Never mind the bollocks
Harpers wine and Spirit magazine.
CREATING A BRAND that upends the wine-centric view of the trade has been tried many times. but a new collaboration between experienced buyer Andrew Ingham and Cape winery Journey's End may just have what it takes to bridge the gap with wine-interest-lite consumers. And, if it does gain traction. there may well be salient lessons to learn for the wider trade at a time when interest in wine - especially among younger consumers- has stalled.
Named Interpunkt and featuring graffiti-style labelling on sustainable paperboard bottles, the brand is aimed a breaking down barriers around wine and opening up the conversation with new groups of drinkers. To do so, the creators have ditched a ‘wine-led' approach, focusing instead on what consumers want and how they want it delivered.
Interpunkt has also set out to "create some chaos without killing the planet" Ingham, who has held senior buying and ranging roles in the UK, Europe, Far East and now Canada, has long championed making wine accessible to all and stripping out any element of elitism. He says the idea was born of long experience of seeing brands attempt to bend the consumer to the wines stories, rather than folding in those of the customer."All too often, wine brands are talking and selling to one group - the wine-engaged.
They talk in a unique and specific wine language that only a minority understand yet the biggest group of wine drinkers are either new to wine, occasional wine drinkers or un-engaged [and] this is 68% o consumers." The 68% figure is drawn from quite extensive research that Ingham has pulled together on consumer profiles and why they might drink wine.
He says key to the project was finding a suitably forward-looking and innovative producer, with Journey's End MD and co-owner Rollo Gabb ticking all the boxes including a strong sustainability focus.
Gabb, in turn, saw the potential in the project, being able to deliver affordable quality but also draw on the sustainable and community projects - food kitchens and educational initiatives - the estate instigated during the pandemic.
The resulting Interpunkt range has been designed to break down barriers by taking into account, at every stage of the design and wine styles, what non or little invested consumers in wine actually want from a bottle, drawing on both that research and first-hand experience.
First up is the disruptive presentation, created by Ingham as a draft idea to pass on in a brief to a design agency, but kept as the final look after Gabb insisted the rawness of the graffiti-style presentation was all part of the honest appeal.
Sustainability forms a key part of this, with the paperboard outers five times lighter than normal glass, 100% recyclable and reducing the carbon footprint of each bottle to one-sixth of the norm.
Ingham has also recognised that wine is being “left behind" other drinks categories, and is guilty of dropping content onto social media platforms rather than engaging in a two-way conversation. So a series of characters have been created reminiscent of the style of Gorillaz. to help bring the people behind the wine to life.
I've seen every presentation you can imagine,. for decades and they talk all this language that the wine industry talks, and then show a finished product. and I say well, who is that aimed at?" Ingham told Harpers. "There's a whole heap of customers who just get totally ignored - if you look at what beer and spirits, such as premium gins, have done, they've taken consumers along for the ride." he adds.
"Now there is a difference: wine already is a crafted premium product, whereas beer and some spirits are definitely a bit more of a commodity, but wine doesn't look at the consumer. It doesn't ask what do you guys want, how can we convince you to drink wine?
The official launch of the brand will be at Cape Wine in Cape Town in October, with Bibendum already having agreed to represent the range as its UK agent.
Ingham adds that talks with UK supermarket groups had already been going “really well", with an on-trade launch also planned in October.
His take on pricing is also a little left field, going against the current noise around 'premiumisation' to help revitalise the wine sector. "What I'd always tried to do (as a buyer) was to make wines accessible as products and through supermarket chains. The average bottle price in supermarkets is pretty low. then sales declined, and everyone in the wine industry tried to create more value by putting prices up to capture the same sales revenue on decreasing sales." Ingham recounts.
"But I'd always taken the view, why can't we make it cheaper and more accessible and make more people try wine?*
All in all it makes for an interesting experiment in how to disrupt - and potentially win through when it comes to elevating the profile of wine. And, by extension, possibly helping to boost the category as a whole with that 68%.
