Co-op: English wine drinkers more educated

English consumers are becoming educated wine drinkers believes a French co-op.

“The English customers are more and more open minded and are ready to taste something that is not in the mainstream – something unusual”, Etienne de Rességuier European export director for Plaimont told the drinks business.

“I think a fanastic job has been done in the past by the press, producers and general trade to educate the customers.

“In the UK people who do not know about wine want to learn, they are like ‘we know nothing we want to learn’. People are more and more learning about wine from all over the world – just look at the New World Wines – they represent a good chance for us because they reached people who were never reached before.

“In France you do not learn anything because in essence you are meant to know everything about wine.

“Thanks to the Chardonnay from Australia and the  Sauvignon Blanc  from New Zealand people were encouraged to try something different and now they are in the wine world.”

Five co-operatives sell their wine under the Plaimont brand and they supply wines a number of UK supplies.

Plaimont brought together producers from Caves de PLaisance, Caves d’AIgnan and Cave de Saint Mont in 1979 and is the largest wine supplier from South West France, comprised of over a thousand producers.

Currently the company are promoting their summer wine collection and are working on a “top secret” small project which is hoped will produce sweet wine.

“The UK market is our second market, a very important market, he said.

“We see the trends are coming around to more like we are, a small appreciation.

“After the big Chardonnay and big  Sauvignon Blanc trends we see that consumers are looking internationally – and France for something different.

Plaimont wineries all use modern procedures in order to track the grapes from the vine to the bottle, using management software, to enable winemakers to know exactly where the grapes were grown.

“We are matching well with the market demand and the work that has been done previously by us is coming together, added Rességuier.

“There are very positive signs but I think it is important for us to stay autetic  in terms of the tradition of the region. 

“We can’t necessarily follow a trend because we don’t want to go away from our roots, but when a trend like the UK market comes towards us we can react.

“We can adapt but we don’t want to lose where we come from.” 

Part of the range available in the UK include Saint Mont Duc de Vendôme 2008 St Mont 2008, Gascogne Red, 2008 and Duc de Vendôme 2008.