should be banned? Recently we happened to [...]
Sexism and equality in wine packaging
What do you think is most suggestive? Stylised pouting lips and the name “Wacky Chicks”, or A young girl with a flimsy skirt (petticoat?), with a wistful man with a flower, and the name “Untouched”? A while back we told you the story of a Swedish wine importer that had had his wine banned from [...]
Champagne raises yields with 20%
Champagne is one of the few wine regions where the permitted yield is modified almost every year. This is done in an effort to manipulate supply and demand and the prices that champagne sell for. The control organism, the interprofession Comité interprofessionnel des vins de champagne (CIVC), recently decided to raise the maximum yield for [...]
The 2012 calendar with sexy winemakers launched
Sorry ladies, it is not handsome vineyard farmers looking for spouses (does that TV program exist elsewhere?). It is twelve young female wine growers who have made a calendar, the Jungwinzerinnen Kalender. Each month in the calendar is illustrated with a lightly (very) clad grower, dressed in nothing but lace underwear. The idea, one assumes, [...]
Prices on Bordeaux primeurs mostly going up
Prices for Bordeaux primeurs are mainly going up. Again. Is that a cause for concern? No, we argue. Most if not all chateau in Bordeaux will have announced their prices for the primeurs 2010 by now although many of the “releases” seems to have been done later than usual. Perhaps that is because they wanted [...]
Wine sales on internet up 30%, in France
According to recent statistics wine sales on the internet grew with 30% compared to last year and reached 176 M euro in France. The increase is higher than the growth in general e-shopping, that grew on average with 24%. But it is still only a minor part of all wine that is bought on the [...]
Wine and sex: don’t be fooled by pouting lips. You may be fined.
The Swedish monopoly retailer Systembolaget has cancelled sales of a wine brand called Wacky Chicks whose label is covered with pouting lips or lipstick prints, according to www.wownews.se. The monopolist considers the label to be in violation of current marketing regulations: “The combination of pouting lips and the name gives the impression, in our opinion, [...]
New Zealand: bigger volumes, lower prices
The latest statistics show that New Zealand is producing more wine but getting less money for it. That is perhaps a confirmation of the fear that new plantings risk leading to an over-production and a glut of wine. Total production for the recently finished 2011 harvest was 310,000 tonnes, an increase with 15% and a [...]
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