London Wine Fair: Trends in wine

Trends such as lighter styles and picking grapes earlier than usual cropped up at the London Wine Fair/BrewLDN/Signature Serve event at Kensington Olympia last week when the exhibition that took place on 18-20 May.

Canned Wine Group founders Ben Franks and Simon Rollins operate a tinned wine range for the on-trade and have backed this up with the recent acquisition of The Copper Crew – a kegged wine line-up for pubs, bars and restaurants.

CEO Franks says the greater choice being offered to customers, whether that be beers, soft drinks, etc means “wine has a responsibility – if it wants to be a player in that market – to put something interesting back on the bar”.

He adds that’s where the considerable line-up from the Canned Wine Group can help a pub or bar while “The Copper Crew is bringing Fiano and Negroamaro grapes [to the on-trade], which are a bit more esoteric”.

Co-founder and executive chair Rollins states: “Lighter reds are something that’s becoming more popular – maybe it’s partly to do with the duty rules and the shift in what’s being offered so that’s bringing down ABVs but generally people are looking for something that’s a bit less heavy from a health perspective.”

He continues: “We see low & no as something that is making a lot of noise but consumers are not necessarily backing it. Alternative formats [are] definitely a space that’s rapidly progressing while draught wine is becoming more interesting too.”

Rollins adds cans have been adopted at a much quicker rate than expected.

Dan Harwood, managing director of SW Wines, which focuses on low & no alcohol wines for the on-trade, featuring its Eisberg range, gives his views too.

He explains: “If you’ve got a good mix of a quality offering that includes both alcohol-free as well as wines with alcohol, they can be combined. On the alcohol-free side, we do see that growing and we focus on premiumisation for the on-trade.”

He adds people want good-quality choices when they look for alcohol-free wine and also in different formats – alluding to Eisberg’s Be Free canned alcohol-free wines.

Harwood is also seeing a focus in different regions with a resurgence in Mosel Valley, in particular.

On trends for the upcoming year, he states: “We’ll see a continued focus on different grape varieties, both in alcohol-free and alcohol, and focusing on the on-trade experience. This means letting people taste some wines – it doesn’t have to be a formal wine tasting – it can just be having the ability to open a bottle, use a Coravin or some type of wine saver so you can get people to taste and really engage with the wines.

“Then they’ll feel more confident about it and feel more inclined to come back to purchase.”

English wine producer Chapel Down was also present at the event and was displaying its sparkling and still wine variants.

Head of on-trade for the group, Jamie Staib, tells The Morning Advertiser: “We’re finding the average hospitality goer is looking for a lighter, fresher style of wine. They are looking for something that’s locally sourced and sustainable and something that’s going to give them a memorable experience.

He adds there has been notable growth in demand and performance of English wines in the on-trade in recent years and it’s a really good time for pubs and bars to talk to their guests about supporting local produce.

“People are drinking a little less frequently, but when they are, they’re going to be spending more on something that is a higher quality, more memorable experience,” Staib says. “People are also dining a little earlier in the day and we often see wine, particularly Chapel Down, as being the first drink of an occasion.”

Felix Solis, which is a family-owned company that produces wines, grape juice and sangria, has two wineries in the centre of Spain: Valdepenas and La Mancha.

Managing director Richard Cochrane says: “We started picking some of our wines a lot earlier so we have fresher styles that the market wants because people are buying greener, fresher, brighter flavours. The obvious hot ticket is rosé – it’s the one that’s driving growth.

“We’re also seeing great performance from sangria. People are dressing it up, doing the perfect serve by putting in all the different fruits and we’re seeing some new sparkling wines in white, rosé and red – they’re all getting a bit of attention.”

Cochrane adds some red wines are having a hard time but there are parts of the category that are flourishing and its Rioja sales are up 40% “so it’s not all downhill”.

Sustainable Wine Solutions head of wine Calvin Pearson explains the wine merchant also imports and co-makes wine, mainly around Europe and England and brings them to its Walthamstow base where it bottles some and its main focus is on kegging wine.

He says: “People are generally drinking better wines overall but maybe drinking less often. Wine on tap is becoming a trend. People realise the quality of it is even fresher than a bottle – it stays in better condition.”

Pearson adds London is where all trends seem to start in the UK and then roll out to the rest of the country. He says rosé is “still having its day”, in particular provincial style rosé and to compound that, Sustainable Wine Solutions’ English rosé has become its second biggest seller.

“Orange wines are starting to creep in,” he adds as are well-made natural wines.