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Why organic wine may be better placed to weather oversupply
According to the president of Millésime BIO’s organising committee, Jeanne Fabre, organic wine is better placed to weather an oversupply situation in the global market, and db finds out why.
During a discussion with Fabre which you can listen to below, the topic of declining wine consumption came up, prompting me to ask whether organic wine was more or less affected by falling drinks demand – the cause of a current excess of wine at present.
While Fabre did not suggest that certified organic wine was immune to the trend, she told db that it was more “resilient”, before giving her reasons why.
Commenting that the issue of oversupply in the general wine market was caused by declining consumption, rather than overproduction, she initially said that she expected supply and demand for wine to come back into balance this year.
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But she also suggested that the high proportion of organic wine producers that are small made it less exposed to changes in demand.
That’s because, she explained, small organic wine producers tend to sell via “specialist retailers or wine shops or restaurants, and therefore depend less and less on the huge, massive retailers,” meaning, she added, “we are impacted a bit less by the big drops in sales [of wine] at massive retailers.”
Importance of provenance
Meanwhile, having acknowledged that “it’s a fact” people are consuming less wine, she said that when they do drink, “they want a specific, unique taste; they want to meet the winemaker, they want to know how the wine is made, and, the great and beautiful thing is, if you choose to be an organic wine producer, you’re proud of your work, and you have nothing to hide.”
Concluding on this topic, she said, “So that connection with the consumer, and that unique taste of your terroir in comparison to any other place in the world, is a big asset [for organic wine producers].”
As for the Millésime BIO wine fair, which takes place from 27-29 January in Montpelier, uniting as many as 1,500 certified organic wine producers, Fabre told db that for anyone interested in organic wine and the latest trends in the sector, “It’s the place to be”.
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