Wine Focus: Find your range

Wine research from The Publican in association with:

With pub customers generally making a decision on what they want to drink within 15 seconds, it is imperative that your wine range is clear and correct for your outlet. Andy Knott continues our series on how to increase your profits from wine.​

Ten green bottles sitting on a wall. The old nursery rhyme appears as valid as ever. Well, at least when we're considering the number of wines that a standard pub should stock. Granted, it's probably better to slap them in the fridge or on a shelf rather than a wall, and 10 isn't exactly a hard and fast figure, but it remains a pretty good rule of thumb.

"A go-ahead outlet is looking at between eight and 12 wines," argues Hew Dalrymple, director of marketing and strategy at Waverley Group. "This gives the option of offering a number of different price points, with examples from the Old World and the New, in red and white and a variety of styles. Customers in pubs will make their choice usually within 15 seconds so, crucially, a tight wine list won't confuse or intimidate them either."

This last point seems to be a recurring theme from most commentators. Simon Loftus is undoubtedly one of the most respected wine personnel working in the pub environment, buying for Adnams' 85 pubs. His message is simple: "I'm a great believer in limiting your offer. It's better to concentrate on doing a few things well." So in this instance, less really can be more.

One area where this principle really needs application is the number of wines that are offered by the glass. One disturbing trend picked up by the recent research conducted by The Publican is that bottles are being left open for too long. Publicans admitted that the average time a bottle of wine remained open was 2.3 days - with four per cent languishing on the shelves for a week or more - whereas most wines are really at their best for no more than a day.

Granted, customers will be impressed with a wide range of wines by the glass, but their overriding concern is for quality - 52 per cent had been disappointed by wines in pubs. So rationalisation of wines by the glass seems a good approach to ensure that the wines you do serve are in their optimum condition. Fortunately, there are alternative solutions now, with a number of wines available in 187ml or 250ml mini-bottles. Small is beautiful, as the saying goes.

Tim North, UK director of Grands Chais de France, sees this as a big opportunity for its JP Chenet brand. "One of the big issues with consumers is stale wine," he said. "Single-serve bottles are the ideal response to this - if consumers see them they know they're going to get a fresh glass of wine every time."

Another solution to this problem is bag-in-box wines. These are still used by 17 per cent of publicans. Simon Loftus, however, thinks that these are a big no-no. "The biggest problem facing publicans with wine is the need to reassure consumers about the quality of wine served," he said. "Bottles do this, and they make the wine experience that much more interesting." Tim North concurs with this view: "The problem with bag-in-boxes is one of image. They do keep wine fresh for a long spell and their day may return, but now is not the right time for them."

Now is the right time, however, to be a New World wine brand. Brits can't get enough of them at the moment. They have almost single-handedly fuelled the doubling of UK wine consumption over the last 20 years. Yet their success is mainly an off-trade phenomenon, where Australia has now overtaken France as the best-selling country. According to some recent statistics from AC Nielsen, France outsells Australia by three-to-one in the on-trade arena. Of course the "on-trade" includes restaurants who have a predilection for French wines, but the picture in pubs is very mixed.

While managed pub chains showed that they were keeping track with consumer trends with 84 per cent stocking Australian wines (compared to 86 per cent with French), the picture was very different with leasehold, tenanted and independent outlets where the figure was far lower at 49 per cent.

"Publicans have been reluctant to list consumer-recognised brands," explains Chris Seale, head of marketing for wines at Pernod Ricard UK, which is responsible for Jacob's Creek. "It has been difficult to get the New World and branded wine message across to the UK pub trade. Many larger pub operators have moved on board, but freetraders often still buy through regional wholesale and cash and carry channels and very often don't have a dedicated wine range." This is strange, given that wine is far less branded than beer, spirits or soft drinks but I'd wager there's a small minority that don't stock Stella or Kronenbourg, Smirnoff or Bacardi and Coke or Pepsi.

Today, customers are reassured by branded goods, and wine is no stranger to that principle. The Publican's research - carried out by Taylor Nelson Sofres - confirms this: in an admittedly spread field, brand name was the most important factor that influenced a customer's wine choice. In terms of the favoured brands, both consumers (31 per cent) and publicans (39 per cent) agree that Jacob's Creek is the most desirable brand name. Other brands favoured by consumers include Blossom Hill (22 per cent) and Hardy's (16 per cent).

You'll notice that the traditional, European wines are conspicuous by their absence in these lists. But that doesn't mean that the baby should be thrown out with the bathwater. Country of origin is still a hugely important cue for customers when choosing their wine, coming a close second behind brands. Unsurprisingly, Australia (47 per cent) and France (39 per cent) were clear leaders in this list, with South Africa, Italy, Germany, Spain and Chile in the next tier, all attracting between 15 and 20 per cent.

Another factor worth considering here is that the wealthy (and most likely to be wine-drinking) AB social demographic found country of origin to be easily the most important factor when selecting their wine, with 35 per cent, as against only 25 per cent for brands, which was outstripped by grape variety at 30 per cent. Regional preference still remains valid, too, with familiar names such as Chablis, Rioja and Chianti still having strong appeal.

Regions, however, have been taken over by grape varieties in the lexicon of today's wine drinkers. Today's consumer is far more likely to know their cabernet from their chardonnay than claret from beaujolais. In red wines, shiraz/syrah are the most requested varieties at 22 per cent, closely followed by merlot (20 per cent) and cabernet sauvignon (19%). In white, the Bridget Jones factor still holds sway, with chardonnay the clear winner attracting 32 per cent, while sauvignon blanc was favoured by 14 per cent.

The white that's really wooing the crowds at the moment is pinot grigio. Sam Reece, publican at the Sovereign in Brighton, admits that it's a "fashion statement", but he's not complaining as "previously I stocked traditional Italian whites such as frascati and soave, but sales of pinot grigio outstrip these combined by three times".

Changing a wine list frequently can help keep publicans keep up-to-date with the trends in the wine market. In the trade research, tweaking wine lists was pretty much spread across the board with 29 per cent changing annually, 23 per cent twice a year, and a further 29 per cent doing so more frequently.

A refresh is a good idea throughout the year, as it provides the opportunity to fine-tune the list according to season, so white wines can