Global Wine Wars: New World Challenges Old

The winery industry can be categorized into red and white wine segments. The red wine segment, measured by tonnage of varietals crushed, has grown at a compounded annual rate of 4.7% for 10 years from 1989 to 1998, and a year over year growth rate of 8.2% from 1998 to 1999. Judging by the strong growth rate experienced in the red wine segment, it is reasonable to conclude that the red wine segment is in the growth phase of the life cycle model. In addition, production of red wine varietals which are relatively unknown such as syrah and sangiovese nearly doubled in a year from 1998 to 1999. The white wine segment, however, is at the mature phase of its life cycle as the segment shrunk slightly by 0.42% from 1998 to 1999. Overall, the industry is still at the growth stage lead by growth in the red wine segment.

The structure of the wine industry is quite different around the world. The barrier to entry is relatively higher in the New World than in the Old World. Referring to the market data on the level of concentration in 1998, people can see a few players dominate the markets in Australia and the U.S. while the level of concentration is quite low in Europe. Therefore, the rivalry in Old World is intense there.

The premium wine segment is quite concentrated with high barriers to entry making mergers and acquisitions a strong and prevalent growth strategy. With industry analysts forecasting the demand for premium wine to grow at 8% to 10% per year, many former non-rivals are now becoming a threat. Jug wine producers are entering the premium market and beer and spirit producers

The concept of production and sale of wine was originated in the European countries known as the old world according to the article "Global Wine War 2009: New Word versus Old" these are; France, Italy, Spain and Greece. Here the wine culture was developed mainly due to the habits of religion and high society which caused them to have the highest consumption per capita in the world, creating a very attractive and important industry for the governments of those countries.

Wine production involves two parts of economic activity – viticulture and wine making in the winery. In the global context, wine production is dynamic due to the influence of globalization, technological advancements and extensive research. These have essentially influenced the nature, spatial patterns and the ecological dimensions of the wine industry.

The buyer’s power within the wine industry varies between different places in the world. There are for example strategic differences between Europe and the “New World”. The “New World” includes countries like the US, Australia, Chile and South Africa. In Europe there is a big competition

Some of the largest New World producers were the United States, Australia, Chile and Argentina. The largest of the Old World producers were France, Italy and Spain. The world’s top 10 wine exporters accounted for more than 90 per cent of the value of international wine trade. Of those top 10, half were in western Europe, and the other half were New World suppliers, led by

Vincor International Inc. is in the business of selling premium wine to discerning wine drinkers. The company relies on its firm resources and capabilities from which it derives its distinctive competencies. These include the ability to produce market and distribute premium New World wines to a growing market of customers around the world. The total estimated world market is worth approximately $190 billion dollars (U.S.).

Production and consumption of wine was mostly localized until the early 1990’s. Wine producers in different countries were traditionally isolated from each other, and most of the world’s wine drinkers consumed either local wines or imports from nearby producers. Winemakers had minimal cross-border interaction and followed local traditions.

Vincor International goal is to become one of the top five wine companies in the world in terms of earnings. In order to attain this goal they have implemented a corporate strategy that focuses on using their existing powerful position in market to help them developing sales, marketing, distribution capabilities on an international scale. The strategy also includes acquiring new wineries and wine brands in new emerging region in the wine market also called “New World regions”(Vincor, 2005) throughout the world.

Yellow Tail is the leading imported wine in the US. Introduced in June of 2001 by Australian owned Casella Wines, Yellow Tail sold more than 8.5 million cases in 2008, which is more wine than the next three Australian brands combined. This success has attracted substantial competition. The issue for Casella is how to sustain Yellow Tail’s growth in the face of emerging competition on a limited ad budget.

MontGras, a medium-size Chilean winery, has to formulate an export strategy. It has to decide whether to emphasize the U.S. or U.K. markets, which also offer different positioning and pricing proposals. It has twice failed to penetrate the U.S. market, because distributor relationships fell through, and is deciding between two new potential partners. In the United Kingdom, it is offered participation in a supermarket promotion that will boost volumes but at the expense of price maintenance.

This industry has seen very limited growth since 1986. Based on Exhibit 4 (C-271, the total wine consumption in the US) and Exhibit 5 (C-271, per capita wine consumption in the US) the wine industry is in the maturity stage. It could

Chateau Margaux is one of the five first-growth Bordeaux wine producer; it and has one of the finest names of Bordeaux and the number of drinkers worldwide is growing through the years. Chateau Margaux’s wines are used by the connoisseurs and luxury consumers. They are facing an uncertain future, because of losing market to New World producers (such as California, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand) which have lower prices and more accessible flavours. Nowadays wine drinkers are changing tastes, which could cause a big problem.

In the most recent years, domestic sales of wine has declined constantly. The wine consumption is becoming more occasional. This is partially due to an aggressive anti-alcohol campaign and driving restrictions set by the local government, but also facilitated by a lack of marketing strategy: the wine market is loosing touch with the youth (the average age of wine drinker is gone up from 35 to 55) and young people are getting more keen to beer or alcohol pops.