Table Manners

06 May 2005 By db staff writer

d=”standfirst”>Old World wines still rule in top-end restaurants but New World brands are making headway in the multiple on-trade. In our first Round Table forum,  kindly sponsored by Wines of South Africa, we ask if ever the twain shall meet

“You can’t answer this type of question without looking at the multiples and the independent sectors of the on-trade,” Andrew Bewes, commercial director at Liberty Wines, begins. “The multiple sector of the on-trade reflects the multiple sector of the off-trade much more closely than the independent sector. There are two different ends of the market.”

Joelle Marti, wine buyer for the Great Eastern Hotel in London, considers the view of the traditional on-trade scene: “I think traditional restaurants don’t see the New World as the same quality. There is this perception in some sectors of the ontrade where if you have to entertain you still have to choose French wines. I think it is the consumers’ fault. They don’t give the same credibility to New World wines as European wines.”

So why is the consumer giving credibility to European wines but not New World? And how does this credibility factor manifest itself?

“Many of those buying decisions in the classical end of the market are made through ignorance,” Andrew Bewes claims. “They’re going for classical names that they know – Chablis, Rioja, Chianti – and they’re not making educated decisions. The only time they are influenced is when the bar staff or sommelier can actually influence that decision.”

In this scenario, surely it is down to the producers, agents and suppliers to help educate the consumer? The consumer cannot be blamed for being ignorant. There is a responsibility somewhere to educate them.

Eileen Ginger, wine buyer at Whitbread, says: “It’s definitely down to the operators. Recommendation is a powerful tool and if the product knowledge is not there then staff will struggle to educate the consumer.”

However, Pamela Gregory, wine buying consultant at Mitchells and Butler, says: “You find that in higher-end restaurants there is a greater likelihood that there is someone there that is more knowledgeable than someone in a multiple on-trade and they will naturally sway more towards European wines than New World.”

Compounding this, she says, is that in the multiple on-trade, increasing choice is a big issue. “The choice maybe the same in terms of country share, but the range is very limiting. Therefore, it is not so much the producers’ fault but the operators’ fault for not providing sufficient choice. It’s too strongly governed by what country the house wine is from.”

But what of brands? Are they a help or a hindrance to the New World in the ontrade? What is their role? The big debate in the on-trade, especially at the top end, is whether brands should be on the list at all. Surely brands are the only way consumers can feel confident enough to buy wine in the first place?

“We haven’t had an issue with brands,” Eileen Ginger says. “But I think the specialists do have an issue with brands.”

“Again, it’s down to the operators,” Pamela Gregory says. “It’s the easy way out for operators to actually opt for a brand. A brand will sell itself.”

Ralph Wright, the wines and spirits buyer at Greene King, enters the fray at this point: “As far as I’m concerned, the basic question is the other way around – how is the Old World to fight back in the ontrade? What we look for are easy-to-drink wines. All our entry-level wines are from the New World, particularly Australia. The way we select is by grape variety and style of wine. So this can work for the Old World too. Chablis is back, as is Pinot Grigio.”

But, Pamela Gregory points out , “Chablis is a brand, Sancerre is a brand. These are keywords that people are buying into and the industry is not doing an awful lot to steer them away. Australia has taken steps to try to identify regionality but the message is a long way away. I’m not sure it is the right thing to do. Ultimately, in 10 years’ time, all they will end up with is a Chablis or a Sancerre.”

But is the regional route nothing more than an attempt to copy the concept of terroir in the New World?

“There are two different markets,” Eileen Ginger says. “Some people like to experiment and will pay a premium price to do so. But the average consumer does not even know that Chardonnay is a grape. And that’s why brands have been so successful, by allowing access to different regions and varieties.”

Pamela Gregory asks: “In general, do you believe that people have a general grip on more than five grape varieties? I’m not convinced that going down the singlevarietal route is the right way. It is misleading because a Merlot from South Africa is not a Merlot from Australia. And secondly, as an on-trade industry, we don’t seem to get past Merlot, Chardonnay or Cabernet.”

Country comes first

Andrew Bewes puts in a case for common sense: “I think by country first is the logical way to buy wine in the on and off-trades. It is what people are used to.”

More often than not, in a restaurant situation when you are entertaining you are handed a large leather-bound tome and it can be intimidating to make the appropriate wine choice. But above certain price points the New World does not get a look-in. It is still dominated by France. 

Bewes says: “We’re in a transitional period: 20 years ago the wine list would be 100% Old World. The New World has come in at the bottom and is working its way up.”

So perhaps it is more a question of what can the Old World do to fight back against the New World – if the New World is marching up the wine list.

“Produce better wine!” Eileen Ginger says.

Ralph Wright says: “The problem many European producers face is that they have not got the ability to market themselves.” Andrew Bewes declares “The only way Europe is going to increase share is by creating brands. France, Spain and Italy will never get together to create a Wines of Australia equivalent. It is impossible. It can only be regional. The inevitability is it’s going to be brands created by multinationals or UK operators working in Spain, France or Italy. There is not much evidence to say Italy can do it.”

So is it just down to the Europeans’ inability to market themselves? Or is there more to it than that?

Eileen Ginger believes it is also a lack of consistency in terms of quality of the vintage. She says: “At least if you buy Jacob’s Creek you know it’s the same yearon-year.”

But the on-trade is also about food. Wine and food are, after all, supposed to be the perfect partnership. Ralph Wright says: “What’s important to remember is that to complement food, the minimum quality of the wine needs to be equal to the food offering. What we had in the past was good food and poor wine. The trouble with European wines is that they would show you a wine, you would buy it, and six months later the quality was gone. That’s one of the reasons we went to the New World, because you could rely on quality.”

But let us not forget the price points. At a certain level the Old World is doing very well indeed – the premium end. So is the New World underperforming at that level because New World wines are simply not food wines?

“If you choose to spend a lot of money on wine, you may choose to go for Old World,” Pamela Gregory says. “But very often those wines are so specific to certain types of food that they disappoint. That’s where the New World has an opportunity at the higher level. New World wines present themselves much more easily to an array of foods.”

“Remember what people used to drink,” Joelle Marti says. “People have traded up already and this will continue. Remember what we used to eat in the UK? When I arrived in the UK you could not find a decent piece of bread. Younger people are a little more open-minded and while the New World is only doing well at the entry level, as they grow older they will spend more on New World wines and give credibility to them. But right now, at higher price levels, New World wines still do not have the credibility.”

“There are plenty of very expensive South African wines,” Pamela Gregory says. “They drive their price through nonavailability – almost like a cult wine, 50 cases here and there. To be honest, you will rarely see them outside of South Africa. Some of these cult producers are being forced out by the branded option because they don’t have the marketing capacity. It is not a question of quality but sustainability. Diversity is at risk. There is a danger that we are squeezing ourselves out of an industry that we love.”

On the subject of South African wine, Sophie Waggett, marketing manager of Wines of South Africa steps in: “We haven’t that many huge branded offerings and that is a position of strength for us going forward. We can offer a diversity of strong brands at the 200,000 case volume mark.”

Pamela Gregory says: “We’ve had great success creating our own branded label, having done a lot of research at entry level. We call it entry level, but the customer calls it house wine. It can be from anywhere as long as it is marketed and it has the support of the operator. But it has to conform to occasionality. I think it’s an opportunity for Europe in that it is increasingly difficult to get anything out of South America. Why are we going to the other side of the world when we have a huge array of stock in our own backyard?

It is also important to learn from the offtrade but to parallel would be the wrong thing to do,” she continues: “What I’m appalled at in the off-trade, and they have to take a huge amount of responsibility for, is that within their own-label sphere of work they are belittling the credibility of countries and grape varieties. By doing so they are pushing the on-trade to follow suit. Can we stand up to that? We can within the branded sector, because there are so many alternatives. I think producers have to be very careful about going down a multiple off-trade route and having their country associated with something that is not the quality you want to display.”

To which Sophie Waggett says: “We’re still having success in the off-trade with a value-added strategy, and we are looking to transfer some of these ideas to the ontrade in the near future.”

And the panel were

Charlotte Hey, 
publisher, the drinks business(Chair)
Eileen Ginger, 
wine buyer, Whitbread
Joelle Marti, 
wine buyer, Great Eastern Hotel, London
Ralph Wright, 
wines and spirits buyer, Greene King
Andrew Bewes, 
commercial director, Liberty Wines
Pamela Gregory, 
wine buying consultant, Mitchells and Butler
Sophie Waggett, 
marketing manager, Wines of South Africa

Many thanks to the staff of The Kensington Marriott Hotel, London for their hospitality