Cheap Kiwi Pinot Noir lines Oddbins’ shelves
Monday 9 August
£6.99 for a Kiwi Pinot Noir? Surely it can’t be done? Or, at least it can’t be done if anyone’s trying to make a living?
Yet, if you head down to your local Oddbins this week, you’ll find the 2009 Stratum Pinot Noir from Sherborne Estate in Waipara down from £10.99 to less than seven English pounds.
Back in January at New Zealand conference Pinot Noir 2010, producers argued that their Pinot Noir could not be made and sold for under a crisp tenner - unless you wanted to go out of business. You might see some of the bigger Kiwi companies like Villa Maria selling their entry level Pinot Noir at a relative snip but that’s because they’ve secured a deal from their UK distributor to take a specified amount of their higher priced wines.
John Ferris, director of sales and marketing at Villa Maria Estate, said, ‘It is a very low margin for us but if you can strike a deal on selling quantities of your upper ranges in return for cheap prices there’s huge opportunities in the sub £10 category. But it’s essential to keep your cost-of-goods down”
Many other premium producers have said sub £10 Pinot Noir is not viable for most New Zealand wineries, and they should be concentrating on the on-trade and independent sector. Yet the average price for a bottle of New Zealand Pinot Noir in the UK is just under the £9-mark. Or, you can go down to Oddbins and buy a bottle for £6.99. However, things are still comparatively buoyant for New Zealand - the average price for a bottle of Chilean Pinot is around the £6-marker.
I bought it over the weekend simply because it had £4 off and I thought I’d get a “quality” wine for £6.99 to serve at a party. I reckon that’s what many of Oddbins consumers will do.
The guests enjoyed the wine but I don’t think many of them would then go and spend £10.99 on it when the offer ends. I don’t know what Oddbins is getting out of this. I’m assuming they are still making a profit and it may be that they hoped that people would buy something else when they were in the shop.
My expectations were met - it was a good wine although clearly not of the standard of many S Island pinots. I would have been happy to have spent £10.99 on it considering I bought a Mt Difficulty for more than twice that recently. I think I got a bargain so this reduction is good for Oddbins image (if not their bottom line) and the consumer.
- by Colin Smith