Recognition continues to drive the thirst for organic wines

Our collaborator Sharon Nagel takes an in-depth look at this exciting moment for organic wines. Don't miss it!

A walk through the Millésime Bio trade fair in Montpellier in the South of France earlier this month offered irrefutable proof – through the exhibitor profile, buyer attendance and packaging – that organic wine has now gone fully mainstream. And its newly-minted status is one that the bulk wine industry is ideally positioned to capitalise on.

?As Spanish university professor and winegrower Juan Carlos Sancha pointed out during a conference on sustainability at the World Bulk Wine Exhibition last November, “one hundred years ago, all wines were organic”. Since then, the wine industry has, almost, come full circle, driven by a combination of more restrictive regulations, consumer demand, greater transparency fuelled by social media and the personal convictions of the growers themselves. Proactive policies by buyers, such as the Swedish monopoly Systembolaget, should be added to this non-exhaustive list: according to recent research by Wine Intelligence, nearly one in four bottles of wine sold in its stores is now organic, and Systembolaget undeniably acts as a driving force across Scandinavian markets. As Andrew Porton from UK company The Wine Fusion stressed at the WBWE, “Sustainability is bulk’s trump card. Can bold sustainability commitments made by corporations be achieved without bulk?” As myriad sustainability schemes vie with each other globally for a share of buyer and consumer attention, organic has forged ahead, ranking second in the 2022 Global Alternative Wine Opportunity Index released this month by Wine Intelligence. “Organic is recognised, none of the other sustainability labels come with a recognition or understanding”, comments Erica Landin L?fving,?chief sustainability officer with Vintage Wine Estates. As a founding member of the Sustainable Wine Roundtable, this group of 13 wine estates in the USA will be working towards creating a global sustainability standard.

A young, urban audience

For organic, that recognition has been effectively converted into sales. Research presented at Millésime Bio* revealed that 29% of Europeans have put organic wine in their baskets over the previous six months, a huge surge on the 17% in 2015. As the leading European organic wine producer, ahead of Spain, France also leads the way for consumption of organic wines: 36% of French consumers actually drink it regularly, compared with “just” 17% in 2015. The United Kingdom and Germany are also moving in a positive direction: 27% of the British and 23% of Germans bought organic wine over the previous six months, compared with 18% for both in 2015. Of the three nationalities, the French are the most aware of organic wine: 54% of them have tried organic wine, compared to 33% of the Germans and 29% of the British. Again, awareness among the French has surged over the past five years or so, rising from 36% in 2015. And as the research highlights, the percentage is likely to increase as organic wine consumers tend to be younger than the average wine drinker. In fact, 46% of under 35s have already drunk organic wine – there is an eight-point gap between the under 35s and the over 55s (38%). Education and place of residence also factor into organic adoption: the higher the level of education, the more likely consumers are to drink organic wine, whilst 75% of people living in and around Paris have tried organic wine, almost twice the European average (39%). So the typical organic consumer tends to be young, male, urban and a graduate with a high income.

Significantly higher price points

As to why they drink organic wine, the research underscores three main cues: because of its environmental credentials; because people want to try it out; because it promotes fairer trade. Respect for the environment is understandably the main driver, for 58% of Germans, 54% of the French and 50% of the British. But the fair trade aspect has also risen by six points (35%) among Europeans. The study showed that the extra outlay involved in producing organic wine can, at least partly, be recouped through higher retail prices: on average, Europeans spend 13.9 euros on organic wine, compared with 11 euros for conventional wine, and the gap is rapidly growing – it was just 90 cents in 2015. Several reasons are given for this: the greater significance of the fair trade aspect and providing growers with a fairer income; greater awareness of the need to protect the environment and a desire to drink and eat products considered better all round. Interestingly, the British are willing to pay 18.9 euros for a bottle of organic wine (+ €6.6/2015), versus €10 for the Germans (+ €2.3/2015) and €14 for the French (+ €5/2015). Ironically, 36% of Europeans feel that the price of organic wine is too high, rising to 42% of the British and 41% of the Germans, but just 27% of the French. However, the reason for this is most likely the lack of information – an issue which mars sustainable wines across-the-board. 40% of the French and 41% of the British feel they don’t buy organic wines because they lack information, dropping to 26% of the Germans. But this could be construed positively as the research points out that demand for more information stems from the enhanced reputation of organic wine.

Six years after the first study, Nicolas Richarme, the chairman of trade organisation SudVinBio, which organises Millésime bio, agrees that the most significant change during that time has been organic wine’s transition to the mainstream. What was once a category driven by inquisitive consumers has now become a staple of the wine proposition. ?

*The study was conducted by Ipsos among 3,000 people equally distributed across the three countries between 8 September and 8 October 2021.

Sharon Nagel