Predictions released this week predict that the usually lacklustre UK wine market is set for a bright 2014. What does this mean for the luxury wine trade?
At the Ideal Wine Company we recognise that when we think of luxury wine, we tend to think of wine from countries such as France, Italy, Argentina and Australia. This is the way the world thinks; this is because these countries are known to have the best weather and geological condition to grow wine.
However the economic downturn has seen less people buying these types of luxury wine. This comes down to a lack of expendable income from consumers in the UK market; people budgeted more in the wake of the financial crisis and luxury wines were one of the first items that people struck from their budgets in hard times.
However the UK wine industry has actually been on the rise over the past few years and experts predict that 2014 may be a boom year for the UK wine industry.
This news comes from a report released by Rabobank, a Dutch bank, which noted that the improvement of the UK economy along with a recovery in global grape harvest could see a stronger 2014 for the nations wine industry.
The report noted that despite the facts that main wine producer France has seen two poor wine harvests in a row, other key wine growing markets have boomed. Spain’s 2013 crop saw a rise of almost 40% to 49.5 million hectolitres according to the report and California looks set to equal or surpass its record breaking 2012 harvest.
Contributing to this positive outlook is the fact that the report identifies middle aged women and baby boomers as the key demographic for the UK wine industry. The report noted of these core demographics that “there are signs that these consumers are becoming more and more responsive to more diverse offers and even more premium offers when they are given a convincing reason to shift.”
So it’s like an equation; a greater harvest plus more responsive consumers equals a growing industry. This could logically lead to a growth in the luxury wine industry particularly as people turn to a greater quality product to quench their need for the best wine experience possible
At the Ideal Wine Company we see this as an exciting time for the UK wine industry as it is set to grow and diversify. It’ll be interesting to see what 2014 brings.
