Here's the challenge for you. You have less than four hours to go to an international wine trade fair and then return and write a business report on the key trends, challenges and opportunities of the global wine industry.
The World Bulk Wine Expo is the buying and selling of no-frills wine
Seems like a pretty impossible task, doesn't it? Not if you go to the World Bulk Wine Show and know what you're doing and who to talk to. This is also exactly what some of the wine industry's most important and influential wine buyers do every year when they find time to go to Amsterdam at the end of November. Exhibition When you only need half a day to find out what's really happening in the industry you're in.
Spend two days there and you will learn about all the surahs and verses that talk about who buys what and why.
In fact, it's more of a surprise than it wasn't there, considering how influential the show has been in the past 10 years as bulk wine increasingly fills the shelves of major supermarkets, bars and restaurants.
The technology, know-how and ability to bottle wine into the market means that 18 of the UK's top 20 wine brands are brought in bulk.
Add sustainability to the mix and it becomes even more relevant and important to the purchasing strategies of major retailers, pub and restaurant groups and the producers looking to serve them.
The show brings together the world's most influential wine buying talents, said Rodolphe Lamis, CEO of Vinexposium, which now 100% owns WBWE.
“The whole world of wine is in this room,” says Rodolphe Lamis, CEO of Vinexposium, the event planning company behind Wine Paris that now owns 100% of WBWE, and it is like bringing together the “concentrated” talents of the industry’s key buyers. And the producers are in one small room.
One major UK importer even accused those buyers, especially from major supermarkets, who did not attend the show, of being “lazy” and “not doing their job properly”. “You have to be here to see what's going on,” they said. “How come you don't have time to attend this show?”
Another said that the fact that you can chase down and hit the ground running is what makes the show so effective for producers and buyers alike. A number of major UK importers and retail buyers told The Buyer that this is a fast and efficient way to see their key producers.
Or as someone succinctly put it: “There's a lot less absurdity here.”
The show allows busy buyers to catch up with key suppliers and have more quality time with them than they might get at Wine Paris or ProWein, said Rob Hilton, operations manager at Freixent Copestick.
Alistair Byatt, Head of Procurement, and Rob Hilton, Operations Director, Freixenet Copestick said it was a great way for them to connect with their key wholesale wine suppliers – particularly for the iHeart range – and get up to speed with their products. Partners, especially from South America.
With a much smaller offering, it's also possible to spend more quality time with them, they added.
down to earth
Even the belt-and-braces approach of the World Bulk Wine Expo extended this year to the point where there was no carpet for producers and buyers to do business on – something that may have been pushing it a bit. But you don't go to WBWE for the pour-over bowl, delicious lunches, and double-decker exhibition booths.
Its stripped-down approach is one that Lamaze and the Vinexposium team will look to build on in the coming years, he says. For example, this year's show allowed buyers and producers to pre-book meetings for the first time, which was “very successful.”
Watching you, watching me
For the UK wine industry, this year's show couldn't have come at a better time. This was the first major event since the Budget at which importers and retailers were able to see their customers and producing partners.
An opportunity to consider a further duty increase and to confirm that the new duty regime and higher rates for higher alcohol wines are due to begin in February 2025.
Also an opportunity to watch, look and listen to what your competitors and peers are doing and how they will confront and implement changes.
There was definitely a feeling that everyone was watching each other on the show in order to chart the right path forward for them.
Getting started: The café, or the trading floor at WBWE…
What has come out loud and clear from multiple sources is that few major importers are willing to list and sell wines below 10% abv and that the niche, if there is such a thing, is for lower abv wines that can benefit from lower abv wines. . Abv duty rates range between 10% and 11.5%.
All the talk earlier this year at Wine Paris and ProWein about a mass move to 8%-9% seems to have subsided for two main reasons. Importers and retailers agree that wine simply does not have consistent quality at this level and, more importantly, there is little consumer demand.
Even the term “mid-range” wine is poorly understood, and retailers that went ahead with producing roughly 8% wine had customers coming back to the store with half-drunk bottles of wine asking for their money back. It's hardly a way to increase wine sales that you wouldn't mind sticking to.
Hilton confirmed that Freixenet Copestick was looking to provide savings of 10% to 11.5% on its bulk wine needs. Likewise Hugo Campbell, Managing Director at Airmans.
Lesley Cook, purchasing director at Lanchester Wines, said tariff changes will have a different impact depending on which market channel you are in. Lanchester Wines remains steadfast that it “will never do anything that involves quality,” she stressed. “.
She added that it is the consumer who will ultimately decide, and it is clear from initial research and sales that consumer demand for wines below 10% is not there.
There is also the issue of convincing producers to make the wine in the first place and commit to contracts that may not provide the required quantities, she cautioned.
Mark Roberts, sales director, added that for large retailers looking to save a few pennies per bottle by moving ABV levels by 0.1%, it means huge administrative costs and the risk of the percentage rate remaining the same throughout the wine's journey through the supply chain. At Lanchester Wines.
“There are a lot of people who are not sure how this will work from an administrative standpoint,” he added. “This time next year, we will all have a clearer vision of where all of this is going.”
“Time will tell, and right now no one really knows,” Cook agreed.
It's the person you encounter walking around WBWE that makes the show so effective as top buyers and business personalities are there to learn, discover and share what they know
No, no less
Frederic Wine director Will Willis blamed what he called a “knee-jerk reaction” as importers and producers alike talked about significantly reducing liquor duty levels. But there was a real risk of “disadvantaging the consumer” if they did.
That's why he helped establish, alongside David Hodgson, and Zeno, a range of premium 0.5% abv wines, which are proving their worth with listings at the likes of Waitrose, Hedonism and, more recently, Fullers.
Here the vacuum distillation technique helps reduce the percentage of wine, but with wines sourced from single vineyards in Spain, the emphasis is still on the quality of the wine even at 0.5%.
She now has a five-piece set priced at £10 for white, pink and red and £12 for white and sparkling pink.
“You have to trust consumers to make an informed decision,” he said. “Empower them. Don't fool them.”
Sellers from buyers
It's good for the quality and purpose of the show that WBWE is attracting so many valuable buyers, it's just a shame from more of a producer's point of view, as there aren't more of them out there doing business at the prices they want.
Tiki Wine's Sean Hutchinson felt there were “more sellers than buyers” at the show, particularly those from New Zealand who were still trying to balance the books with what had been a sharp drop in the price that rival buyers were willing to pay. “In recent years for bulk wines – especially on the back of a small 2021 harvest, followed by a bumper 2022 harvest which saw ‘some buyers staying in stock’,” Hutchinson says.
The main part of the show is the silent tasting area where buyers can taste wines that have won awards in the show's International Bulk Wine Competition and then go and find wine producers they like.
He added that Tiki was keen to secure more exclusive private label contracts in “ripe and mature markets” and was encouraged to see more opportunities around the “good, better, best” brand ranges, particularly in the US where “there is still a lot of potential.”
The work New Zealand has been able to do in this area in the UK has “certainly helped us in a lot of other countries” and he was pleased to see a “good influx” of quality buyers from all over Europe.
“The quality is there and there's also a lot of volume,” said Chelsea Blalock of Marlborough Vineyards, who was at WBWE for the second time and came away with “a lot of exciting leads.”
Buyers beware
A similar message was from producers from most countries on the show. They were there with lots of wine to sell. The difficulty was convincing wary buyers to buy it.
Willis and Stuart Bowman Hood at Frederick's Wine Company were well placed to comment as they had producers from Argentina, Chile, South Australia and New Zealand on show.
“We made the best offer possible,” Willis said, although there were some “ridiculous prices” asked for Chilean and Australian wines.
He said it's been interesting to see the demand for what he calls “parcel” orders for bulk wines for bespoke retail projects – especially in hard cuts – which can act as footfall drivers on a 'when they're gone, they're gone' basis. He said he expects to see some major retailers follow suit as part of a “keeping up with Aldi” strategy.
This means companies like Frederick's must be “open to new ideas” and continue to look for ways they can be relevant to buyers looking for new options, Bowman Hood said.
“Bulk wine gives us a platform to work with people we like and want to work with,” he added.
Antigua Bodega was one of a number of top players from Argentina and Chile who were doing well in WBWE
It was at a wholesale wine fair where they were able to meet Antigua Bodega from San Juan and be introduced to the UK for the first time.
“It's been very helpful for us to listen to what the UK market needs, and we've been able to secure some contracts off the back of that,” said Facundo Fernandez, of Antigua Bodega.
Australian Blues
The decline in the Australian wine industry is likely to continue into 2025, as the double whammy of overproduction and falling prices means buyers have been able to choose the producers and quality they want at the show, well below asking prices – a major UK importer has confirmed that Priced as low as A$0.65 per litre.
One major Australian wine producer, who was happy to speak candidly off the record, described “the last four years as horrific” and you are now faced with driving through parts of South Australia and “seeing fields with piles of vines that have just been cut down”. torn”.
One positive aspect of a Trump presidency, they said, is that China “will turn its attention to the United States and Europe and will not be bothered by Australia.”
However, Bowman Hood said there was still a good market for more high-quality Australian wines in bulk, and they were doing well for their producers at around A$2.85 to A$3.50 per litre.
We can also expect to see prices in Chile “tightening up” until 2025 on the back of lower average prices in 2024, Leslie Cook said.
The final word on WBWE 2024 goes to its CEO Rudolf Lamis, who was able to reflect on the impact the show will have long after it has finished: “The wholesale wine industry and what we see here in Amsterdam helps raise the quality of wine.” All wines around the world.”
*You can learn more about the World Bulk Wine Expo on their website here.
