Lizzy O’Riordan reports back from the Spain Food Nation Summit, focused on the promotion of organic wine in the UK.
The popularity of organic wine is lagging behind that of organic food, explained Luke Tegner, global head of consulting at the IWSR, at the Spain Food Nation Summit this week. The reasons for this are multiple, he said. However, the primary factor is that consumers buy organic food and wine for different reasons.
Looking at food, Tegner said that consumers tend to pick organic because of health messaging. “It’s very much an introspective decision about getting food which is good for them and for their family,” something he says is especially true as the discourse around ultra-processed food continues to be in the zeitgeist.
People do not have the same connotations when it comes to wine, however. Partly, Tegner said, this is because there isn’t the same narrative about ultra-processed alcohol, though some certainly does exist. More vitally, though, the difference is that consumers don’t expect their alcohol to be healthy or nutritional in the same way as food.
“Consumers don’t necessarily expect wine to be organic. They’re usually not purchasing it because it’s organic, and the idea of any alcohol being ‘better for them’ seems a little bit of a contradiction,” Tegner said, pointing to the fact that only 7% of wine in the UK falls under organic, making it a minority.
Nonetheless, there is still an opportunity for growth, the global head of consulting explained. Producers and retailers just need to think about it differently – focusing on the good it does for the planet rather than the good it does for the body.
Turning to Spain, which is the topic of the session, Tegner said the trade should focus on the idea of the natural heat, which intuitively feels like the ‘right’ environment to grow grapes. “Other countries have crops that are grown under plastics; that’s not what Spain has to offer,” he said. Additionally, sustainability stories are increasingly important to people, as climate anxiety heightens.
An example of a country that has done this well is New Zealand, added Jerry Lockspeiser, founder and MD of Vinceremos Wine and Spirits, who later joined the discussion. “New Zealand used this phrase about them being the clean and green land when they were promoting themselves as a country. Anything like that which can conjure up an image [of environmental health] works on a country level.”
Continuing: “Then, on a producer level, you’ve got to go beyond and tell a great story about why you decided to go organic, because you want to protect the environment or protect people.”
Returning to the differences between organic food and wine, experts at the summit also agreed that visual merchandising should be approached differently. In supermarkets, sections dedicated to organic food work well, noted Tegner. “But when people are picking wines, what they’re looking for first and foremost is country or region.” Therefore, creating a separate organic section is unlikely to succeed.
Agreeing, Justin Howard-Sneyd, MD and wine consultant, said: “As a supermarket retailer, it just doesn’t work. People just walk past it because they want a Bordeaux or an Australian Shiraz, so they’ll go to that section, and if there is no organic wine there, they won’t bother to buy it.” All wines need to be together because of the way consumers approach the section.
All in all, then, communications around organic wine need to centre less on personal health and more on the wellness of the planet, story and flavour – with a thoughtful approach to merchandising considered. Sometimes a tricky balance to achieve, getting a message across about organic alcohol can feel harder than with its food counterpart.
Even so, the signs are looking positive, said Lockspeiser as the summit ended. “The wine industry in general declined by 15% last year, but organic wine has been bucking the trend. It’s stable.” An encouraging sign for a category that’s still figuring out its best communication method.
