When one has a doubt about a figure regarding the wine, called Frédéric Guyard. This excellent fellow is quite knowledgeable about what sells in bottle or in bag-in-box. Economic journalist, he is one of the pillars of Ray Drinks, a journal ignored by the general public, but that no one involved in the trading of wine, or-of-chain “liquid” of the GD (great distribution) can not do without. Ray Drinks knows everything before everyone of the sale of the store Casino from Castelnaudary to a participant Leclerc as the arrival of a new director at the head of such a manufacturer of liquor aveyronnaise… Each year, the magazine organizes “Workshop of the wine” which run all the major buyers of different brands as their suppliers and dealers. A day packed full of figures and statistics which reveal the major trends in the market of tomorrow. Frédéric Guyard gives us here his thoughts on the understanding of the large-scale distribution of organic wines and their likely future in this sales channel.

The Point : in The Workshops of the wine held in February last. All retailers – among others – are each time represented. A-t-we talked a little, a lot, passionately organic wine ?

Frédéric Guyard : Passionately, and this during the whole afternoon ! And for good reason, while sales of wines declined significantly, to the bottom of the radius as in the wine fair, the time spent on the segment of organic wines has restored the smile to the participants of the Workshops of the Wine 2019. In 2018, sales of organic wines amounted to 30 million bottles after the panelist IRI, an increase of almost + 20 %. Suppliers and distributors are trying of course to enroll in this dynamic with all the issues that this generates. Supply, prices, valuation of the offers in the stores, needs of general practitioners (Carrefour, Leclerc…) and specialists (Biocoop, Naturalia…), we discussed all the topics !

For the strategists of the great distribution, the wine is organic-it is a market of the future ? One has the feeling that the consumer at least wonder, that the old cliché that wine organic wine not good and overpriced is starting to have fizzled out, but only to the extent the offer is still confused and not very readable.

The bio in general and organic wine in particular, is definitely a future market for the large distribution. This is for the simple and good reason that this circuit is for the moment very much under-seller bottles-certified AB by comparison to other distribution networks that are the channels of specialists, retailers or direct sales. The signs are conscious of their delay and they are trying to fill the gaps, like Carrefour, which has made the bio a core element of its project called ” Act for food “. This is already characterised by a ” shop-in-shop in hypermarkets that give the bio a visibility very high. Casino does the same, while others are opening up specialty stores such as “The organic market in Leclerc” or ” Auchan Bio “. Moreover, Naturalia is the group’s brand Casino, Intermarché has shares in The Counters of the Organic and So Organic has been bought by Carrefour. So displayed or hidden, the brands are investing heavily in the bio and the wine will necessarily benefit from it. For all that, you’re right about the confusion of the current offer. The lack of availability is a real problem for the distributors, whose needs in terms of volume are important. It is not simple to find hundreds of thousands of bottles of fine quality to supply a single reference. The prices are also very variable, depending on the appellations, which does not facilitate the reading of the offer.

adds may also be a degree of mistrust vis-à-vis the sincerity of the distributors. A bio wine, with a mark of distributor, is that credible ?

That the distributors are there to make the trade, it is their reason to be, like the primeur, or wine merchant of the neighbourhood. To each his own judgment on the sincerity of the various retailers that I find it a pity to oppose. What I do know is that the distributors are excellent tasters, and they do their utmost to provide the best organic wines in the store. During the Workshops of the wine 2019, we have realized a test bench of organic wine to retailer brands. We have been amazed by the high quality level of this tasting and I can only encourage the consumers to take the plunge. The côtes-du-rhône, System U, the bordeaux of Leclerc, or the côtes-de-provence Intermarché are really worth the detour.

However, one has the impression that organic wines, really bios with certification, are rather poorly represented on the shelves of supermarkets.

once Again, it is all a question of availability. If the signs could have sufficient volume to supply their shelves, they would do so willingly. In the meantime, it is true that they explore all avenues to environmental organizations. A concrete example : that of Auchan, who prefers to spend some strategic references rather than offering organic wines for which the qualitative follow-up is sometimes random. So far, Auchan was the first chain to sell its brand and a range of wines without sulphur. The certification of High environmental Value also takes the weight with, this time, large volumes available brands. Intermarché and System U will also offer very soon the wine label stamped with the logo HVE. It is true that these different approaches can cause trouble. But as soon as the large retailers will be able to have “real” organic wines, you’ll quickly find them in the store.

On the same topic in The wine and bio #5 – Sébastien David : an activist of the Loire