EVENTS
CONSUMER SAMPLING
In 2008 Wines of Germany has sampled at a wide range of events, including concerts, flower shows and consumer wine shows - September saw us at two Tesco Wine Club Fairs, and we had a stand at the Wine Show in late October at London’s Business Design Centre.
Tesco Wine Club Fairs, Manchester and London, September 2008
The Tesco Wine Club Fairs offer Tesco wine suppliers the opportunity to present the wines they currently have listed in Tesco to thousands of their most wine knowledgeable and high spending customers. Wines of Germany presented six wines from Tesco’s current German range to over 5000 wine loving consumers at the Manchester and Leeds Fairs where many visitors were also members of the Tesco Wine Club.
We had a very positive reception from consumers, to the wines on the stand and German wines in general, with 92% of consumers stating they would buy German wines again. Of the consumers that visited the stand, 44% were aged under 44, with 23% of these visitors aged between 18-34.
Some consumers were surprised at the wide variety of German wines available - both in terms of grapes varieties and styles – with many keen to try the selection, as they were there to try new wines they hadn‘t tried before.
One consumer, unprompted, said, "there‘s a bit of renaissance for German wines these days isn‘t there?“ - proof that German wines are starting to win over the British public once again.
Should you require further information, please call Lucy Richardson at Wines of Germany on 020 7759 7406 or email lucy.richardson@phippspr.co.uk
The Wine Show, 23-26 October 2008
This year’s Wine Show had 14,732 attendees, with plenty of visitors to the Wines of Germany stand each day. People were interested in the wines, often asking questions about the styles on offer and staying at the stand to sample all 10 wines:
*Kendermanns Pinot Grigio
*Palatium Pinot Blanc
*D:Vine Pinot Noir Rosé
*Devil’s Rock Riesling
*Naked Grape Riesling
*Schloss Johannisberg Riesling Kabinett
*Lingenfelder Bird Label Riesling
*Dr. L Riesling
*Kendermanns Special Edition Pinot Noir
*Blue Nun Dornfelder Merlot
In particular, people enjoyed tasting the selection of Rieslings on offer, with many asking for the Dr. L Riesling by name as it was featured on BBC1’s ‘Saturday Kitchen’ – a popular TV food and drink show. Overall we poured approx. 4,700 samples and sold over 70 bottles of wine.
We also ran a data capture competition, where the majority of respondents were in the 18-34 age group, and typically drank dry or very dry wines. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with over 98% saying they would buy the wines in the future.
Some comments include:
“I have always enjoyed German wines and I am impressed as ever,” Male, 18-34
“Has my opinion changed? Very much so, I’m very impressed with the oily rich flavours,” Female, 18-34
“Surprised by the reds - very nice, balanced wines - and the whites were extremely enjoyable,” Male, 35-44
“Found it interesting and different to what I normally drink,” Female, 18-34
“I think that there is an exiting prospect in the future,” Male, 18-34
Visitors to the Wines of Germany stand at the Wine Show
Please contact Natalie Potts on 020 7759 7438 or at natalie.potts@phippspr.co.uk if you’d like any more information.
Riesling Fellowship - 18 November 2008
The third Riesling Fellowship takes place shortly and winemakers, menus and wine lists have been confirmed. In addition to the German winemakers listed in the previous Importers’ Update, Wines of Germany will welcome the winemaker and wines of: Pegasus Bay- New Zealand, Pewsey Vale- Australia, Pacific Rim- Washington, Concha y Toro- Chile, Weingut Rabl- Austria and Maison Trimbach- Alsace.
This year the fellowship will play host to Professor Schultz from leading oenological research centre Geisenheim. He will present the latest findings of his research into the effect of climate change on the Riesling grape.
Sixty key international industry figures involved with and instrumental to the UK success of Riesling have been invited by the German Ambassador to this prestigious event and a good turn out is expected.
Should you have any questions regarding the Fellowship please contact Alicia Mellish at Wines of Germany on 020 7759 7405 or by email at: alicia.mellish@phippspr.co.uk.
RETAIL PROMOTIONS
WAITROSE
German Wine Evening, Canary Wharf Atrium, 16 October 2008
Around 70 consumers attended a German wine tasting at the Waitrose Canary Wharf store. They had the opportunity to taste the wines from the Waitrose range and some suggested food pairings. The wines were the following:
Table 1: hosted by Julia Felde of Kespelher Wine Merchants and Gregor Breuer of Weingut Künstler
Künstler Riesling Kabinett Trocken Rheingau 2007
Künstler Estate Riesling Rheingau 2007
Bassermann-Jordan Riesling Pfalz 2007
Dr Wagner Riesling Mosel 2007
Künstler Hochheimer Kirchenstück Riesling Spätlese Rheingau 2006
Dr Wagner Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Auslese Mosel 2003
Bassermann-Jordan Deidesheimer Hohenmorgen Riesling Auslese Pfalz
Table 2: hosted by Nigel Blundell of Awin Barrett Siegel
Fürst Centgrafenberg Pinot Noir Franken 2006
The Naked Grape Riesling Pfalz 2007
Leitz Rüdesheimer Rosengarten Riesling Kabinett Rheingau 2007
Dr Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett Mosel 2007
Dr Loosen Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett Mosel 2007
Dönnhoff Kreuznacher Krotenphuhl Riesling Spätlese Nahe 2006
Dr Loosen Riesling Beerenauslese Mosel 2006
Table 3: hosted by Jessica Bingham, Charles Taylor Wines and Anna Noble, Wines of Germany
Kendermanns Dry Riesling Pfalz 2007
Kendermanns Organic Rheinhessen 2006
Black Tower Pinot Grigio Pfalz 2007
Mosbacher Deidesheimer Herrgottsacker Riesling Spätlese trocken Pfalz 2007
Karthäuserhof Riesling Auslese Mosel 2005
Nigel Blundell of ABS presents Dönnhoff, Fürst, Leitz and Loosen wines to Waitrose customers
Shelf barkers
We have supported three shelf barkers highlighting German wines with press quotes in Waitrose to date. They included barkers for Basserman-Jordan Estate Riesling, Leitz Rüdesheimer Rosengarten Riesling Kabinett and Dr Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett. We have funding available for one more shelf barker in 2008 – please contact anna.noble@phippspr.co.uk if you supply a wine to Waitrose that has received a press write-up recently.
TESCO
Clubcard coupon, August 2008
Wines of Germany linked up with Tesco Clubcard to run a 240 points offer on any purchase of German wine priced £4+/75cl. 47,050 coupons were issued in the August clubcard statement and pick-up was extremely high with 8,737 customers redeeming the coupon, over 18% of those receiving the offer compared to an average redemption rate of 10% on wine coupons.
ASDA
Asda Sampling and Glorifier
Wines of Germany is planning to fund in-store sampling in 100 top Asda stores for D:Vine Pinot Grigio and Black Tower Rosé, on 12 December, to coincide with a price promotion on these products. A ‘glorifier’ will also highlight Dr L Riesling with a press quote and enhanced shelf positioning.
Should you require further information, please call Anna Noble at Wines of Germany on 020 7759 7414, or email: anna.noble@phippspr.co.uk
ON-TRADE UPDATE
Sommelier Breakfast Tasting Series
The first two sommelier breakfasts of the tasting series have now taken place. German winemakers were flown over to lead the tastings: Uwe Matheus from Weingut Wirsching attended the “German Whites other than Riesling” tasting in September and Tom Gendall from Weingut Keller presented the wines at the “German Reds” tasting in October. Both tastings were extremely well attended, with approximately twenty sommeliers attending each from establishments including Hakkasan, Skylon, The Orrery, Bentley’s Oyster Bar and Grill, Le Coq D’Argent, La Trompette, Rasoi, and The Dorchester amongst others.
The final tasting, “Older German Vintages”, takes place on 18 November 2008 and Helmut Dönnhoff will be leading the tasting with a 1989 Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Spätlese.
In order to generate interest in the tastings, we will be giving those sommeliers who attend two out of the three tastings the chance to win a Wines of Germany sponsored WSET Advanced course place.
Should you wish to find out more about the sommelier breakfasts or any of the Wines of Germany ‘Sommelier Club’ activities please contact Alicia Mellish on 020 7759 7405 or by email: alicia.mellish@phippspr.co.uk.
Invitations sent out for the three Sommelier Breakfast tastings in the series.
TRADE EVENTS:
Should you have any trade events scheduled, please do not hesitate to contact Wines of Germany so that these may be posted on the website in the trade section. Click here to view the trade events page: www.winesofgermany.co.uk/trade_events_tastings.php.
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