Consumers don't care about organic, Fairtrade or biodynamic wine
May 29, 2007
By Maggie Rosen
The majority of UK consumers do not care if their wine is organic or Fairtrade, and do not understand what biodynamic means, says a new study.
Market research firm Wine Intelligence asked 2000 regular wine drinkers for their views on wine that is produced with consideration to social, ethical and environmental issues.
Both qualitative and quantitative results revealed a great deal of confusion and mistrust about the terminology applied to such wines. The study revealed that while most people understand the concept of Fairtrade, some believe that all wine is organically produced, and at least one consumer thought organic wine meant vegetarian.
'While 60% of respondents are aware of organic and Fairtrade wine, only 11.9% claim to have bought organic or Fairtrade wine in the last three months,' said research director Lulie Halstead. 'This is compared to 60-70% who claimed to have bought organic and Fairtrade food.'
The survey did, however, indicate that 20% of regular wine drinkers might be willing to pay up to 50p more for Fairtrade wine.
One study participant said,'Fairtrade is something you do for others, while organic is something you do for yourself.'
Halstead explained that many of the responses to the survey were driven by lack of awareness due to limited exposure and availability.
Unlike organic and sustainably produced food – which respondents believe tastes better and merits a premium compared with non-organic food – wine has a perception problem: most respondents said they thought organically produced and Fairtrade wine would not taste good.
The study also highlighted the confusion caused by the sheer quantity of wines available – as well as the potential conflict posed by differing logos and seals of approval of accreditation schemes around the world.
Consumers have enough trouble recalling labels and names, so even if they drink an ethically or environmentally sound wine that satisfies, they may not remember it next time.
As for biodynamically produced wine, a further study revealed a near-total absence of awareness and knowledge on the part of UK consumers.
'I admit I had to download information about this myself,' said Halstead. 'So I'm no different from most consumers.'
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This is not surprising at all. I think the fact that a wine is organic, fair-trade etc is only an extra credit for a wine you bought. I find it hard to believe that any major group of wine consumers would actually buy a wine due to these criteria.
Nina Witikka, Winestate Oy, Helsinki, Finland
I am not surprised that the majority of consumers do not care whether their wine is Fairtrade or not. Consumer awareness of wine lags a long way behind that of say Fairtrade tea and coffee. There are many reasons behind this but I believe the major one is that given the vast range of wines available, the consumer needs a reason to purchase and this still remains one of price. Until recently Fairtrade wines have not given value for money unless the merchant was prepared to trim their margins. So the wines were either over-priced or sold at a reduced margin so that price promotion was not possible.
In the past year the range and quality of Fairtrade wines have improved significantly. They now compete comfortably in terms of price and taste against similar non-Fairtrade wines, whilst making a reasonable margin. The profit levels may still not be as high as those favoured by supermarkets, but as an independent wine merchant we will certainly be increasing our range of Fairtrade wines. Indeed a number of our customers have requested this and there is no longer any reason not to.
I personally would recommend wine merchants throughout the UK to get the wines in front of the customers. Consumer perceptions take time to change, but if we don't offer Fairtrade wine in the first place then how can things improve?
Greg Shaw, Hawkshead Wines, UK
In your survey, What was the price point that the people surveyed were paying for their wines?
Generally organics wines are in the higher price bracket.
Alain Rousseau
I find here a conflict in the industry. Distributors and retailers claim consumers are requesting FairTrade wines in the UK, and this places the burden on the producers. At the recent London International Wine and Spirits Fair, I spoke to several South African wine producers who commented on the cost and complications behind the application process to be FairTrade accredited. While these same produces are incurring large expenses just breaking into the persisting white-dominated industry in South Africa, they then most pay for accreditation, which is often required by large UK distributors, in order to get their wines on the shelves. However, it seems rather futile for these wine producers to incur the costs, if the average wine consumer is not even noticing the logo they have laboured to place on their labels.
Jon C. Olson, London, UK
I would like to reply to the participant who said: "Fairtrade is something you do for others, while organic is something you do for yourself."
We're an organic vineyard, situated in France. And you do not only go organic because of personnal reasons, but mainly for respect of nature and the environment.
It is also true that many farmers are "exploited" by large firms and asked to produce at cheaper prices.
In 2004, France bought 76 105 tonnes of pesticides: 90% was used for agriculture, particularly for viticulture.
Tonnes of pesticides and other polluants are rejected in the sea. In 2004, L'IFEN identified over 200 of these pesticides in our rivers. Everyday, pesticides are polluting our drinking waters not only in France but all over the world.
Remember, pesticides are used for killing living things and can very much be harmful to humans, and responsible for cancer.
The quality of your organic wine depends on your soil, climate and winemaker.
Let's not be selfish: think about the future generations and the earth........
Stephanie Dolet, Vignobles Raymond, France
It seems rather obvious that this article is merely underlining the fact that there is widespread ignorance of what Organic and Biodynamic really mean. If consumers were aware of what is involved and who is actually using these methods (biodynamic in particular) in their vineyards, it is unlikely they would "not care". Given that both organic and biodynamic growers place quality first, this should already provide some kind of incentive to discover more. Entirely eliminating poisonous chemicals to control pests and weeds as well as all unnatural additives should also provide further incentive. And when you discover that some of the most prestigious, quality driven vineyards in the world are using organic and biodynamic agricultural methods, one's curiosity is piqued. Better quality naturally? Absolutely! Furthermore, the future health of our planet has been seriously undermined because of agricultural pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and other chemical treatments and if there is not a wide scale return to natural agricultural methods very soon, we can only expect a rise in diseases directly related to these poisons - brain cancer, prostate cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, asthma, leukemia, adverse reproductive effects, including birth defects, fetal death and intrauterine growth retardation are extremely well documented examples of the effects of these poisons. So rather than pointing out consumer ignorance, why not investigate what these methods offer and explain their obvious advantages, thereby helping consumers to better understand the choices they are making when they buy chemically or naturally produced wines?
Geoffrey Finch, Paris France
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This is not surprising at all. I think the fact that a wine is organic, fair-trade etc is only an extra credit for a wine you bought. I find it hard to believe that any major group of wine consumers would actually buy a wine due to these criteria.
