Les Caves de Pyrene is to raise prices on its wines by an average of 10 – 12%, according to sale director Douglas Wregg. The Les Caves list is not due until September, but Wregg foresees duty increases and currency alterations having a huge effect on prices.
“We’re not alone in upping what we’re going to charge”, insisted Wregg. “All the merchants are waiting to see who jumps first.”
Enotria has just raised prices by more than 5% on nearly 1,000 of its wines, which will take effect from 11th February.
“We have been working hard with our suppliers to acknowledge the importance of the UK market and to restrict the size of these costs wherever possible”, said chief executive Alison Levett. But “2007 has been a particularly challenging vintage across most of the world”, she added. The company has also frozen prices on 100 wines, and added increases of less than 5% on 160 of its lines, out of a total stock of 1,200 wines.
Boutinot would not comment on reported rises of 8% on its new interim list, while Stevens Garnier is putting its list back a few weeks, to the beginning of April, to see how duty rises filter through.
“Everybody is expecting price-point-busting increases this year”, said a spokeswoman.
Neill Harrowell, senior account manager at currency dealer Baydonhill, said smaller companies will also be affected by the weak euro, particularly those who have not arranged a currency forward agreement – a contract locking in an exchange rate on a foreign currency for purchases in the future – and that en primeur offers, with their smaller margins, are also cause for concern.
Wregg said that the biggest increases are coming in basic white wine from the Languedoc, a source of many supermarkets’ own-label products, and that he knew of one major producer in the region that was asking a major supermarket 65% higher prices.
“”Whether they’ll pay it is another matter. They certainly won’t pass it on to their customers”, said Wregg. Vin de pays wine from the south west of France is also showing particularly high rises, according to Wregg. “In the past few years, despite costs increasing, prices on UK merchant lists just haven’t gone up. A strong pound has absorbed the costs, but it’s like the dam bursting now”, added Wregg.