Both will participate in the lecture Wine Marketing III. The tool towards excellence in commercialization

19.04.2009 | 

The Director of the British Magazine specialized in wine The Drinks Business, Charlotte Hey and the Manager of the Elosegi Winery, Mikel Elosegi will be revealing the keys to find new categories of wine on the market, this during the lecture Wine Marketing III. The tool towards excellence in commercialization, which will be held within the frame of the National Trade Fair on Wine, FENAVIN 2009 that will take place in the Ciudad Real Trade Fair Pavilion between May 5th and 7th.

So denominated packaging that is to say, the aluminum bottle, Tetra pak, boxes are still alternatives that the consumer has not taken to. According to the Editorial Director "acceptance of packaging that is different to glass on the part of the consumers actually depends on the international market in which the product is being launched and on the demographic characteristics of the consumers at which the product is aimed".

"The French Rabbit's Tetra pak" was a tremendous success in Canada, although not in the United Kingdom market; Bag in Box dominates on the Scandinavian markets, but not on many others; the aluminum bottle has worked well with alcoholic beverages, but not with wine", are some of the examples that Charlotte Hey has put forward.

She also explains that "in like manner to the price, in the coming years ecological and recycling matters will be gaining in importance and retailers will be the ones to guide and vary the opinion of the consumer in terms of how wine should be packaged, taking the example of the revolution and general acceptance on the part of the consumers of Stelvin (screw caps) in the international market of the last 5 years". "There is no reason to doubt that this will not take place in that referring to packaging", she adds.

On his part, Mikel Elosegi considers that the consumer is curious although, for the time being, most of them are not willing to take the risk and traditional packaging is actually on its way back. "I think that once we manage to attract the new generations in the consumption of wine, then these barriers will no longer exist", he explains.

Once again, the aspirational value of a wine bottle highly depends on how it is commercialized. According to the Director of The Drinks Business "wine still has a long road before it in terms of innovation in the type of package in which it is presented, and the main standard for packaging is still the heavy bottle, with lots of gold added in the label". "This has to change -she suggests- given that the economic pressure is being noticed and environmental questions are increasingly more important. Many international journalists and retailers are already questioning the added value that is perceived with heavy bottles".

In this sense Elosegi affirms that "with the surpluses and difficulties we encounter in the commercialization of wine, we feel the need for an important part of the wine that is elaborated to become a product of great consumption in any type of packaging".

Charlotte Hey

Charlotte Hey is member of the Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino (Great Order of the Knighthood of Wine), the most important public relations event to take place in the United Kingdom related with the Spanish wine calendar. Hey grew up in a family of restaurateurs, entering the world of wine at a young age, and enjoying success in a variety of sectors, ranging from sales and journalism right through to marketing. Charlotte Hey's passion for Spain saw the light when she started working as a member of the Wines from Spain team in the promotion of Spanish wines, with said team pertaining to the Economic and Commercial Office of the Spanish Embassy in London.

Wine in a Can

An innovative product has been designed at the Elosegi Winery, which is wine in a can. According to its Manager "making our product known to the consumers is still taking some effort, because people continue to be reticent about consuming a product in this type of package, although this also happened to us with the bag in box product towards the end of the eighties and now this type of packaging has been fully accepted on most markets".

"The first obvious goal is to surprise, and then to try and reach two very specific markets: the first represented by young people who are used to this type of packaging, and the second represented by the habitual wine consumer who needs a more practical package on certain occasions, such as when out fishing, hunting, out in the mountains... so they won't have to open a bottle that quite often is too much", Elosegi points out.

Even though wine in a can is not a completely novel item, given that it is already being distributed in different parts of the world, this is actually the first time that a wine with denomination of origin is being commercialized with this format, in this case a Bordeaux wine. The product came out on the market on the past June 15th and it has already reached the small retailers and the supermarkets, where it is sold at an approximate price of 1.80 Euros.

The company, which is located in Olaberria, is only in charge of its distribution. It buys the wine in Bordeaux and a Belgian company packages it. It then reaches Guipuzcoa already packaged, from where it is distributed to the sales points.