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After its heyday in the late 1960s and early 1970s Chianti long saw demand for its wine diminish. Like Muscadet, or to a lesser extent Beaujolais, some thought that it might, if not disappear, at least be relegated to the backwaters of consumer favour. Instead, after years of recession, the largest brands are finding their way out of the crisis without making any major compromises on quality, but rather adapting their pricing strategy to maintain their competitiveness. Although the plethora of inexpensive buyers-ownbrands indicates that there is still enough unsold juice to supply the demand for entry level price points, many of the key players in Chianti have finally begun to understand the difference between cheap and value for money.
The problem that Chianti has, is a typically European phenomenon: the denominazione has become the brand. Most consumers can tell you little more than that they drank a Chianti last night, but not from whom. Melini, reputedly the largest single brand with sales of 5.3 million bottles per year, is tiny compared even to Mouton Cadet from Bordeaux, much less Mondavi from California or Hardy's from Australia. Further, few consumers actually know the difference between Chianti and Chianti Classico, seeing both more as brands than regions of production. Only the pricing is different, with the Classico generally on the shelf at two to three Euro more. These two factors make it difficult for an individual producer to establish his point of difference. As elsewhere, what is lacking to establish the region's profile is a unified front dedicated to producing wines of a certain quality standard and promoting them aggressively as a group. Questions of style For a while, the international market tired of old-fashioned Chianti as more modern wines were made available. Some producers certainly went overboard in mimicking this style in order to resuscitate their brand, but it was clear in our tasting of 43 wines that the pendulum has swung back to the centre. Having gleaned the success of Chile and Australia, the producers now appear to be focusing on recreating their own style.
Germany with 32%, the United States with 17% and the United Kingdom with 12% absorb more than half of total exports and 40% of the total quantity produced each year. True to their character, the Germans are extremely price conscious. It is not unusual to find a bottle of Chianti at under 2 Euro ($2,60) a bottle on a supermarket shelf. Not surprisingly, the average prices are the highest in the United States, where restaurant sales are important. Ruffino, for example, figures in Wiegand & Boblitt's list of the top 50 on-premise brands in 2005. The Americans also had the most mature wines, with a number of 2001s still being offered. In most other countries 2004, a very good vintage for the region, was the rule. Even Japan, which saw imports from Italy fall by almost five percent last year - and a staggering 27% since 2001 - and has yet to jump back on the Tuscan bandwagon, also sported the young vintage. Still, most Chianti |
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there is competing in the 1,000 to 1,500 Yen segment, which lost almost 13% in volume last year.
In order to grasp the state of the market, not in figures, but on the ground, our correspondents purchased all the Chianti available on the shelf at two supermarkets in eight countries. As the market shares would suggest, the average supermarket in Italy had six Chianti in their portfolio, in Germany four, in Britain three - although Tesco offers as many as eight in some stores - and in most of the rest of the world only two, if at all. In Russia, but probably due to the problems involved in obtaining the new tax banderols, we found only Chianti Classico Branded Chianti Although buyers-own-brands still account for a fair share of the total business, the branded Chianti are beginning to have a more significant impact in markets such as Holland. In others, however, such as the United Kingdom, Chianti is no longer part of mainstream wine consumption. There it has a loyal, ageing, mid-market following that is prepared to pay £4-6 (6-9 Euros) and more, well above the national average, for an own label and so, unlike their counterparts on the continent, British supermarkets see little need to stock bargain-basement Chianti, preferring to offer what is perceived as better value for money Italian wine from further south. Not a single Chianti is listed by AC Nielsen among the top 100 brands in England; and unlike the United States, in Britain, the market for premium and super premium Chianti is also very limited. Although not the market leader in terms of volume, Cecchi was the brand that we saw the most often, being present in nine of the sixteen stores that we visited, followed closely by Melini and Piccini. Packaging and quality were consistent across the board. Not surprisingly, we saw neither Antinori, Frescobaldi or Ruffino in any of the outlets we visited. These families have traditionally built their brands on-trade and in the specialist retail sector. Although based in Florence, Antinori, of course, has no Chianti in their portfolio, only Chianti Classico or Tuscan IGTs. Why they removed Chianti Classico from their brand Santa Cristina remains a question for many consumers who remember the old label. Certainly, though, it was in order to have more liberty in sourcing their grapes, and more freedom in their blending of foreign varietals, but perhaps also to develop greater volume while withdrawing from the price wars on Chianti. The brand should be Santa Cristina, not Chianti. Four years later they introduced Pèppoli to replace that segment. Frescobaldi did the same with Remole, but has now reintroduced a Chianti from their estate in Castiglioni. However, with a retail price of very nearly 10 Euro per bottle, "we are not in the slipstream of the market," as François Schoepfer, managing director of Frescobaldi's importer in Germany, Schlumberger, implies.
Emilio Pedron from Gruppo Italiano Vini readily admits that there is also the problem of sheer volume. Although there is still room for considerable growth, his |
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brand Melini will never be able to compete with the large brands from the New World. “We do not have the size to muster the advertising and merchandising clout of a Rosemount, a Berringer or a Conche y Toro.” Be that as it may, he and his competitors are doing their best to resurrect this dormant region.
C O M M E N T A R Y by Michèle Shah
»Chianti has become a brand like Pinot Grigio«
For most markets Chianti is as much a brand as is Pinot Grigio or Nero d’Avola. Chianti’s main grape variety is, of course, Sangiovese. In the past we often saw wavering quality and high prices, which tended to push Chianti out of competitive markets and most certainly instigated a downward trend in sales. Chianti, though, is still and will remain one of Italy’s key players, seen as the Tuscan ‘brand’. There are, however, too few Chianti that express the authenticity of Sangiovese. It should be a wine with character and depth, a fruity cherry quality and good acidity – but these factors do not equate with what the mass market wants. Most producers are now well aware of market trends and are oaking less, bringing forward a less concentrated, fruitier style. Chianti will remain Tuscany’s entrylevel wine and the product all Italians associate with Tuscany. With such a wide range of producers in Tuscany, the individual estates play an important role in guaranteeing quality. It would be nice to see more azienda in Chianti doing for the larger region what Fonterutoli, Fontodi, Brolio and di Ama have done for Chianti Classico. |
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