Malbec Day kicks off global push for Argentina

Today marks the fifth Malbec World Day, as Wines of Argentina gears up for its biggest campaign to date to promote the country’s wines.

Rather than one single event, this year’s campaign will continue throughout the summer starting with a series of promotions for Malbec World Day in the UK off-trade, with a particular focus on independent retailers. Larger merchants taking part and hosting events include Majestic, Virgin Wines, Laithwaites/Direct Wines, Naked Wines, Asda, Wine Rack and Tesco. In the on-trade, All Bar One will be running a Malbec promotion across all of its venues during April, while Matthew Clarke will also run promotional activities with customers in different regions.

“In previous years we centred everything around one event and it was great at getting press, but if people aren’t walking into shops and buying wines then you haven’t even got past the first hurdle”, said Andrew Maidment of Wines of Argentina. “The promotions will run for at least one week and we have provided independent retailers with music, sticker footprints for dancing the Tango and posters to promote Argentina and its wines.”

Maidment admits that without the support of independent retailers, it would have been harder for Malbec, and Argentine wines, to make their mark in major supermarkets.

“In Argentina most wineries are small or medium sized and the independent sector got Argentina going”, said Maidment. “If they hadn’t supported us and carried on we wouldn’t have broken into the major retailers, so we wanted to get them involved.”

But Malbec World Day is only the beginning. Aided by the Argentine Foreign Office and local Embassies, Wines of Argentina will this year be embarking on its biggest promotional tour to date. Named Lights, Camera, Malbec, more than 70 activities are planned across 64 countries worldwide. The campaign has been linked to film because just like a great movie, “a great wine can create mind-blowing experiences, entertain us, introduce intriguing stories and create unique environments that stimulate our senses.” Three short films have been created specially for the occasion as part of a young filmmaker competition in Argentina which are available for viewing at the Malbec World Day website.

Wines of Argentina’s mobile bar

In the UK, one of the campaign’s highlights will be a new mobile bar, made from a converted shipping container which will be travelling the length and breadth of the country from June to promote Argentine wines at various events.

“The idea is to get our about to as many places as we can”, said Maidment. “The concept is to use this van more than just this year. We want to take it to music festivals and food and drink festivals. In certain places Gaucho are going to partner with us. We want to give people a sense of what Argentina, and its wines, are all about.”

After its initial activity, the van will be made available to individual brands and producers, with the intention of it becoming a communal promotional tool for the Argentine wine community.

Linking to the campaign’s film theme, a competition will also be run for independent retailers to win the chance to have a professional film crew create a promotional video of their business. To enter, all shops have to do is take video or photo evidence of their efforts on Malbec World Day, add Wines of Argentina to their Facebook and tag the organisation in the post.

People can share their photos of with Wines of Argentina using #malbecworldday. For more information on events taking place click here.