May 19, 2013
I am not sure how long these have been on the shelf, but I was interested to see these two bottles in my local M&S yesterday. Labelled as Sauvignon Blanc with Apples and Tempranillo Rose with Strawberries they are in the wine section but don’t use the word wine anywhere on the packaging. Fruit wines are nothing new but the way that these products are positioned is interesting. They are marketed...
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Fruit wines at Marks and Spencer
May 15, 2013
Showrooming for wine?
Showrooming has emerged over the last few years as a common trend affecting high street retailers. More and more consumers shop online and without the costs of maintaining a physical store the online retailers can often provide better deals and flash discounts. If you haven’t heard of it, showrooming is basically when you visit a bricks-and-mortar retailer to try on, test or find a product that you... read more
Apr 25, 2013
Su Birch steps down as WOSA CEO
Here’s the press release from WOSA, detailing Su Birch’s announcement that she’ll be leaving in September 2013, having been in the position since 2000. SU BIRCH TO LEAVE WOSA After 13 years, WOSA CEO Su Birch is to leave the organisation charged with promoting South African wine exports, to pursue a personal project that, she says, she has been deferring for “too long”.... read more
Apr 22, 2013
Two years ago at the London International Wine Fair I tasted Elemental Bob The Turkish at the South African young guns stand. The wines are made by Craig Sheard who by day is the winemaker at Spookfontein. Last week at Wines of South Africa UK’s Braai Day dinner at High Timber I had the opportunity to taste another wine from Elemental Bob – the 2010 My Finite. My Finite is 100% Pinotage from...
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Elemental Bob – My Finite
Apr 17, 2013
Applying FMCG trends to wine marketing
The Brand Genetics website recently posted an article about a University of Cambridge’s Dragon’s Den style event with senior executives from global FMCG leading companies. One of the things to emerge from the event was a list of the top 40 innovation trends for global FMCG brands. It was provided by a group of people who you’d expect to know what they are talking about and the list is well worth consideration when looking at brand strategy over the next five years.
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Apr 16, 2013
Malbec World Day 2013 – a refreshing generic campaign
Tomorrow is the third edition of the awkwardly-named Malbec World Day. It is an initiative of Wines of Argentina, where Malbec is now recognised as the national grape variety, with more than 30,000 acres of vineyards. It is a stand-out generic wine campaign in its approach, epitomised by the promotional video below. I can’t think of many other regional or generic campaigns that are such a departure... read more
Apr 11, 2013
Loving this packaging from South African sparkling wine innovators, Stellenbosch stalwarts and generally great value Villiera Wines. It’s been bouncing about on a few sites in the last few weeks and after initially thinking that it was a bit tacky and bordering on over-engineered, I have really come around. The clever use of the die shape for the label gives the bottle an illusion of flow, softness...
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Great wine packaging for Villiera Starlight MCC
Mar 25, 2013
It was an evening of Malbec at our wine club this past weekend. As a single varietal it is a wine that I don’t drink that often, but after Saturday’s line up I think it’s worth looking at more often. Malbec tends to be a part of a blended one, as opposed to being bottled on its own. First wine was from South African winery Doolhof. Interesting that quite a few of us, relatively novice...
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Should I be drinking more Malbec?
Mar 14, 2013
It’s nothing new, but here’s a great example of UK supermarkets manipulating wine prices in order to fool consumers into thinking that they are getting a great deal. This is not a secret (or a new practice) but it should not be allowed. This wine is on the shelf at £9.99. £9.99! Just think of the fantastic wines that you can get in the UK for £10 and then you have something like this. It has...
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Tesco manipulating wine prices to fool consumers
