Last week I was in New York, where I presented a selection of the Greek wine portfolio that I source for Frederick Wildman and & Sons at their annual portfolio tasting. It gave me immense pleasure to showcase the Greek wines at an event that included many of the finest producers in the world.
I also took the opportunity to meet and exchange views with a number of wine professionals throughout the week. It was often mentioned that the efforts of “New Wines of Greece” and “Wines from Santorini” have brought Greek wines a long way these past years. Raising awareness over that time had been badly needed. The critical afterthought was whether that effort in the quantity and style delivered to date should now be varied to avoid tiring the market by the continuous push. The line between creating real, honest interest in the market and overshooting this goal is very fine indeed.
At the same time, some of the other importers of Greek wine voiced their interest in a more customer focused approach of marketing. The Greek wine industry should get in touch and reach out directly to the importer’s buyers: Their point of view is that additional, real and measurable demand can be created, for example by offering press trips to top accounts, rather than to US based wine writers and bloggers who just raise general awareness.
I wonder whether this could not be the perfect opportunity to build on achieved results, and to reap returns on past investments by adjusting the efforts according to the market changes that have already started taking place.
Yes, we are seeing more Greek wine on the shelves, and that is good. I think some attention has to be given to Greek restaurants to carry more Greek wine. I ate this summer in an upscale Greek restaurant in NJ and the only Greek wine on the wine list was a house white. Incredible.