When it comes to convincing humans to buy things, author Simon Sinek’s states “There are only two ways to influence human behaviour. You can manipulate it or you can inspire it”. So why don’t more wine producers do the ‘inspiring’ and not the discounting? It’s so depressing, because it’s rampant in the industry I love. Discounting delivers a short term burst in sales, but I despair for the long-term harm that discounting has on boutique brands. Brands that are owned by hard-working, incredibly talented people who only get one shot each year at getting that wine into that bottle.
Wine is expensive to make. Yet tragically, local supermarket chains and wine clearance websites have spent the last 20 years convincing kiwi consumers that a bottle of wine should never be bought at full price. This makes me so angry. Do we expect discounts from mechanics, accountants, doctors, plumbers or artists? No. If they do good work, make great products, they are ‘worth’ their fee and they build a reputation/brand around that.
In 2015 I became the co-founder and chief tasting officer of a wine subscription service called WineFriend. We match wines to people and rescue them from the wine rut they’re in. People trust me with their money to hunt around to find great wines for their personal palate. We don’t ‘do’ discounting and we don’t have sales, because every single wine we sell is worth every cent you pay for it and more.
Many wine producers (and their distributors) make their wines available to 3rd party discounters who lure them with the promise of ‘volume’ then rip the guts out of those brands in a dog fight with their competitors. “We’ve got this trophy-winning, 5-star wine at 50% off! You’ve never seen these prices before! It’s a bargain! We have the cheapest wines around!” That immediately and permanently says to every consumer that wine isn’t worth its full price and if they like it, they’ll just wait for the next discount cycle. It’s wine You can’t blame shoppers, the industry has done this to itself. Wineries then become trapped in a downward spiral of constantly discounting to move product. It’s cannibalistic and unsustainable. If this doesn’t bother you that’s fine. However don’t complain when our shelves become bereft of great wines from small producers because they’ve gone out of business.
On the other side of the coin, beware of those promotions that look too good to be true. If the advertisement says “Down from $45 to $15 a bottle!” Do the research. Was that bottle ever $45 to start with?
There’s so much wine out there, I understand that more than anyone – but there are other ways to differentiate your brand and be noticed, than by discounting. Brands like Apple never discount and we never question it. They know their products are fantastic and they set their prices in stone. They credit their customers with having an appreciation of quality, value and the ‘experience’ they get using their products. To me, wine is one of the most ‘experiential’ products in existence. It’s a treat, it’s a social lubricant and moderate daily consumption has proven health benefits. It connotes, friendship, fun, great food and memories. As journalist Richard Owens states “Wine has the potential to be associated with the most enjoyable moments in peoples’ lives”. It should be priced and sold accordingly.
Alpha Domus Hawke’s Bay The Navigator 2014 $32 (4.5 stars)
Close your eyes and imagine this wine being a shiny, skintight, leopard print suit inside chunky, glittery platform boots. It’s David Lee Roth in a bottle basically. Suspended on wires above an arena, belting out ‘Jump!’ It’s a slick, masculine, Hollywood wine that’s impenetrably dark and doused with blackberry, plum, boysenberry and voluptuously spicy characters. Deeply savoury and oozing cocoa characters – it’s an absolutely beautiful example of what those iron-rich, Bridge Pa soils can achieve.
www.alphadomus.co.nz
Black Barn Hawke’s Bay Merlot Malbec Cabernet 2014 $33 (4.5 stars)
Winemaker Dave McKee is like a silent assassin. He just quietly shuffles about in Black Barn’s ridiculously tiny winery each year, never saying boo about how the wine is tasting until he’s fully confident that it’s in the bottle safely – and even then he doesn’t give anything away. Fleshy, plum-saturated, seriously smooth and bursting with perfume from the franc and give spine from the meatiness of the malbec.
www.blackbarn.co.nz
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Belasco Llama Old Vine Mendoza Malbec 2016 $26 (3.5 stars)
Argentinean malbec is one of my favourite things because it’s so meaty and savoury and loaded with spicy, charred, fleshy goodness. Belasco have malbec vines that are over 100 years old growing in the Lujan de Cuyo district and the contribution that fruit makes to this wine is other-worldly. Toasty, caramelised oak combines with plum, prune and dark berry notes to create a seriously sippable wine indeed.
www.planetwine.co.nz
Gladstone Vineyard Wairarapa Sauvignon Blanc 2017 $19 (3.5 stars)
Lemongrass alert! This organically grown sauvignon absolutely heaves with citrus blossom and herbaceousness, buckets of preserved lemon, passionfruit and showing a dry, zesty, mineral-heavy mid-palate. It’s not a fruit bomb, it’s an elegant, lean, complex style.
www.gladstonevineyard.co.nz
Momo Marlborough Chardonnay 2017 $19 (4 stars)
If you’re of an organic persuasion, then this wine will tick all your boxes. Lifted peach, grapefruit sit alongside buttered crumpet and nutty notes to create a multi-layered, super-tasty, juicy wine that should definitely be in your fridge!
www.seresin.co.nz
