Majestic revamps and expands South African range

UK wine retailer Majestic is expanding its South Africa wine range to focus on higher priced wines and a more representative offer of what the country has to offer, as part of its wider range review.

South Africa is gearing up for an “exceptional” 2020 harvest

The retailer has increased its range of South African wine by 17% and refreshed around 40% of the offer, it says, concentrating on higher priced wines and slashing the number of bulk wines that previously dominated.

It says it is also “actively looking” to work with more suppliers from a BAME background.

Additions to the range include wines from Hemel-en-Aarde (Creation) and Tulbagh (Fable Mountain), more organic and biodynamic wines and a better range of South Africa’s best-known grapes, Chenin Blanc and Pinotage, in addition to new Bordeaux blends & Rhone varieties such as Marsanne, Rousanne and Syrah. New winemakers who have been brought on board include Trizanne Barnard, David Finlayson and Samantha O’Keefe along with suppliers who previously worked with the retailer, Springfield Estate and Porcupine Ridge.

Buyer Nadia Williamsom said the work on the South African range was “arguably the most important” of its recent range review given the impact of recent droughts and Covid-19 on the country’s winegrowers, particularly the government’s restrictions on domestic alcohol sales. She said the team was seeking to effect long term growth rather than a short term fix, by working more closely with its existing suppliers and bringing in new ones.

“We want to create a Majestic renaissance of South African wine in our stores,” she said, allowing customers to “open their eyes to the potential and depth of the whole Cape”, where a whole new generation were trying to create “world leading, iconic, glorious, ethical wines”.

“A key aim is to help shift the consumer perception away from bulk-produced, entry-evel wines – and into the incredible quality and craftsmanship to be found a little further up the price ladder. By doing this, not only do we help Majestic customers come away with the best possible wine for them, we help suppliers in South Africa,” she said.

The South African wine range has been refreshed as part of a wider revamp, with changes to its range from Spain, Regional France, South Africa and Italy, which are going into store in August and September.

Reboot of Italy & regional France

The retailer has boosted its Italian range by 31 skus, stripping out duplication at the lower end, and increasing the breadth of the range across the board, for both new and existing regions and styles. Williamson noted the retailer “needed to move away from a thousand different Pinot Grigios and push the quality level up” for Italy, so it has focussed on bringing in a greater number of smaller DOCs, more indigenous grape varieties and more premium options of existing successes, such as  Pecorino, Soave and Sardinian Vermentino, and working with more boutique suppliers.

New wines come from Lugana, Etna Rosso Bardolino, Salice Salentino, and Vernaccia di San Gimignano, but it said that the WIGIG (when it’s gone, it’s gone) parcels would play a big role in the Italian range.

“It’s a great way of continuing to expand the range and measure interest – and we expect some to become core listings if they go down well,” Williamson said.

Regional France is another area of focus, with new additions from areas such as Côtes-d’auvergne, Jura, Savoie and the Ardeche – with a complete change up and down the price brackets to allow for greater Premiumisation, although the number of skus has remained the same.  It has also expanded its Rhône offering with the addition of lesser-known appellations like Rasteau, Laudun and Vinsobres and reduced its reliance on Côtes du Rhône and Châteauneuf du Pape.

“A key focus is on increasing our Fine Wine offer here, which was stagnant, and to ensure clear price-laddering to help customer trade up into more premium wines,” buyer Beth Pearce said.

Pearce added she was excited to stock new producers who were leading the way, such as Figure Libre wines, who use concrete eggs to ferment, or biodynamic and organic trend setter, Chapoutier, as well as returning the “iconic Majestic classic” the Cuvee de Richard wines to its  shelves.

“Many of our customers will be thrilled to see these back on our shelves, following its delist a couple of years ago after two decades of service (now with an upgrade to IGP level),” she said.

The move follows the review of its rosé wines, Champagne, sparkling wines and wines from the Loire, Burgundy, Australia, New Zealand, North America and Eastern Europe.

Beaujolais, Portugal, Argentina, Chile, the Southern Mediterranean, Alsace Bordeaux, Germany and Austria and fortifieds are set to follow in October and November.

Last week the UK wine retailer announced it was set to return to it’s old logo and abandon the ‘confusing’ rebrand that was rolled out by the previous management, with staff set to vote on revamped versions of the bunch of grapes logo it had between 1991 and 2018 ahead of the new website rolling out at the end of this month.