While sustainable production covers a range of issues – from growing and producing to packaging to distribution – interest in sustainable wine is gaining traction globally, according to Wine Intelligence’s Global SOLA: Opportunities For Sustainable and Organic Wine report. While the primary purchase drivers are still award-winning wines or wines with heritage and tradition, the interest in SOLA (Sustainable Organic Lower Alcohol Alternative wine) market wines is one to watch.
The impact of Covid-19 may be the cause of the increased awareness of alternative wines, with the environment being the forefront of many consumers’ minds. Developments such as COP26 and pledges by governments on deforestation have helped push climate change, the environment and sustainable purchasing higher up the agenda for consumers. Studies by Deloitte have shown that 34% of consumers choose brands that have environmentally sustainable values and systems, and this is making its way into wine purchasing.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR SUSTAINABLE AND ORGANIC WINE
Sustainable and organic wine have been leading the way.
While awareness of most alternative wine types has increased since 2019, alternative wine types offer the strongest market potential. Interesting, growth slowed initially due to Covid’s impact on wine consumer behaviour. Wine drinkers were reluctant to experiment and instead consistently turned to wines they viewed as familiar, safe, trustworthy, and reliable.
However, displaying an ‘organic’, ‘environmentally friendly’ or ‘sustainably produced’ on a wine label tends to positively impact consumers’ intent to purchase, although this impact varies by market the research found. Displaying an organic label, for example, has a much stronger impact in Sweden and Canada than in Australia and the UK.
Worth noting is the trend towards certification. Almost half of wine consumers say that they only trust the sustainability of wines if they have an official certification.
GLOBAL ORGANIC WINE TRENDS
Organic wine and others such as biodynamic, vegan, and sustainable wine make up the SOLA market of alternative wines. To consider wine as organic, it should be a product of organically grown grapes that have been certified to organic standards by law.
Organic wine attitudes and associations
The perception that organic wine is more environmentally friendly is shared globally, but consumers also believe organic wine is more expensive than other alternative wines. Sustainable and environmental wines are associated with similar beliefs, too. Generally, Europe considers organic wine more ethical, while Japan, North America, and Australia associate the wine as better for your health.
Swedish consumers appear to believe that organic wine is more environmentally friendly, with 49% of regular wine drinkers citing this. Switzerland follows behind with 47% agreeing, while 42% also think it’s more expensive. In comparison, only 26% of Japanese and 27% of Australian wine drinkers believe organic wine is more eco-friendly.
Japanese wine drinkers associate organic wine with being better for their health significantly more than other countries (45%), compared to territories such as Australia, Canada and the US, where just 28% of consumers cite health benefits of organic wine.
Organic wine opportunity
Organic wine holds its number one rank for global opportunity against other alternative wines, including sustainable, environmentally friendly and fairtrade wines. The higher awareness of organic wine drives this top-ranking compared to previous years, a total index score difference of 1.8 compared to 2019.
Index scores for sought to purchase and consideration of organic wine remain strong but are still not as high as scores for sustainable, environmental and fairtrade wine. These scores imply that organic wine isn’t as sought after as the others on the market, although this has steadily increased from 2019.
Organic wine market opportunity
For the third year in a row, organic wine achieves the highest opportunity index score among SOLA wines globally, except for Brazil, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain.
The most substantial market opportunities are seen in European markets like Sweden, France, Germany, and Switzerland. Sweden has the highest awareness of organic wine (79%), sought to purchase (41%), and consideration (68%) of all country markets, with France following closely behind. Portuguese and Spanish consumers had the lowest interest in organic wine.
The European market is the most likely to buy organic wine as opposed to Asian and American/South American markets and Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
While Japan, Canada, and the UK have experienced increased organic wine awareness since 2019, their sought to purchase intent was barely affected, with little to no increase since 2019. Germany, however, had the most significant increase across sought to purchase and consideration, implying the rising popularity of organic wine in the German market.
UNDERSTANDING GLOBAL WINE MARKETS
BD69 drives sales of our global wine brands through data analysis and valuable insights. Our customised portfolio has a proven track record of success delivering 60 million bottles globally.
Crucially, we work with you to unlock data that provide insights and key brand drivers to establish global wine brand listings.
Contact our insightful team to explore how BD69’s commitment to data analysis, sales and operations can help you expand your wine business.