Putting the fizz into wine advice

A bespoke service for sparkling wine producers has been launched, designed to provide quality analysis and marketing advice for success in the UK market.

A number of producers, from Champagne to Russia to New Zealand have already signed up to the “benchmarking service” offered by The Sparkling Wine Review.

The analysis offered by The Sparkling Wine Review is comprised of three elements; sensory, technical and marketability [of the product] in the UK.

Managing the service, Mike Florence of Litmus Wines, told the drinks business: “The feedback the service offers is so extensive. It’s something completely different to a competition, it’s a private, business-orientated service.

“It offers advice on how to improve the product and its placement in the market, using feedback from some of the best experts in the business,” he added.

The four experts spearheading the project are winemaking consultants Sam Harrop MW and John Worontschak, head of winemaking, production and development at Direct Wines, Jean-Marc Sauboua, and the author of Wine Science, Jamie Goode.

The Sparkling Wine Review was launched following the success of the Sparkling Wine Symposium and although the symposium and review are two separate entities, they are linked in that producers who sign up for the review will be eligible to have their wines featured at the symposium.

The deadline for product submission for this year’s service is on 16 October.

A sample report and full submission details can be found on the Sparkling Wine Review website.

Jane Parkinson, 13.10.2010