Organic wine sales dip nearly 10%, Soil Association says
Date£º
2015-04-09 11:09 Source£º
harpers.co.uk Author:
Arabella Mileham Translator:
Sales of organic wines have dipped nearly 10% in the last year, according to figures from the Soil Association.
Lee Holdstock, Soil Association trade development manager told Harpers.co.uk supermarket sales of organic wine had dipped 9.3% in the 52 weeks to 31 Jan 2014 (based on data compiled for The Soil Association by Nielsen), compared to 0.6% of the non- organic wine market. Total organic food and drink rose 2.3% in the same period, he said.
The organic market comprises around 0.2% of the overall wine market, according to Soil Association, and is worth around ¡ê9m.
¡°Organic wine did well over the initial recession years, as consumers treated themselves with ¡®affordable indulgences¡¯ , to take the sting out of all the belt tightening, but as we get to 2013, things were firmly in decline,¡± he said.
However he said there was evidence of a recovery in the 12 weeks to the end of January, up +2.5%, and the picture ¡°seemed to be improving¡±.
The independent market was also seeing far more positive growth, he added, but this was not tracked by Nielsen¡¯s figures. ¡°Reports from key on-line retailers such as Vintage Roots, although have been flat since the start of the recession, sales in 2014 were very positive for them (12%). They feel this is typical for independent wine retail,¡± he said.
Doug Wregg of Les Caves de Pyrene, which also specialises in organic and biodynamic wines, agreed sales through independent had been strong.
¡°Over 70% of our wine list is organic and it has broadly increased,¡± he said. ¡°For wines above ¡ê7, the vast majority are organic or biodynamic ¨C we like them not because they are organic, but because it makes for better terroir wines. A few years ago, people were put off organic as they thought it was ¡°faddy¡±, but people understand the correlation better now.¡±
¡°We¡¯ve notice in restaurants, bars and smaller independents and regional retailers, sales have increased dramatically and more merchants and independents are specialising in it,¡± he said. ¡±Supermarkets don¡¯t have the time to tell the story, it¡¯s just about the price point.¡±
He said the proportion of accredited organic wines had increased but warned that there were reservations about the term ¡®organic¡¯ and argued that it was in danger of becoming ¡°meaningless¡±.
¡°There are too many certification bodies and it means different things in different countries - it doesn¡¯t go far enough and already many producers already go beyond the ¡®basic¡¯ requirements,¡± he said.