Wine as a product is continuously plagued by marketing demons of all sorts but the biggest current dilemma in the wine industry is one which concerns imaging and brand equity. What is the best way for a wine to present itself? Is a boutique-small manufacturer image the way forward or is the consumer more attracted to big giants in the business. As if it weren?t enough that wine is a hard sell, to not know which way to pitch and position can only make matters tougher.
If this question were asked of the car industry, the answer would be simpler. Bigger companies have larger budgets for research and development. Their products therefore come with a certain innate sense of reliability. Also, as they make cars on a larger scale they keep the interests of the general user in mind and can hence come up with a fairly satisfactory efficient product which doesn?t break down easily.
The sheer volumes ensure easy availability of spares and thus cheaper running and maintenance costs. A custom-made car, on the other hand is expensive right from the start and it may not always necessarily score over a more mass-produced variant. To an extent the wine industry works similarly. A big house can guarantee quality across the range and also continuity of supplies. For a hotel or a restaurant, streamlined availability is crucial. Also, these big houses can invest more on wine education thereby spreading wine awareness and expanding the market not just for themselves. They can also spend a lot more on R&D, reviving historical winemaking techniques, resurrecting near-extinct grape varieties. Small houses, because of economies of scale will always be more expensive and can never match a big house in value nevermind the problems associated with limited supplies and advance stock allocations. So far so good; wine seems at par with any other consumer product.
But then, that is where things get complicated: the wine industry isn?t as predictable as any other inanimate object; it is alive, like wine itself. A small boutique wine-producing house can often work well as they can establish their sense of individuality and preservation of personality as their USP. A large house, on the other hand, can be looked down upon for their lack of distinct flair and for mass-producing taste. Big houses can never pack quite the same sense of Terroir as a small house.
But don?t all big houses start out small and then isn?t it consumer preference that makes them grow. Ever small house does somewhere dream of being big one day. So why then this dichotomy? Seems quite a shift of stance; to aspire to something but shun it all along on the way there.
The riddle, sadly, remains unsolved; I cannot give you one stable answer. Flirt with the small houses but also have a steady relationship with the big houses. Try the little boutique wines which manage to grab your attention but then also buy the more affordable stuff from the bigger brands which will leave you wined and yet not entirely broke!
The writer is a sommelier