AWARDS WINE: Top drops

Fionnuala Synnott asks whether the benefits of winning an award extend beyond promoting the brand

Winning an international wine award, whether it’s from the IWSC, the IWC or Decanter, is a great achievement for a winery, both in terms of building its reputation and increasing its sales. A medal on a wine label can act as the ultimate USP on an otherwise anonymous supermarket shelf. But in addition to raising consumer awareness of the winning brand, international awards can raise the profile of a country by drawing attention to the quality of its wines.

By creating competition among wine producers, these awards can encourage producers to raise the bar when it comes to their winemaking. George Fistonich, founder of New Zealand winery Villa Maria, agrees: “Good people like a bit of competition. It’s a big buzz for winemakers when they win. If you don’t win a competition, it makes you question where you went wrong. Most winning sports teams watch replays of competitors’ performances – it’s the same with wine. People look at the different styles of wine that are winning. We always buy our competitors’ wines to see why they have won these prizes.”

This focus on quality winemaking can elevate the reputation of the category as a whole. In fact, according to Fistonich, “a huge amount of credit for the rapid rise in quality of New Zealand wine can be given to these competitions”.

Wine competitions can draw attention to any technical improvements that need to be made, be it in the winery or in the vineyard. “At one stage, New Zealand winemakers were overoaking their Chardonnay. They were also cropping their Pinot too heavily, which meant the wines didn’t have enough weight. New Zealand Cabernet Sauvignon also tended to be a bit green so winemakers started to lengthen the ripening process. All of these things came to light thanks to the judges’ comments,” says Fistonich.

Paul Meihuizen, business development manager at South African winery Spier, agrees: “While they are a part of doing business in the UK, awards such as the IWSC trophy or similar do bring the focus back to quality. Awards competitions by their very nature keep producers’ eyes on the ball and can act as a benchmark.”

Paul Dunn, European director of Chilean brand Valdivieso, thinks these competitions are very important, even if they are subjective. “Major international competitions such as the IWC, Decanter and the Brussels competition add a lot of credibility, even if they are difficult to quantify in terms of sales.” In his opinion, these awards serve to reinforce the winery’s message: “We, as a winery, have been jacking up our quality and image in the past three years but the awards we have won this year show the trade that there has been an improvement in the quality of our wines. In this way, the international wine competitions endorse the message we are trying to get out there.” In Valdivieso’s case, the awards have also had very tangible commercial follow-up. Dunn explains: “Following our win, we are meeting with a major off-trade buyer, who used to stock Valdivieso wine but felt that the quality had slipped. I met him at the IWSC dinner and I am now about to carry out a tasting with him.”

Neil Hadley MW, export manager for Taylors Wines in Australia, says, “We run a simple but effective business plan that works on the idea that if you get the wine quality and value right, then everything else follows relatively naturally. Wine shows that recognise quality, sometimes in absolute category terms and sometimes in relative terms (eg, a category may be defined within a price band), are of tremendous importance to us because they endorse to the trade, media and public that we are doing the very thing that we claim – putting the wine first.”

He continues: “By aligning our entire reputation with this [quality] position, it tends to drive our focus on wine style and quality ever further, so in many ways, it’s a strategy which fuels wine quality improvement and thus customer satisfaction, which in turn fuels growth and business success. With a basic plan to build our business on wine quality, it is of great value to us that a worldwide wine show system exists that gives objective third-party endorsement to achieving our aim.”

Country focus

Wine competitions can put a country, particularly one whose wines are relatively unfamiliar, on the map. “New Zealand became exposed to the world through these competitions. A number of Masters of Wine, including Jancis Robinson, Robert Joseph and Anthony Rose, came out to New Zealand to do some judging. They then went back and spread the word, which has given New Zealand a fantastic reputation in the UK,” says Villa Maria’s Fistonich.

Paul Schaafsma, regional director, McGuigan Simeon, adds, “When an Australian wine wins an award, it does give some kudos to Australia. It is essential that all wineries, even boutique ones, enter these awards as they can raise people’s quality perception.” Dunn remarks, “In the past, Chile has been seen as good and constant but probably a little bit boring. But thanks to the work of Michael Cox, as the Wines of Chile ambassador, it is now seen as a very exciting category. These awards have made people think twice about Chile.”

But Spier’s Meihuizen disagrees: “In general, awards such as the IWSC are very much brand-focused rather than country-focused. Any award will help to raise the profile of the brand with the consumer. However, it is highly debatable as to whether this flows through to the country in question.”

Consumer reassurance
A gold medal on a bottle offers consumers reassurance that they will not be disappointed by their purchase. This is particularly important in the UK, where competition is rife and the sheer variety of wines on shelf often bewilders shoppers.

“The awards give consumers security. We can get a bit complacent but the reality is that, from a consumer perspective, there is a multitude of wines to choose from. Apart from the odd funny one, you have to be pretty good to get through these competitions,” says Fistonich.

There is no doubt that, when it comes to promoting your brand, wine shows and judges can be useful. “If you can put an award on the label, people will see it as an independent assessment of the value of the wine,” says Schaafsma.

Awards clearly raise awareness of the winning brand but they also serve another, less commercial, purpose. International wine competitions can act as a showcase for a country by showing off the quality of the wines produced there. As well as giving less established countries a boost by helping them build an international reputation, these competitions help to promote the wine industry as a whole. In a market that is often price-driven, international wine competitions bring the focus back to quality.  Whether or not this is a number one priority for consumers is another matter.

© db November 2007