The most recent monthly newsletter
from BurgundyDirect should bring solace to the heart of Wine Australia and
Australian wine producers. It reports on a survey conducted in France for the
Bourgogne Wine Board, showing that Bourgogne wines have an image of prestige,
authenticity, gastronomy, quality, pleasure and terroir. That’s the good news
for Burgundy. The bad news (in the words of the press release) is:
By comparison, the individual
reputation of each Bourgogne appellation is weak.
The complexity of the Bourgogne mosaic is not just a myth. On average, 33% of consumers surveyed now one Bourgogne appellation. Amongst the most well known (3 consumers out of 5), are Chablis, Pommard, Macon, Nuits-St-Georges, Bourgogne Aligote and Cote de Beaune. However, their spontaneous reputation is far below that of Bourgogne as a whole.
The “Bourgogne” brand well and truly exists. It seems fundamental to make the appellations benefit from its positive image, given that the region is the main criterion used when buying wine.’
The complexity of the Bourgogne mosaic is not just a myth. On average, 33% of consumers surveyed now one Bourgogne appellation. Amongst the most well known (3 consumers out of 5), are Chablis, Pommard, Macon, Nuits-St-Georges, Bourgogne Aligote and Cote de Beaune. However, their spontaneous reputation is far below that of Bourgogne as a whole.
The “Bourgogne” brand well and truly exists. It seems fundamental to make the appellations benefit from its positive image, given that the region is the main criterion used when buying wine.’
So it’s not just Australia that needs to reinforce the image of its best wines, and get away from the cheap and cheerful anodyne, no matter how successful that has been in the past.
1 comment:
Ay, there is the rub! It depends what kind of wines you are marketing, if you are to market relatively cheap ones to the mass of people or finer ones to “connaisseurs”. The trouble when it comes to Burgundy is that there is practically no bulk wine made (or even very ordinary for that matter). Those familiar with Burgundy know that it is a somewhat difficult task to find the small makers and to avoid the negociants . Rarely the wineries have cellar doors and you have trouble to approach the wineries even if your French is fluent, so if you are interested in Burgundy wines and go there you are to meet difficulties mostly endning up with negociants. I have myself been very lucky indeed, being at the right places at the right moments, so I have had some wonderful experiences; one tasting wine with Mr Tortochot in Gévrey-Chambertin and on another occasion visiting his underground cellars that he very rarely shows to someone. He once told me: “My wines are so good so they don’t need marketing”.
Australia is another matter, bulk wine being made in most regions, so maybe marketing could be done regionally, even if wineries are mostly small. My knowledge being a Swede is somewhat restricted as I have only visited Coonawarra, Barossa, Canberra, Geelong and Yarra. In the Canberra region I visited Helms Winery and noticed a photo of Ken Helm with Mr Tortochot, so Burgundy and Australia wines are evidently linked!
Bertil Edqvist
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