More projects for Cahors Malbec
In a few minutes I’ll be on my way to Cahors. I heard of many projects imagined by the Cahors producers and their dynamic marketing director, Jeremy Arnaud. I’ll spend two days in Cahors meeting producers and many other people. I’ll listen to specialists talking about the image of Cahors in the world and how to promote those great but still undervalued wines in the US and China. I’ll let you know what’s happening on Wednesday.
Stay tuned!
Cahors Malbec in China: retrospective
The Cahors Malbec representatives, Alain Janicot and Jeremy Arnaud, went to China to present the Cahors wines to the wine professionals and press a few weeks ago. Following this presentation, contacts were made with the Chinese professionals interested in the Cahors wines. From october 1st to October 9, the journalist and consultant george Zhao will visit the Cahors area. Several Chinese journalists will attend the International Malbec Days from May 21st to May 23rd, 2009.
Special links between Cahors wines and China were created after two students from the Malbec Academy graduated and started working: one of them is now working for the Chinese importer Mercuris and the other became a free lance journalist while consulting for various importers.
The UIVC will publish soon the most recent export figures of Cahors wine son the Chinese market.
Cahors wine sales on a steep rise in the US
When most French wine exports figures are plummeting (-18,8% in volume and -23,4% in value), Cahors wine sales are rising sharply for the first quarter of 2009, confirming the 2008 rise: +5% (+3,8% in 2008).
The sharper rise happened on the American market: +66% in value (+41,733 bottles) and +16,4% in value (+42,000 euros). This piece of good news is of a good omen as the Cahors Malbecs just launched a 3-year campaign on the American market, starting on May 12, 2009 by a seminar and a tasting at the Astor Center. Cahors is investing 1M euros in this campaign, partially funded by the European Union.
Jeremy Arnaud, Marketing Director of the UIVC, the professional body of Cahors producers, is very optimistic as for the future of the appellation on international markets: he’s even predicting a 2-figure rise in percentage for 2009. He’s only concerned by two small disappointments: the price of the bottle went down from 2,96 euros in 2008 to 2,73 euros for the first quarter of 2009 and a slight decrease in volume (-2%) in French speaking Canada, a traditional market for the Cahors Malbecs. But he hopes to increase his market shares in the English speaking Canada as part of the American campaign.
The international campaign continues with a Malbec Summit held in Vinexpo Bordeaux on June 22, 2009 where press and trade will be introduced to the Cahors Malbecs by international experts: Elin McCoy (US), Anthony Rose (UK), Andre Rosberg, President of the Argentinian Sommelier Association and many others.
Second Malbec Academy in Cahors
The first edition of the Malbec Academy took place in Cahors last year. The students of the Wine MBA program from Dijon, in Burgundy, spent a week in Cahors under the direction of Pr. Joëlle Brouard, in charge of the program and Jeremy Arnaud, Marketing Director of the Cahors trade body.
The program was such a success that it is renewed this year. Both students and producers enjoyed the personal and professional links created by the program. This year too, the students will spend a week of getting both theoretical and practical knowledge of the Cahors region and wines: in the morning, they will follow seminars on the international strategy of the Cahors appellation and brainstorm with the speakers on various subjects. In the afternoon, they visit properties and meet producers and negociants. To complete this “splash course”, each student is invited to spend the week with the family of a producer or a negociant.
The program takes place from March 23rd to March 27th in Cahors. The keynote peakers are: Jérémy Arnaud, Marketing Director of the Cahors Appellation (UIVC), Pr. Joëlle Brouard and Pr. Jean-Guillaume Ditter, authors of a comparative study on Cahors and Chablis; the journalist Jérôme Baudouin for his comparative study on Cahors and Australia, Pr. Valérie Olvier on agricultural management; Pr. Jean-Christian Tulet athor of a documentary on Cahors wines; Dr. Evelyne Resnick, international consultant in web marketing for the wine trade and in charge of the web marketing strategy of Cahors wines; Franck Lederer, Financial Director of the Taillan Group and many others.
The Cahors Appellation is actively seeking partnerships with other academic bodies in the US to extend its Malbec Academy at an international level. This strategy is unusual for an appellation but shows how creative and dynamic a small region and appellation can be in France.
Press lunch in Paris: the new Cahors Malbecs
Yesterday, the UIVC, the official Cahors vintners organization, gathered a few dozen journalists in the Sydr restaurant in Paris for a tasting followed by a press lunch during which a lot of news were delivered.
The tasting was organized in a new and innovative way: the wines were segmented by their prices. Laurent Marre, sommelier and founder of the import house Black Wine Company, also co-owner of Le Balandre Restaurant in Cahors, selected the 50 wines.
- The first category, the “Popular Premium”, grouped the mass market wines, priced 3-5€. The new Rigal brand, Les Terrasses 2007, the RVSO Terrasses d’Autan 2007 and the Côtes d’Olt Malbec 2005 were represented and tasted very nicely.
- In the “Premium” segmentation, priced 5 to 7€, one could taste three wines, were qualified by Laurent Marre, of “round and structured”: Domaine de Cause Malbec 2005, Château des Roches Vendémiaire 2005 and Château Vincens Prestige 2005.
- In the “Super Premium” category, priced 7 to 14€, the most famous Cahors estates were represented: Château Chambert, Château Lamartine, Château Pineraie or Château La Caminade, among many others. Laurent Marre called them “powerful and gourmet”.
- The “Ultra Premium and Icones” priced over 14€ and as much as 36€ were called “intense and complex” by Laurent Marre. The best of Cahors wines were offered to the press: Gaudou, La Bérangeraie, Mas del Périé and many others.
This unusual presentation surprised a few journalists but most of them had a very positive reaction to this segmentation. The reason of this approach was explained during the lunch by Jeremy Arnaud, Marketing Director: it is a first attempt at presenting to the consumers three levels of excellence in the Cahors wines. The first level will be the Cahors Malbec wines; there will be then the Black Wine of Cahors and the third will be the “Grand Cru”. Several wine houses, such as Rigal, are very interested by this new way of introducing the new wave of Cahors Malbec to the consumer. In a second stage, the different categories of wines will have their own bottle designed with an embossed shield.
Various initiatives and news were announced: the first International Malbec Competition will take place in November 2009 in Bourg ; Pascal Verhaeghe, owner of Château Le Cèdre, is working on obtaining a “Black Wine cru” appellation recognized by the INAO; wine tourism is being developed by the city of Cahors; Isabelle Rey-Auriat, owner of Château Les Hauts d’Aglan, is managing the “Export Committee” in connection with Jeremy Arnaud and Alain Janicot, president of the UIVC.
It was a rich and long presentation showing how active and dynamic the Cahors Malbec producers are!
French Malbec a success in Argentina
The French Delegation who went to Argentina during the Second International Malbec Days came back with wonderful news and brought back positive results from the meetings with the Argentinians.
First, enologists from both countries will now work together on their common grape and put together the results of their research. The Third International Malbec Days will be organized in Cahors in 2010 and will greet our Argentinian friends as well as Californian and Chilean wineries. Alain Janicot, President of the UIVC and Jean-Marc Vayssouze, Mayor of Cahors, met with Argentinian officials in Buenos Aires. They agreed to organize common actions between Cahors and Argentina with the help of the Argentinian Embassy.
This first international success for the French Malbec is the prelimanary step to more international events: in May 2009, the Cahors wines will be at the London Wine Fair; in June 2009, during Vinexpo, Argentinian and French Malbec will be tasted together; in November 2009, the First International Malbec Contest will be held in Bourg, in France.
Bordeaux, international conference on South West strategy
On December 4 and 5, an international conference will take place in Bordeaux on the international strategy that should take place for wines facing globalization. Wines are very often considered as local products born on a terroir or as some researchers are now saying on territories. Is this idea still valid in our age of internationalization and globalization? How can local terroirs answer to the challenges of globalization?
Those questions will be answered by geographers from Europe, Australia or New Zealand, economists, experts in political sciences or marketing. Jeremy Arnaud, Marketing Director of the Professional Vintners Union of Cahors, will be moderating a session and speaking on December 5.
French Malbec, Black Wine and Château du Cèdre in New Orleans
Last week, I was speaking at the International Conference of the”Society of Wine educators” in New Orleans on Web Marketing for thewine industry. One of the most appreciated part was the case study of the Black Wine of Cahors. What was more appropriate than the two blogs of the UIVC to explain what Web marketing is about for the wine industry?
Let’s go back in time. In January 2007, after the convention in Cahors on the “Black Paradox”, the French blog blackisphere.fr is open andmeets the success we all know: more than 30,000 unique readers a month!In December, launch of a second blog, in English, to promote the Cahors grape, the Malbec and the Malbec International Days in April 2008. The two topics of the marketing campaign of the UIVC are covered: Cahors is black! Cahors is Malbec!
To illustrate my point I had the privilege of having the 2004 Prestige Château du Cèdre: the attendants of my session were in awe of its dark color, rich and smooth taste. It was the treat we deserved to digest the dryness of the subject!
