American wine sales overtook French in the UK for the first time this year.
Sales of American wine in the off-trade grew 5% to £781m in the year to November, while French wine sales fell 3% to £780m.
The figures, from analysts ACNielsen, show US volumes also increased. America now produces 15.6m cases against France's 14.5m - an increase of 3% compared with a drop of 7%.
Ninety-five per cent of American wine is produced in California.
Stewart Blunt of Nielsen said, 'France has traditionally had a lot in the under-£3 sector, with vin de pays and cheap Bordeaux. That chunk of the market has lost quite heavily over the past six months.
'While American wine is making progress, France has been sliding back, making the overtaking a bit easier.'
France is now third in the wine consumption league table, with Australia first for the last five years, with 23% of the market. Italy is fourth, overtaken by California in 2003.
Crucial to the success of US wines is Californian rosé, which has become a hit with women in Britain. Sales of rosé went up by 17% in the year to October.
French rosé has done badly, slipping by 9% in volume and 5% in value.
John McLaren, UK director of the California Wine Institute said above all the Americans understand how to market their wines.
'The Californians do very well what the French don't do very well, which is to find out what the customer wants.'
'There is no doubt that some of the finest wines on earth are made in France, but also some of the finest wines in the world are now made in California.'
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I like the Californian Wine Intitute Director's comment
'The Californians do very well what the French don't do very well, which is to find out what the customer wants.'
This rings so true. But what could possibly the Californians do, except market their wines the best they can to please the average consumer, when so few people know of their vineyards, their history, their values; if they have any? Which does not mean that their sales increase in the UK is not impressive.
But Decanter readers are not really into £3-£8 wines, are they? So I'll stick to the bad marketing of the French (or Italians, for that matter), whose range is so diverse that I can always find a wine to suit my tastes. They don't have to market them for me, I like them the way they are, I'm glad I can still be surprised by such an old-fashioned "offer". And wines made by winemakers the way they believe the wines should be, reflecting their soils and traditions, not the way I want them. And what would I want? Life is too short to drink one kind of predefinite wine with one kind of predefinite dish. I don't buy "good for pasta" wines, nor Fat Bastard wines (see, some French do "market' their wines, but not always the best).
But of course, I do not shop at Tesco's or Asda's, where wine must sell itself, fit in categories, answer a specific demand, address a specific customer base, with appropriate labels. There, a kangaroo has more impact than a cru.
It takes all kinds of customers to make a wine market, but a specialised magazine like yours surely addresses those who care about information, quality, more than mere figures or promotional stunts.
Hervé Lalau
"Bravo!" to Hervé Lalau for his cogent comments. Decanter should, indeed, be leading the fight for artisanal over industrial wines but then, artisanal wine producers don't advertise much . . .
What a scathing truth underscores Hervé when he notes that at such outlets as Tesco or Asda, "a kangaroo has more impact than a cru."
Jeffrey M. Davies, Bordeaux, France
Having worked with many of these great winery partners throughout the world, I do believe the quality of the wine and the marketing play a big part in the success of the sales. If you're able to put a quality product in front of people that has been marketed very well, you should be successful. It's been happening in Napa and Sonoma for many years.
David M. Keuhner, Destination Cellars
While I'm sure that the previous two commentators have far more foundation for offering a comment than myself, I would however observe that the French are not allowing themselves to reflect the advances THEY have made in meeting market demands.
They continue to market the so-called traditional excellence of Bordeaux - with every bottle still carrying the slogan 'Grand Vin de Bordeaux' - whereas in many cases other regions such as Languedoc are now making wines, yes I would even go as far as say, significantly better than many average Bordeaux.
Imagine the effect on a less-than-expert customer (i.e. the majority) buying a bottle with 'Grand Vin de Bordeaux' emblazoned upon it, only to find that it is very ordinary indeed! Not only does this push the customer towards buying, say, American wines, but more importantly, pushes them AWAY from French wines in general. Their reaction is "well if a French 'Grand Vin' is pretty awful think what the rest must be like!"
Of course it would be a tragedy for the diversity of French wines to be lost but equally the French need to recognise that some of their traditions may be overwhelming their good sense. Tradition for its own sake needs to be examined and to make very public claims that very ordinary wine is 'Grand Vin' is a marketing nonsense.
And although I've no doubt that the above correspondents know the buyers of Tesco and Asda very well, they presumably also know the buyers of Carrefour, Auchan, Leclerc et al as well. All of these 'grand surfaces' have excellent and knowledgeable buyers who give space not only to kangaroos but also to Grand Crus and have a very large influence upon the success or failure of producers of all qualities and all countries.
Philip Styles, St.Gaudent, France
What a bunch of whining effetist snobbery! "..their values; if they have any? But of course I don't shop..." Did you really write that or was it copied from an old movie script. Where were the comments about them, commoners, those people and the riff raff? Too, it doesn't ring just right without a reference to "the boys at the club".
Many years ago in Las Vegas, a Master Sommelier gave me his card with the notation urging me to drink what I like when I like. That has served me very well in both collecting and enjoying wine.
Lighten up a little bit.
David H. Barksdale, Alabama, USA
UK sales figures need to be analysed a little deeper than the headline would suggest. Of course the data does not show that “America overtakes France in the UK” - rather, as you acknowledge later, only in the UK off-trade (retail). This is a significant milestone, but it is not the same thing. On a whole market position, France remains #1, as it has done for many years. The situation would look even better for France if Champagne sales were included, particularly on a value measure. Neilsen point-of-sale data records sparkling wines as a separate category.
Hugo Rose MW, Wine Market Consultant, UK
Hugo Rose is undoubtedly correct, but as the US auto industry is now becoming aware, it is not the actual sales numbers but trends that producers must take account of.
Philip Styles, St.Gaudent, France
True, the headline does mislead, as the story concerns off-license sales only. And I would agree that most Decanter readers do not buy wines at off-license shops. But I'll wager any number of off-license owners, managers and employees read Decanter, for all that Decanter dropped the old "Supermarket Dozen" and similar features nearly 20 years ago. The multi-thousand-euro bottles and the great growths are not the only wines in the world. France still has to sell vin ordinaire; so do Australia, South Africa, Chile, America et hoc genus omne. And one could do worse than to ask the consumer what he/she when one wants to sell him/her something.
Lewis C Taishoff
Presumably a kangaroo has more impact than a cru because we all know what someone means when they use the term kangaroo but no one, particularly French wine producers it seems, can decide how to use the term cru. The debacle by the Alliance des Crus Bourgeois and the 2003 cru classifications which have now been abandoned in favour of another uncertain classification serves to highlight the statement made in the article - 'While American wine is making progress, France has been sliding back, making the overtaking a bit easier.' Is there some truth that the French wine producers are becoming more interested in their wine's appellation that its taste? The constant squabbling has left the gate open for others to steal the market. That's probably nonsense but I for one applaud the US. Competition is healthy.
Kit, London, UK
Surely, marketing works and increases sales of any product, including wine. Personnally, I tend to buy wine with no marketing, to make sure that, when the cost of the wine is 10€/£, all 10 went into product quality, not 3 to the product and 7 to advertising and marketing. At the end of the day, it is not the clever marketing that tastes good, it's the wine.
I thnk this mentality is deeply rooted in the french psyche, both the producers' and the consumers'. That may explain why they are overtaken by the american wine industry (marketing masters) on the UK market (very marketing sensitive) for the off-licence channel (100% marketing stuff). Now if you look at any Christie's catalog, that will tell another story...
Philippe Séré, Paris, France
As a producer of Provence Rosé -- and, of course Provence invented Rosé!! may I just add a few comments:
In terms of marketing : Small winegrowers do not have the clout of large industrial wine growers , that is right! but have you thougth of the impact of the rising euro in terms of US wines overtaking the french?
For rosés : it is only recently that dry rosé has started to please the consumers who used to like sweet rosé .
Now Provence has sadly lagged behind in terms of image for its rosés for a series of reasons, one being that Provence used to sell its rosés mostly inside Provence, and so did not care much about exports, and, second,Provence is split in an internecine wars where at least 5 different AOC all claim to produce the best rosé -- not ideal for an homogenous image of a great produce! And thirdly most of the rosé that reaches the UK is produced either by very large "négociants" or by cooperatives who do have the marketing clout but often have no real marketing subtelty and amost no idea of what makes a sellable bottle (label, backlabel etc): in fact they usually have a really awful taste in this respect.
May I add that Provence -- home of the world's really great rosés -- does not even appear as a region in the Decanter wine awards : Languedoc -- almsot the same size in terms of geography -- does , Provence comes under "Regional France" what a shame!!! If Provence appeared as a region in its own right French rosés might fare better in the UK and in the world at large!
Those of us who do sell in the UK have excellent relationships with great buyers who travel to see us, enjoy our produces and help us make a name for ourselves.
Véronique Goupy, Baronne Philippe de Montremy, Brignoles, France
Whatever product one sells, it doesn't matter if you make "the best" if no one knows about it. Unless you want to wait years and years for enough people to discover your wine to create a buzz about it, then some marketing must take place in order to make people aware of your product.
Mary Rocca, Rocca Family Vineyards, Napa, USA
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