Boom in Organic Cava sales & how Ruinart survived the World Wars!

Mar 28, 2024

🗞️ HEADLINES

🚀🥂 Organic Cava sales skyrocket. In 2023, almost 252 million bottles of Cava were sold, a 1.09% (2.7m bottle) increase on 2022’s figure. One major success story was the sales of organic Cava, which grew by 24.59% to 32.3m bottles – by contrast, sales of Cava produced using conventional viticulture dipped by 1.65%.

💰 Wine Society to fund regenerative farming projects. . The first year will offer a total of £60,000 of funding, but it is likely that this pot will be increase in future years.

Sad news of the passing of Patrick Grubb MW. Patrick was one of the youngest people ever to become a Master of Wine in 1958 at the age of 27.

🔎 QUIRK OF HISTORY

How Ruinart survived the two World Wars

World War I severely impacted the Champagne region of Reims, leading to the destruction of Ruinart Champagne's buildings during the Battle of the Marne. André Ruinart, undeterred, moved operations underground into the crayères (chalk cellars) to protect the business. 💦 Unfortunately, the cellars flooded a few months later, prompting Ruinart to set up his office on a floating raft until it was safe!

Despite restoring the former buildings after WWI, Ruinart faced another setback in WWII. Nazi forces raided the crayères, wiping out the entire collection of Champagne. As a result, there are no vintages in Ruinart's cellars dating prior to 1945.

Access the full article on Vine Pair.

INQUIRY

💭 Thinking outside the box

How More Diverse Wine Experiences Are Bringing Travelers Back to Tasting Rooms. Another stimulating Vine Pair article.

High quality cellar door experiences can “increase direct-to-consumer sales” and “cultivate lifelong customers or, even better, brand ambassadors”.

Historically the experiences have ignored certain audiences: BIPOC (Black, indigenous and people of colour) wine enthusiasts and younger generations of wine drinkers.

Some tips from the article:

Provide a variety of price options with entry-level wines. Younger wine enthusiasts tend to gravitate towards wines that are fresh and lively.
Immersive vineyard experiences and “behind the scenes” tours are pivotal in fostering a relationship with a wine/estate.
Emphasise casual conversation over formal classroom learning - customers want the narratives behind the wines and they seek practical tips on wine etiquette such as pairing (useful tips they can implement into their daily lives).
A winery’s social media account featuring only photos of white people or older drinkers can deter potential visitors. If individuals can’t see themselves represented in the promotional material, it’s challenging for them to imagine visiting that winery.