The Beautiful Game

A few years ago I was at ProWein (major Dusseldorf Wine Fair) with a buyer who actually wanted to buy wine.

He was lost and in the words of John Lennon my friends view of the wine fair was that, 'he was watching the wheels go round and round'. He was indeed 'lost in confusion.' 'Well, I tell them there's no problem only solutions. Well, they shake their heads and look at me as if I've lost my mind.....'

The problem began many years previously when this particular buyer worked as a confectionery buyer and bought tons of sticky stuff at an annual fair in Cologne. It seemed reasonable that if he took time way from the office to attend a Fair then he should actually be buying something. Seems reasonable alright. If not down right honest and sensible.

That's really not how it works though.

As bizarre as it seems most wine fairs are very expensive talking and meeting shops. You're more likely to hear, 'Let's meet up again next week and thrash this out', than ' Let's shake on it then and see you next year'.

The wine trade the world over is a very competitive market place. It can be a gruesome and tough place to work in. It is a constant source of amazement to me how the trade papers over these cracks and makes it look as though we are all having a jolly good time indeed.

Wine is a very sexy product. It appears as a voluptuous creature with an exotic history and a dollop of associated erotica. It is in effect portrayed as a very beautiful and placid product. The trade decided a long time ago that it will also portray itself in similar terms. All show with a great deal of pomp.

Then along came the modern wine fair. PR consultants; big showy stands; nights out on the town. And wine. I feel sorry for the guy who comes along with wine and no show girls. Very often he just sits and stares.

Oh sure, there are meetings, meetings and sometimes deals. But on the whole it's about keeping in touch and looking at each other. I remember one particular buyer who's stated aim at VinExpo was to garner as many quality dinner invites as he could. After all, he said, it's all about location, location, location.

Is it all just a beautiful game? Is it all just a very expensive circus where we go round and round in circles?

On Day 3 my friend brought a very large calculator into the hallowed halls of ProWein. He bought wine.

Does it still only take one to say that the emperor has no clothes?

Ah, the beautiful game goes on.

Little and Large

I am sick to death with bile up to the back of my teeth. It seems that in some way if you run a boutique wine store you are better and holier than the giant multiple grocer who has just roared into town.

Why do people always knock the big guy and prop up the small guy?

I know some grotty small wine stores and some brilliant large ones....I have tasted crap in the bottle from boutique wineries and magic from a few industrial like combines. I have, of course, seen the whole thing the other way around also.

It may have something to do with price and nothing to do with size. Well actually it has everything to do with price. The multiple grocer in Ireland is sucking margin in to itself as it never did before. It's reckoned that as the average price for a bottle of wine dipped below 7.20Euro the margin returned to the multiple actually rose above 30% off the shelf!! ergo, they're the bad guys....ergo ergo...what they sell must be poor.....ego, ergo and some more ergo.....the other guy, and let's face it everyone else is small, must be better.

Let's hear it for the small guy who can't get his margin up any longer. Let's hear it for the poor fella who can't compete on price. Put it together. Times are tough.

This is complete stuff and absolute nonsense.

We're talking about wine here. If the price is low and the quality is acceptable then bully for the consumer: he's the winner. If the small guy can't compete on price then he must compete on something else. Get another wine; get another sales pitch; get another life...the options are legion. It has always been this way. Except of course when everyone was small. And no-one made any money then. They were all poor. Except of course for a few of the bigger of the small guys!! Noone talks about the high margins then. Ah... well, it's Ok for the small guy to make a big margin.

Wine first. Price, quality and selection. In Ireland we have every conceivable wine at every conceivable price at every conceivable quality level. It's a healthy mix for a small country.

There is no shortage of quality wine available crying out for an importer. Most of these will never arrive here. We just don't have the people. This means that per person there is an unhealthy and close association with what the big boys want to sell. We can't easily avoid it. We keep bumping into each other and into 'their' wine. It's a marketers dream. A virtual captive audience.

We have been captured. We ran out of room to run away. And we don't like it. But what's that got to do with right and wrong? Nothing really. But god, it's great to have a rant at the big guys. They can hack it.

Hack it they will. Margins rule. Get another life. Get another wine. Get another sales pitch.

Scat big guy. We're small and we're quality.

Belvedere House last weekend.