Co-op embraces branded shift

Southern French cooperative Les Vignobles Foncalieu is pursuing a shift towards branded wines in place of own label.

The medieval Languedoc town of Carcassonne

Having seen its branded sales increase from just 5% of its total 10 years ago to 20% today, the cooperative, which works with 1,200 growers across 7,000 hectares, cited consumer demand and a desire to show off the improved quality of its branded offer.

“We wanted to prioritise our branded wines because we strongly believe in their quality and value, and investing in the brand will help us meet our customers’ requirements,” explained Marie-Annick Consola, UK on-trade manager for Les Vignobles Foncalieu.

Looking ahead to the future for this branded shift, she confirmed: “If our projections for the year are correct, this is set to increase even further.”

In addition to its Le Versant range, which represents almost half of the company’s branded production, Les Vignobles Foncalieu has a number of châteaux and domaine brands, its Enseduna range and a top end represented by AOC wines such as the Saint Chinian Syrah-led L’Apogée.

Michel Bataille, who took over as president of Les Vignobles Foncalieu in 2000, explained: “We have invested a lot of money this year in people, the vineyards, the wineries and marketing.”

In particular he highlighted a decision to invest in equipment suited to smaller quantity, higher quality wine production as the cooperative seeks to promote some of its top individual parcels of vineyards, which reach across Languedoc-Roussillon, Gascony, Côtes du Rhône and Provence.

“What’s had the biggest effect has been to improve the selection of parcels, increase the number of parcels and pick grapes at the same level of maturity to make a wine that is right for its market”, summed up Bataille of his achievements to date.

In his own Languedoc vineyards, Bataille is backing his encouragement for producers to explore more creative solutions with the impending first harvest of recently planted Sauvignon Gris, Albariño and Picpoul Rouge. “We wanted to do something different,” he explained of the Spanish variety. “We already had  Rolle [Vermentino] and we saw in Spain that Albariño was in fashion”.

For more on the importance and changing shape of the cooperative system see Elizabeth Gabay MW’s report in April’s issue of the drinks business.