Summer time Wine Boost

Hot weather and team GB Olympic success has boosted sparkling wine and rosé sales in recent weeks, show initial figures. And retailers expect more to come for Bank holiday weekend.

Team GB’s record performance at the Rio 2016 Olympics coincided with an up-turn in British summer weather in August. And wine sales have risen as a result, according to Nielsen and early figures from several retailers.

Champagne sales rose by around five percent in value terms over the four weeks ended 13 August, said Nielsen. That’s faster than the 52-week average pace of growth, it said. Nielsen said sparkling wine sales overall were up nearly 14 percent in value compared to the same four weeks of last year.

Prosecco and English sparkling wine have proved popular alternatives to Champagne in the UK.

Over the past five years, total consumption of sparkling wine in the UK has grown 80 percent.

 ‘The summer certainly isn’t over and these sales could rise even further,’ said Jon Sheppard, Nielsen’s client business partner. He said that the Olympics performance may have helped consumer confidence and highlighted a forecast that good weather will continue into the August bank holiday weekend.

Rosé wine, especially Provence styles, has also been a popular choice over the month of August.

Brexit fuels the fire of Wine Investment

The fine wine market has enjoyed a ‘Brexit boom’ in the weeks following the UK vote to leave the European Union – and the so-called ‘lesser’ vintages are leading the charge.

Liv-ex’s Fine Wine 50 Index is up 19.3% so far in 2016. It tracks the price movements of the 10 most recent physical vintages of the five first growth Bordeaux châteaux.

The index recorded its ninth highest monthly rise – 6.8% – following the UK’s Brexit vote. As previously reported on Decanter, a drop in the value of sterling created a flurry of interest from dollar buyers in Asia and the US. Analysis by Liv-ex shows that interest is strongest in the ‘off’ vintages within the Liv-ex 50…

Bordeaux 2013 up 32.7% | 2006 up 26% | 2004 up 25.5% | 2007 up 25.4% | 2008 up 24% | 2011 up 23.1% | 2012 up 23%

The three most lauded recent vintages – 2005, 2009 and 2010 – have registered smaller increases, up 10.4%, 13.7% and 17.4% respectively. Of the 50 wines on the index, 49 have increased in value during 2016.

Latour 2005 is down 1.5%. Lafite Rothschild 2013 registered the biggest increase, up 44.3% to £3,680 per case. Liv-ex pointed out that, if a tracker fund had invested in one case of each wine in the Fine Wine 50 at the end of December, and sold it at the end of August, it would have made a profit of £38,538.

Geraint Carter, of BI, said that the fine wine market was experiencing a broader recovery. ‘The encouraging thing about the current situation is that demand is not restricted to the usual suspects – not just Lafite, not just first growths – but covers a much broader set of wines,’ he said.

‘That said, Hong Kong and the other US dollar-denominated markets are certainly leading the way and their relative preference for the younger and cheaper vintages is clear. We’re not talking a repeat of 2010/11, but they are definitely the current favourites.’

Coppola Sues Copycat

A company acting for Francis Ford Coppola has filed a lawsuit against US wine firm Copa Di Vino, accusing it of breaking trademark rules.

GMYL, the company that controls the trademarks to Coppola wine brands, filed the lawsuit against Copa Di Vino and its owner, James Martin, in California. It has asked for jury trial and requested unspecified damages for several counts of trademark infringement.

A spokesperson for Copa Di Vino could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Coppola and Copa Di Vino wines side by side, as shown in the lawsuit filed by GMYL. Credit: GMYL. GMYL accused Copa Di Vino of copying Coppola’s ‘Director’s Cut’ brand with its own ‘Winemaker’s Cut’ wines.

GMYL also claimed that the Oregon firm had copied the so-called ‘black label trade dress’ of Coppola’s Diamond Collection Black Label claret wine. ‘Defendants are using labels and packaging that are virtually identical to the labels and packaging used for GMYL’s Diamond Collection Black Label Claret wine,’ the lawsuit says. It adds that the similarities could confuse wine consumers.

Copa Di Vino is based in Oregon and specialises in selling wines by the glass. The two companies almost went into business together in 2011, but talks broke down, the lawsuit says. Francis Ford Coppola, who produced hit films including the Godfather and Apocalypse Now, owns the Inglenook estate in California.