Boutique wines making their own way

A New England vigneron says it's hard to compete with the big players who are offering restaurants pre-designed wine lists, which leaves no room for the product of smaller winemakers.

Scott Wright from Wright Robinson, at Glencoe in northern New South Wales, says the marketing of his boutique wines is proving just as difficult as growing the perfect crop.

"It's hard when you're competing against the bigger labels and the corporate structures."

He says the demise of the independent bottle shop has also affected his potential sales.

"Coles and Woolworths have grown in terms of their market share of the retail sector. It's certainly cut down the options and the amount of volume that private hotel operators will put through their bottle shops.

"But we find that we have good local restaurants that see local wine as a good niche for them and a good way to differentiate their business."

The winery's Kathryn Duddy says Wright Robinson's major market is via cellar door sales and local bars and restaurants.

"The difficulties for us in restaurants, is not among the smaller businesses but among the corporate businesses. Their managers tend to turnover so we're constantly trying to create new relationships with people."

Ms Duddy says smaller restaurants take a 'hands-on' approach when it comes to wine.

"Most of the chefs will take it very personally to look at the wines they're selling. In some of the larger operations, it's not necessarily an interest for them and they'll be happy to go with a pre-designed wine list provided by bigger companies."

But Ms Duddy says the diverse vintages offered by smaller wineries have an advantage over the big companies.

"They're a point of difference every year. Our style changes according to climate here which is actually a great thing for people who like boutique wines but it's not necessarily reliable for those people who want to just put something on the shelf and have it turn over year after year."

Source: ABC News, 11 April 2013