Cono Sur seeks volume over price

The award-winning Cono Sur would rather see more bottles fly off the shelves than try to increase its prices in the UK off-trade, says the Chilean winery’s CEO Adolfo Hurtado.

Furthermore, even though the company enjoys mainstream success in a number of the UK’s biggest retailers, Hurtado told the drinks business that he would still like to see more Chilean wines on shelves in the UK.

Hurtado, who was in the UK last week for the annual Wines of Chile tasting in London, said that being a well-known brand is integral to success in the UK off-trade, “because nearly 80% of the wine sold here is through supermarkets, so brand recognition is really important.”

This week Hurtado tours Eastern Europe where he’s seeing particular success in Russia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. However, despite the gains in these markets, Hurtado added that Japan’s off-trade market is the one that looks particularly promising for his Chilean brand at the moment.

Hurtado elaborated by saying even though Japanese cuisine is a good match with Cono Sur wines such as Riesling and Gewurztraminer, it is the company’s strong environmental credentials which will help to boost and nurture success in the Japanese market.

Hurtado adds: “Japan is a very sensitive country when it comes to the environment. This works well for Cono Sur in the off-trade there because like in Canada, Norway, Sweden and Finland, the Japanese off-trade is controlled by government-owned monopolies which need to be seen to work with green companies.”

At last week’s London Chilean tasting, Cono Sur offered a pedicab taxi service to attendees in an attempt to offset some of the carbon emissions created by the visiting Chileans.

Jane Parkinson, 13.09.2010