The marketing of super premium wines

In a recent edition of Off Licence News, Tim Atkin asked for a “re-evaluation of what constitutes fine wine”. This followed his plea that certain wines of the Languedoc should receive greater recognition. Other commentators might well echo his sentiments but champion the cause of other regions. For my own part, I am indirectly involved in the attempts of English sparkling wine producers to be perceived as on a par with the top Champagnes.

Whatever the region, any producer that seeks to break into the ranks of established fine, or super-premium, wine brands has a real task on their hands, given in many cases their strong trade and consumer franchise. As a first hurdle, the quality of the actual wine needs to reach a level where it achieves endorsement by opinion formers. Commensurate with that, an appropriate sales and marketing programme needs to be developed, and then consistently implemented over a number of years to optimise the chances of success.

The anti-laws of marketing

This came to mind as I belatedly read a critique by Louise Jack of The Luxury Strategy – published in 2009 – which argues that luxury brands should throw away conventional, tried-and-tested marketing principles .The authors in fact propose 18 “anti-laws of marketing” for such brands to follow.

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Read any interview with Michael Cox, Yvonne May or Jo Wehring – or an individual producer of premium wines in Australia, Chile or South Africa – and you’ll spot a common theme. They’re almost certain to vent their frustration that the quality of their premium offer is not being sufficiently recognised, either by the trade or the consumer.

I was recently invited to speak at a conference in Australia, to offer my own ideas on the way forward for that country’s wine industry. One of my main conclusions was that Brand Australia needs to be segmented.

I am really impressed by the generic work of Yvonne May and her UK-based team, and the diversity of style and quality of premium Australian wine has clearly never been greater.

But the reality is that, partly due to years of heavy discounting at the lower end, the target consumer in the UK does not regard Australia as a source of premium wines – at least, not to the extent that the Australians would like them to. There is, therefore, a very large gap between perception and reality.

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