Last week I went down to an exceptionally trendy cinema in Shoreditch in East London to go hear what the Bordeaux Wine Council had to say for themselves about the year ahead. Nervous though I was about sitting through a 3 hour presentation it was remarkably well done, flowed well, and had enough pictures and pretty colours to keep my child like attention span engaged for the duration.
There were lots of things they were talking through including media strategies, wine styles of note to push, and also price brackets of target in export markets. They’ve decided to stop trying to compete with the race to bottom, <£6 a bottle brigade, and concentrate on making sure their £6-£20 across the region is tighter than tight.
Mostly you had nods of approval all the way around the room, but then in the coming days I saw a couple of articles coming out (not naming any names) that suggested something along the lines of “snobby Bordeaux abandons affordable wine market”. Which doughnut that was in that room could have come away with that as their conclusion???
I mean, what’s the point in competing in a market where you’re having to smash out bottles of wine for less than €0.50 a bottle, when you’ve got the terroir, and brand of Bordeaux? And how would production like that ever be environmentally sustainable in the region? It makes 100% sense to leave that bracket alone.
And don’t even get me started on what counts as “affordable”!
Cheers
