Roducta launches Bordeaux umbrella brand

Roducta, Bordeaux’s largest wine producer and its UK agent, Thierry’s, will be launching a major new umbrella range, Baron de Bordeaux at the France Under One Roof tasting in London on Wednesday March 10 at Lord’s.

Bordeaux is the second largest AOC in the UK in terms of volume, with consumer awareness of the region higher than any other winemaking region. However, there is currently no major umbrella brand in the Bordeaux category to encourage experimentation with lesser known AOCs. roducta has seized the opportunity and, using the market knowledge and expertise of the UK’s number one importer of French wine, has launched the Baron de Bordeaux range in the UK market.

Alexis Fourault, export manager for roducta comments: “We did a lot of benchmarking and came to the conclusion that we were in a perfect position to take advantage of a major gap in the UK market – the need for a ‘Caves Saint ierre’ equivalent for the Bordeaux category. We are confident that we have the knowledge, the experience, the contacts and the right product for this market.  We have been working with Thierry’s since 2005 and we are confident that Baron de Bordeaux is in very good hands. We are happy to work with such a dynamic company and look forward to building the brand together in the UK market.”

The Baron de Bordeaux range is the result of collaboration between roducta, Thierry’s and Winebrand, with buying director, Dominique Vrigneau closely involved in the whole process. Baron de Bordeaux was chosen as a strong, accessible and memorable name and the packaging (by Amphora Design) shows consistency throughout the range, with all of the wines using an exclusive embossed bottle – a recognisable quality cue for consumers which ensures a strong shelf presence and stand-out appeal.

The three tier range offers consistent branding with subtle differentiation between the three levels. All wines in the range carry the recognisable ‘B’ branding and use Diam closures.
                                                                                   
AOC Bordeaux Red, White and Rosé                       

AOC Bordeaux Supérieur Red                                   
AOC Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc                                   
AOC Côtes de Bordeaux Red                                   

AOC Médoc                                                                       
AOC Lussac St Emilion                                               

The Baron de Bordeaux range retails from £6.99-£13.99 and will be able to offer customers some strong promotional deals, giving it the edge in this competitive climate where the consumer is extremely price-sensitive.

The new includes the new appellation, Côtes de Bordeaux, which was created to offer a simpler, easily recognisable label within what some consumers view as a complex region in terms of labelling. The new appellation covers four different AOCs from the Right Bank – remières Côtes de Blaye, remières Côtes de Bordeaux, Côtes de Castillon and Côtes de Francs.

About roducta
roducta, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, is the largest wine producer in Bordeaux, with 4,500 growers, 17,000 hectares of vineyards and a total production of around 100m litres a year. roducta’s portfolio includes both branded and Châteaux wines from 30 different Bordeaux appellations.

The company has complete control over the production of all its wines and is able to source a wide variety of styles and varietals from all over the region; its expertise in blending is second to none. roducta exports around 30% of its wines and is particularly strong in the mid-price range; the company does not sell either Vins de ays or Grands Crus. roducta enjoys strong relationships with growers and winemakers in the region, many of whom are from Bordeaux’s new generation of young winemakers.

roducta is the number one producer of Sauvignon Blanc in Bordeaux and also controls 40% of the Lussac St Emilion appellation on the Right Bank. Its Roc de Lussac St Emilion has already been very successful in the UK and is available in Sainsbury’s. roducta is also very strong in the Left Bank, representing 23% of the Médoc. The company also produces 15% of all wines from the Gironde and Dordogne region.

1 February 2010 - Felicity Murray