Opinion:
the diversity of wine is under threat
Back on New Year’s Eve, I made five ‘wine
resolutions’ for 2002. Number
two on the list was to ‘be more creative in wine buying, supporting
the merchants who do really good work, even if it is more hassle than
popping into the local supermarkets or high street outlets.’ So,
with a quarter of the year gone, how am I doing? I’m proud to report
that I’ve actually bought very little wine from supermarkets, and
virtually none from the ever-more dreadful First Quench chain.
Interestingly, first Quench are doing rather well: they’ve
just reported a healthy operating profits of £33.1 million in the
last year. But their stores, which include Thresher, Wine Rack,
Victoria Wine and Bottoms Up, are becoming depressing places for wine
lovers to shop. Not only is the core range contracting, with a move
towards branded wines at all levels, but also their prices are higher
than just about anywhere else. Their success testifies to the fact
that people don’t like to plan their wine buying: convenience is
key. The First Quench stores do well because they’re just about
everywhere, and people pop in to pick up a bottle on impulse – they
don’t seem to be bothered by the lack of choice and the higher
prices.
A staggering statistic is that the supermarkets are now
responsible for over 70% of the wine sold in the UK. Again, it’s a
matter of convenience. Far easier to pop a few bottles in the trolley
than to trek round to a specialist wine shop. But, like First Quench,
the supermarket ranges are contracting rapidly, and look set to
continue thus over the next few years. A ‘winner-takes-all’
scenario is developing, with great riches for the few producers who
can secure listings for their wines with the multiples, while for the
others it really is a case of being cast into the outer darkness.
This week, as I have been preparing the Portuguese Tasting
Preview for Harpers, I’ve been chatting to many of the agencies that
bring Portuguese wines into the UK. One, who won’t be quoted, is
extremely frustrated by his attempts to secure listings for his wines
in the supermarkets. While Portugal has for the first time produced
the sorts of quantities of high quality commercial wines with the
abundant 2001 vintage to satisfy the demands of the multiples, most of
the supermarkets won’t even taste them, simply because their
Portuguese. He claims that ‘the reaction is generally poor. The
problem is trying to get them to look at what we’ve got. |
na |
"Increasingly, wine
production is being driven by the needs of the supermarket and high
street wine buyers, who claim that their requirements are driven by
what people will buy" |
He adds
that, ‘the general trends in the wine market are guiding the buyers,
who are not letting the wines speak for themselves. They are made to
follow the marketing people. Waitrose and Marks & Spencer are the
exception: if it’s good quality, they’ll back it.’
The blame for this loss of diversity doesn’t reside solely
at the door of the supermarket buyers, though. They are operating
under fairly tight commercial constraints. First, they need serious
volume: this automatically rules out a lot of the more interesting
wines. Wine is in large part an agricultural product, susceptible to
the vagaries of vintage conditions and supply of raw material –
grapes. As wine is treated more like a manufactured product and
becomes more divorced from agriculture (as is the case with branded
wines) it usually becomes less interesting, but it is these wines that
appeal to supermarket buyers who want volume, continuous supply and
uniformity of quality. Second, they claim that it’s only certain
styles of wine that will sell. And you can’t expect them to list
wines that people aren’t buying.
It all sounds pretty depressing. Increasingly, wine
production is being driven by the needs of the supermarket and high
street wine buyers, who claim that their requirements are driven by
what people will buy. There is therefore a huge commercial pressure
towards bland, ‘commercial’, branded wines produced in large
volumes to hit the right price points. The diversity – and the link
to geography – that makes wine so interesting are under real threat.
What is the answer? Partly it lies with those who have some
interest in wine: we geeks. And this comes back to the wine resolution
mentioned earlier. I’d argue that we need to shun the majority of
supermarkets and the likes of First Quench, with their line-ups of
bland, mass produced wines, and make an effort to shop more
creatively. We must reward the merchants who show some imagination and
effort in their buying (and not all independents do, by the way). The
convenience habit really is a hard one to kick, but it is definitely
worth the effort. While we continue to buy large volume, industrial
and branded wines, we’re actively threatening the future of the
sorts of genuine, agriculturally based, diverse wines that make this
hobby such an interesting one.
Agree?
Disagree? Drop a line to jamie@wineanorak.com
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April 2002 |