Seasonal buying on the decrease

Wine shoppers are less influenced by the season than they used to be, according to chief wine buyer for Asda, Philippa Carr MW.

Carr said that with rosé becoming a year-long drink and food-matching playing a bigger role in people’s lives, there’s less emphasis on the traditional white for summer and red for winter buying patterns.

Speaking at the supermarket’s tasting in London last week, Carr told the drinks business: “Rosé is now a year-round drink and the idea that heavy reds are only for winter is not necessarily the case.

“Food and wine matching has played a part in this. Of course, in winter it’s more about casseroles and in the summer there’s more salads but all year we enjoy things like Thai food, which can go well with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc,” she added.

The tasting also featured the newly re-launched own label Wine Cubes, about which Carr added: “We felt it was a category that needed a bit of a refresh.

“Thinking from a consumer’s point of view, the Wine Cubes are for people who want the convenience of it [bag-in-box] and who want to have something that looks good in the kitchen.

If it works for boxes of tissues, then why not for wine? We’re reaching out to a different consumer with this, and showing that it’s a fun, everyday wine and that it’s contemporary.

“We have to think of wines and styles that de-risk things for the consumer. There are no sacred cows at Asda. We want to have wines that taste good and that customers love.”

Jane Parkinson, 04.10.2010