Rob Hart, category manager for wine at Booker, tells Asian Trader what he loves about the cash & carry group’s own label wine range.

AT: What do you most like about Booker own label wine?
RH: What I most like is the quality. We are not the finished article, we have still got a lot of work to do but we are doing it from a good starting point, enhanced by the fact that our wines have won awards at the International Wine Challenge. The challenge now is to communicate that to retailers.

AT: What is your favourite Booker wine?
RH: The Port LBV is fantastic. I think for retailers and consumers looking for a summer wine it will be the sparkling chardonnay. Fizzy wine is in growth and the sparkling chardonnay will enable retailers to capitalise on that growth.

AT: How is wine performing in the recession?
RH: It is as challenged as other categories. Wine volume is down for the first time in the 13 years I have been working in this market. Value is holding up better. There is value decline in bottles priced under £3. That is encouraging in that the core wine consumer who is prepared to spend a little bit more is not being lost. The long term future for the wine market is very good.

AT: Which particular sectors of the wine market are doing well?
RH: Everyone is doing well on rosé which is seeing volume and value growth, driven by Californian rosé and by drier variants. White is also doing well – there is a bit of a seasonal flux in that as white and rosé are both summer drinks. Red is not keeping pace with white and rosé.

AT: A lot of the wine market consists of branded products. How do you get consumers to buy own label wine?
RH: Through price. Retailers should put the cheapest wines on display, offering three for £10. It is becoming more and more difficult to achieve that three for £10 because of duty increases and the exchange rate but promotional compliance from Booker’s Premier wholesalers is strong.

AT: How can retailers promote own label wine?
RH: Through point of sale material and in-store wine tastings. It is about generating confidence. Consumers don’t feel confident walking up to the wine counter. Before they can get consumers to feel confident, retailers and wholesalers both need to feel confident. Consumers who are regular wine drinkers are drinking more than last year but confidence is lacking in new consumers.

AT: How do you educate retailers, particularly Asian retailers who often don’t drink, about wine so that they can help shoppers choose the right wine?
RH: It is very difficult and we recognise that we are not fully addressing that. But where retailers can succeed is by stocking from Booker’s Retail Best Sellers – a list of 500 products that we recommend across all categories, not just alcohol. Traders should realise that the Retail Best Sellers list is not supplier driven, it is based on what actually sells and if they stock the products from this range they can be confident they will sell. The products are all on sale or return, which should give retailers added confidence.

AT: Booker’s range of wines won awards at the International Wine Challenge. How important is it for you to win awards for your wine?
RH: It is very nice for Booker to win the International Wine Challenge awards. That endorsement is valuable. But the really important news is how our products perform with customers. Winning a medal is great but we need to make our wines relevant to consumers. We won an award for our Valencia range, which is a value range. That’s great news for retailers because if they stock Valencia, they can attract entry level consumers into the cheaper end of the wine category.