Selling your wine in the UK

[Andy Lynes]

A composit question if I may Randall: Is the UK market a significant one for you? Has it embraced your wines, or do you feel there are still barriers for you to overcome here? What are the main problems for you as an exporter of US wines?

[Randall Grahm]

Dear Andy,

I think that we have been relatively fortunate with our sales in the UK, at least relative to other US producers. We have, alas, lost Oddbins (it seems) as a major outlet and while that relationship lasted, that seemed to give us very good visibility. I think that the major hurdle that CA wines face is that they are just too bloody expensive for their quality and the UK is a fairly discriminating audience with access to everything. I think that in general our wines have been distinctive enough and well priced enough to capture at least a small share of the market. And yes, the Brits actually do seem to appreciate our slightly goofy labels and the pretentious literary sensibility that informs them. Cheers, Randall

[Steve Klc]

Given the unique cheekiness of the Brits, are you in the rest of the EU Randall and/or did that pose any regulatory or quality assurance hurdles for you?

[Randall Grahm]

Steve,

We did hit a major snag with the export of Vin de Glaciere, but this is an EU thing, (compounded by the officious zealousness of a certain UK inspector.) In a very complicated trade-deal that I think involved wool, Australia was permitted an exemption for non-fortified dessert wines while France and Germany have been successful in excluding dessert wines from the EU. This was not happy news for our UK importer. RG

[Steve Klc]

I wondered about that, because I remember the Inniskillin folks making a big splash about finally getting the EU to admit their icewines and there was much talk of VQA at the time. What exactly are they trying to protect? Are they afraid a $17 bottle of your icebox wine will drive the price down of their $300-400 icewines or that their consumers will have trouble telling the difference?

Looking at it a different way, isn't Vin de Glaciere the best selling dessert wine in the US? Could you sell more than you're currently producing without a drop in quality level? Is there enough titratible acidity to go around?

[Randall Grahm]

Steve,

You know how farmers can be - very conservative and protective of their interests. Yes, the Canadians did manage to wangle some sort of deal in the EU - maybe it was their sheep and I'm mixed up about the Aussies or Kiwis. We could produce more Vin de Glaciere if we could find some more grapes, but that is definitely a limiting step these days in our quest for total world doonimation. RG.