Lack of a Spanish heavyweight?

In October 2004 Harper's magazine published an article on the Spanish export wine trade in the UK. The article contained several interesting comments. Chief among these is the perception that Spain lacks strong brands to compete in the UK market.

The article notes that while Robert Parker and others are highly enthusiastic about Spain, the Nielsen numbers showed decreases of 13% in volume and 7% in value for 2004 from 2003; sales are concentrated around Rioja and are dependent upon price promotion (65% of Spain's export wine promotion budget goes toward providing pricing discounts) and only one Spanish brand, Faustino, is among the UK's top 50 wine brands (just barely, at number 44).

Offsetting this negative picture is an increased presence in restaurants and further recognition of Tempranillo as a grape capable of producing great wines.

In looking at the top 10 brands in the UK off-premise (wines bought for consumption elsewhere) , I think I see what may be part of the problem of the lack of strong brands. The leading brand is something called Stowells Spanish. And although some of the other brandnames are recognizable to me living here in Spain (No. 2 Torres, No. 3 Campo Viejo), Stowell and the rest of the leaders are either brands that have been created exclusively for the UK or are from wineries that have focused their sales efforts solely on the UK market, at the expense of any domestic presence in Spain. If you want to build a leading brand, you've got to be strong at home and in the target market, which is not a cheap proposition because it requires advertising, promotion and salespeople on the ground.