LIQUID INVESTMENTS
MICHAEL FRIDJHON: The story behind the label is what sells the boutique brands
Those who are successful enjoy a high profile among consumers
Wine industries the world over love the boutique or garagiste producers. Wine writers gravitate towards them because there’s always a story in the tribulations or triumphs of those who appear to live on the edge of extinction. Distributors need them because their wines are always in short supply, which means they’re not hard to sell: you allocate them to grateful customers and use the leverage of rarity to pump out the more commercial products. Half of the registered wineries (some 250 out of just over 500) in the country crush 100 tonnes or less. This means the annual production of 50% of the country’s wineries is less than 6,000 cases each. At a guess, at least half of that 50% sells no more than 4,000 dozen. To survive on so little you need to have very low overheads (so very few employees), reasonably high prices and a cost-effective route to market. Those who are successful enjoy a high profile among consumers for whom the meaning of what they are doing is probably at least as ...
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