Try and be the Mercs of wine says expert

New Zealand winemakers need to focus on producing premium wines - "Mercedes and BMWs, not Toyotas", says a visiting international wine expert.

Arend Heijbroek, based in the Netherlands as a global industry specialist in wine and spirits for Rabobank, said yesterday this country had an enviable position in the "super-premium wine" category in Britain, where consumers were willing to pay 82 per cent more than the average price for wine.

This enabled New Zealand to hold a 1.1 per cent market share of off-licence trade (supermarkets, wine retailers) and 1.5 per cent of the restaurant trade, which was "much coveted" and was traditionally dominated by French wines.

In comparison, Australia held a 24 per cent share of the off-trade market, but only 7 per cent of the restaurant trade.

Heijbroek said consumers who regularly paid premium prices for top-quality New Zealand wine wanted more than a nice-looking label. "The experience needs to support the customer's lifestyle, be memorable, to stand out in a crowded market."

Heijbroek is here to speak at the Wine Exporters' Forum in Wellington on Monday.

He said the local industry should broaden its view of competition.

"Exporters need to think in terms of the beverage industry, not just wine ... the younger generation in France is choosing to drink mineral water with their meals, rather than wine."

Over the past 20 years, the fall of wine drinking in France and Italy had cut domestic consumption in both countries by one million cases a year. A substantial wine lake was growing quickly in the European Union and the United States was fast overtaking France as the largest wine consumer, heading towards 260 million cases of wine each year.

The global trade had been cushioned by the addition of new consumers in some non-traditional countries, including Brazil (30 million cases a year) Russia (140 million cases), India (500,000 cases) and China (about 40 million cases).

The good thing for New Zealand's wine industry was that some of its product was a "must have" in the range sought by supermarkets.

Heijbroek said although brands were becoming more important, customer loyalty was declining.

"Consumers are constantly looking for something new and are being tempted to trade down through discounting."

- NZPA