French wine ‘must avoid’ haute-couture image

French wines must resist the temptation to become “like haute-couture”, a leading French marketing agency has warned.

Chateau de la Tuilerie, Les Grands Chais de France

As French entry- level wines have been replaced by entry-level wines from other countries, consumers seem to be increasingly worrying they are “knowledgeable” enough to buy French wine, Anne Burchett, of wine marketing agency Sopexa, argues. The marketing company which represents French wine supplier Les Grands Chais de France, described it as “worrying”.

“There is a danger for the French category as a whole that it will be same as haute-couture – we can’t have French wine becoming too niche,” she warned.

She said consumers craved the reassurance of a brand that wasn’t entry-level pointing too the strength of LGCF’s Calvet brand. “Calvet offers the reassurance of a brand that isn’t entry-level – for a lot of consumers that is what they crave,” she added.

The brand was “crucial” for the French sector, she added, arguing that it acted as a benchmark for the sector, in a category that was still seem as intimidating.

The comments came as Les Grand Chais de France prepared to boost focus on its Calvet wine brand in coming months to increase its visibility to the consumer. It had, it said, had a strong year, with a good depth of distribution across all channels and strong growth of Rhone wines.

The UK arm of the LGCF has plans to build a campaign for the brand around the digital advertising it piloted during the French-Welsh game in the Six Nations rugby championship.

“We are looking at developing a more coordinated approach which would give much bigger visibility for the brad in front of the right audience,” new UK & ROI managing director Mark Kears told db.