Wines of Chile unveils £10-plus promo plan

Wine of Chile is to promote only those wines that sell for more than £10 per bottle in the UK, or $15 in the US, and ¥150 in China.

Angélica Valenzuela, pictured at ProWein clutching a three-litre bottle of Ocio – a top-end Chilean Pinot Noir destined for a masterclass at the trade fair

In an exclusive interview with the drinks business at ProWein last week, Angélica Valenzuela, who is the commercial director at Wines of Chile – which manages the worldwide promotion of Chilean wines – confirmed that the organisation had a new promotional strategy that was focused purely on premium wines.

Defining ‘premium’ as those wines with a US$60 FOB per case export price, she said that “all activities” would be dedicated entirely to Chile’s more top end wines, before explaining that a US$60 FOB per case export price translated loosely into wines that sold for more than £10 per bottle in UK retailers (or $15 in the US, and over ¥150 in China).

“We really want to premiumise, because we have really great wines and we need to change the perception of Chile to one as a premium wine producer,” she stated.

Continuing she said, “From now on we will only support activities that are in that segment, whether it is educational events or promotions – everything – in all countries where we have a budget.”

Acknowledging that the “majority” of Chilean wines sales were below $60 FOB, she said that it was vital that the country promoted its more upmarket wines for the long term health of the country’s wine producers, who are facing rising costs.

She also said that it made strategy sense to concentrate on higher-priced wine as growth was greatest among this more upmarket segment of the wine business.

“Although 20% of Chilean exports are over $60 FOB, now we are really growing over this price,” she recorded.

She told db that the new strategy was decided at the end of last year, but was being put in place in 2018, having secured the support from the wineries in Chile as well as ProChile – an institution dedicated to supporting exporters from the South American nation.

In terms of the approach to all aspects of Chilean wine promotion worldwide, Valenzuela said that the organisation had created “four pillars” for its approach to communication.

“The first pillar is ‘quality and diversity’, and diversity is very closed related to regionality,” she began, adding that the main focus is on explaining the partitioning of Chile’s vine growing areas into three main types: Costa (coastal western vineyards), Entre Cordilleras (the central valleys) and Andes (eastern mountain vineyards).

“The second pillar is ‘innovation’, which is very important for us, because we are very strong in Cabernet Sauvignon but we have developed many new varieties, and we have to show to the world these new and interesting things to maintain and sell the traditional and high quality wines too,” she explained, stressing the benefit of promoting the novel, even though the mainstay of Chile’s wine sales concern mainstream international grapes.

“The third pillar is ‘sustainability’, which is very important is certain places, such as Canada and Scandinvia, and concerns not just the environment but also taking care of the community around the winery,” she recorded.

The fourth and final pillar is dedicated to promoting the image of Chile as a country, incorporating its culture, food, geography and, of course, wine, according to Valenzuela.

Speaking about Chile’s key export markets, Valenzuela said that Wines of Chile would continue with its educational programmed called The Wines of Chile Academy, which it runs in the US and China, along with Brazil from this year for the first time.

Identifying its benefits, she told db that it creates “ambassadors” for Chilean wines, adding, “It is a long term activity that is giving us a lot of return on investment”.

She also said that the organisation would be investing further in its ‘Love Wine, Love Chile’ promotional programme, first unveiled last year for the US and China, and now extending to Brazil too.

Although the strapline is the same for all three markets, Valenzuela stressed that the approach is different depending on the nation.

In China, Valenzuela recorded that Chile is very strongly associated with wine, and is seen as a producer of premium wine that pairs well with a diverse range of Chinese cuisines.

In the US, on the other hand, Chile has a weaker image.

As a result, Valenzuela said, “In the US we have to be more provocative than we are in China, because we want to be hot again in the US, we need to reposition Chile from being seen as a value-for-money wine producer to a premium one, so our ‘Love Wine, Love Chile’ campaign is very different.

“China is positioning, the US is repositioning,” she summed up.

Having said that, Valenzuela admitted that the FOB price of Chilean exports to China is currently US$31.7, which is a long way below the $60 cut-off for the new promotional strategy.

“We have a lot of work to do but I am very focused on China because it is really a growing wine market, and per capita consumer is very low, just 1.6 litres per capita, and imported wine alone is less than 1l, so the potential is huge.

“Also we have a good position, we are the third biggest imported wine in China behind France and Australia, and we have a good image in China, and there is a strong presence of Chilean wineries too in China,” she recorded.

Also, Chinese wines have invested in Chile, with China’s Changyu wine company taking an 85% share of Indómita Wine Company Chile last year, while Yanghe Distillery Co. took a 12.5% stake in Chile’s VSPT Wine Group in January this year.

As for the UK, Wines of Chile UK Director Anita Jackson told db that the organisation would be continuing with its educational programme focused on opinion-formers.

“As it’s a mature market with very high percentage of influencers with an international perspective, it is seen more as a trendsetting market,” she said.

For this reason, a series of masterclasses across the UK will be held over the course of 2018, that, like previous events, will comprise a blind tasting pitting Chilean wines against competitors from elsewhere in the world.

“We find that it’s a really easy way to break down preconceptions about Chile – and we don’t cheat [by selecting poor comparative wines], because we get someone independent to choose the wines from outside Chile,” she recorded.

Finally, Valenzuela confirmed that Wines of Chile would be present in the UK with a major tasting later this year.

“We want to come back with the annual tasting in a very focused way; it will show the very best of Chile, which is very important for the UK and the UK media,” she stated, adding that the event would showcase not only Chile’s premium wines, but would also feature its native cuisines.