The general manager at one of England’s leading sparkling winemakers has said he does not “have any issue” with the scale of promotions in the category.
James Davis, wine development director at Freixenet Copestick and general manager of Bolney Wine Estate in West Sussex, told The Grocer he was not worried promotions could damage the value perception of English sparkling wine.
“We’d all love to be at a premium selling price of £30-£40 a bottle,” he said. “That being said, I’m highly confident in and supportive of the shallow discount as a mechanic to help bring consumers into the category. If that is, let’s say, £5-£10 at key trading times, that is absolutely right and appropriate for category to help drive awareness and support the development of our brand.”
Sparkling wine promotions boost Christmas sales
Christmas trading in the sparkling wine category was this year dominated by widespread discounting. In one eye-catching promotion, Aldi slashed the price of its Specially Selected Crémant de Loire to just £4.99. English sparkling wines were also promoted, with shoppers able to pick up bottles of Chapel Down Brut for as little as £16.50 per 75cl bottle when bought as part of Sainsbury’s ‘Buy Six, Save 25% offer’.
The promotions helped sparking wine and champagne enjoy healthy sales over the period. Sales were up 4.4% year on year and reached a total of £187m in December, Kantar figures over the four weeks to 29 December showed. Sainsbury’s boss Simon Roberts, meanwhile, revealed today (10 January) that sales of English sparkling wine in the retailer were up 40% year-on-year in the six weeks to 4 January.
Davis, however, pointed out champagne was also frequently sold on promotion, and still enjoyed a reputation for quality.
“If great premium champagne brands can operate in the same way, then there’s no reason why we can’t either,” he said. “We see the role these mechanics have played for champagne brands, and how important they are for the consumer as a purchasing cue, so I don’t see it as a massive problem.”
Bolney’s wines are stocked by retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Waitrose, with Sainsbury’s and Morrisons coming on board for the supplier in the past 12 months.
The winery took part in promotions over the festive period, Davis confirmed, adding the discounts offered on its wines had not negatively impacted direct-to-consumer and cellar door sales.
“In order to make ourselves relevant to consumers, we recognise that it’s important for them to be able to sort of access the category in a relatively straightforward way,” he said. “And promotions have shown that they work for consumers and for our customers.
“We had promotions with key, key customers. Was I concerned about those? Did they create problems in terms of our cellar door or whatever? No, not especially. Were we over promoted? No, I would say not. Were those promotions helpful to our customers and consumers and their consumers? Yes.”
Is there an oversupply of English wine?
Production of English wine has increased significantly in recent years with 161,961 hectolitres of wine bottled in 2023, following a record harvest.
Consumption, however, has slowed in recent years. In 2023, the sector sold 8.8 million bottles, up from 8 million in 2022, but below the 9.3 million sold in 2021.
As a result, leading supplier Chapel Down was last year left with a glut of stock, contributing to a 36% decline in its off-trade sales in the six months to last June.
Davis, however, dismissed concerns English winemakers were in danger of overestimating demand.
“On a global scale, England has lots and lots and lots of opportunities,” he said. “We talk about climate change and a warming climate is going to be good for English wine.
“On an international basis. It’s going to mean that some of that volume will ultimately be sold through export channels as other categories struggle as a consequence of this warming climate.”
Here, Bolney’s sale to European sparkling wine giant Henkell Friexenet in 2022 would give the supplier a key advantage, he predicted.
“We’ve got a distribution and sales network within all the key global markets around the world that’s no doubt helpful to us.”
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