Predictions released this week predict
that the usually lacklustre UK wine market is set for a bright 2014. What does
this mean for the luxury wine trade?
At the Ideal Wine Company we recognise
that when we think of luxury wine, we tend to think of wine from countries such
as France, Italy, Argentina and Australia. This is the way the world thinks;
this is because these countries are known to have the best weather and
geological condition to grow wine.
However the economic downturn has seen
less people buying these types of luxury wine. This comes down to a lack of
expendable income from consumers in the
UK market; people budgeted more in the wake
of the financial crisis and luxury wines were one of the first items
that people struck from their budgets in hard times.
However the UK wine industry has actually
been on the rise over the past few years and experts predict that 2014 may be a
boom year for the UK wine industry.
This news comes from a report released by
Rabobank, a Dutch bank, which noted that the improvement of the UK economy along
with a recovery in global grape harvest could see a stronger 2014 for the
nations wine industry.
The report noted that despite the facts that main wine producer France has
seen two poor wine harvests in a row, other key wine growing markets have
boomed. Spain’s 2013 crop saw a rise of almost 40% to 49.5 million hectolitres according
to the report and California looks set to equal or surpass its record breaking
2012 harvest.
Contributing to this positive outlook is
the fact that the report identifies middle aged women and baby boomers as the
key demographic for the UK wine industry.
The report noted of these core demographics that “there are signs that these consumers are becoming more and more responsive
to more diverse offers and even more premium offers when they are given a
convincing reason to shift.”
So it’s like an equation; a
greater harvest plus more responsive consumers equals a growing industry. This
could logically lead to a growth in the luxury wine industry particularly as
people turn to a greater quality product to quench their need for the best wine
experience possible.
At the Ideal Wine Company
we see this as an exciting time for the UK wine industry as it is set to grow
and diversify. It’ll be interesting to see what 2014 brings.
