You can often hear from people working in the wine industry – and especially winemakers who produce rosés – that the popularity of rosé is constantly on the rise, the number of costumer opting for this category is continuously increasing and sales are booming. Is this really true? And if so what trends should winemakers follow so as not to be left behind?
Based on the latest 2019 datasets analysts working for the International Wines and Spirits Record (IWSR) a company specializing in wine and spirits market research have come to the conclusion that rosé is still one of the strongest growth sectors in the wine world.
According to Dan Mettyear, the Head of IWSR’s wine department rosé is clearly on a dynamic growth curve.
„Rosé remains one of the most potent and far-reaching trends within the wine category, with markets as diverse as the US, Paraguay, China and Namibia. As the rosé trend has developed over the past few years, consumers have now signalled a clear desire for lighter, Provençal-style rosés, which have come to embody the vibrant summertime moments that have characterised the movement”.
Indeed, exports of Provençal wine have increased at an average of 28% a year over the past five years.
In an article on the trends and issues concerning the wine market published at the beginning of 2020 by the UK wine magazine, Decanter several rosé related topics are brought up. What are the main developments to keep an eye on? One of the major changes concerns Italy where thanks to changing regulations Prosecco producers are allowed to blend up to 15% Pinot Noir with the main variety, Glera and this opens the way to produce Prosecco DOC rosés. Bearing in mind that Prosecco sales have exploded in recent years, the introduction of rosés in this segment is likely to have a major impact on the market.
But according to the predictions it is not only in terms of volume that changes are to be expected but also in style.
Rosé will expand its share in the „serious wine” category as well, we will see a growing number of expensive, top-drawer rosés launched.
One just has to remember that at the end of 2019 the French luxury brands conglomerate LVMH has gained a majority stake in the Provençal winery Château d’Esclans famous for its rosé brand Whispering Angel. Their entry level wine sells for 20 euros, but the top of the range Garrus costs 100 euros.
At the same time rosé producers should also turn their attention to the vegan segment of the market, as it is highly probable that the number of bottles with vegan stickers will rise rapidly and webshops will soon introduce a separate category for these wines.
One of the leading UK online wine merchants, Majestic has already had 200 vegan wines among its offerings in 2019 as opposed to just 39 in the previous year.
One of the strengths of rosé is its gender-neutrality – one might think that men are deterred by pink but in reality men love rosés just as a much as women do. With the coming of age of the Y-generation rosé’s popularity has reached new heights and hashtags like #roséallday are perceived as cool on social media sites. As a consequence of the image focused online presence the appearance of bottles and labels has taken centerstage and alternative packaging solutions have also come to the fore, i.e. smaller size bottles, cans and environmentally friendly innovations like fibreboard boxes. What matters today are bold colours and striking images, that is visuals that make an impact on Instagram.
Anna Barta, the winemaker at Nagygombos Estate in the Mátra region has long been committed to rosé production and she is always keen to observe changes on the wine market which might have an impact on rosés.
„It is very clear that the demand for rosés is on the rise year in year out, people just never seem to get tired of them.
Even so we must react to changes and not only to changes in customers’ expectations. As a winery we have to deal with developments like Brexit, the growing difficulties to export to the US, the effects of global warming on viticulture, not to mention the financial consequences of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. These are all factors we have to take into consideration while winemaking needs long term planning and you just can’t make large scale changes to your product range every year. What brings me fullfilment are the limited volume, experimental series produced each year and the feedback I receive from customers enables me to finetune our range and style.”