Through An Analysis Of The Vocabulary Used In Wine Communication
Identify The Future And New Positioning Of The Wine Industry

HKU SPACE College of Business and Finance organised another Professional Seminar – “Wine Markets Aspect: 2011 Trends; Bordeaux Grands Crus Corporate Communication” and invited Professor Pierre Mora , Head of the Marketing and CRM , Department of BEM Bordeaux Management School , to talk about t he global wine market and Bordeaux wines trends .

Prof Pierre Mora is the Head of the Marketing and CRM Department of Bordeaux Management School (BeM) in France. He is also the Wine Marketing course leader of the Wine MBA programme offered by BeM. Besides teaching, Prof Mora was also a wine consultant and trainer. With his research interests falling in the areas of wine marketing and development of SME’s, he has written a number of journal articles and book chapters. Prof Mora has also won the European Academic Software Awards for the “The French Paradox” software.

The Big Picture: Region Of Bordeaux

Professor Mora started his speech by confirming that Hong Kong and especially China are important markets for the wine industry as a whole. He said, “I am going to present to you some facts and figures, and you will see what is occurring in the wine markets of Asia, with a focus on those in China, Singapore and India.”

The talk consisted of three main sections:

1) A general introduction to the wine industry in France, and the region of Bordeaux;
2) Up-to-date market trends with information extracted from the recently held VINEXPO;
3) The correlation of price and economic condition, emotion and other factors.

“Most people may not even be clear about the definition of Bordeaux. Some think that it is a city, some say it is a well-known name in the wine industry. But in fact the Bordeaux region is comprised of 57 ‘appellation’ (which means a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown ) and it is necessary for you to gain a deeper understanding of the regional characteristics if you are really interested in the industry.” Professor Mora explained.

Change of Strategy Due to Stagnating Local Consumption

With some trade figures shown and explained, Professor Mora pointed out that although the domestic market is still important (68% of total production of French Wine), export to other countries within the European Union and the rest of the world took up nearly one-third of the total production. He admitted that the wine export market is strategic for France especially at a moment when local consumption is stagnating and even showing a little bit of decrease in France.

The decrease can be attributed to a change of habits, according to Professor Mora, when the younger generation in the old world tend to drink less. On the contrary, the consumption of wine is increasing in the U.S., South America, Eastern Europe as well as the Asian regions. Professor Mora said, “For those of you who are interested in wine marketing, the situation is quite complex therefore. You have to formulate two sets of marketing policies, one for the new world, another for the old world.”

The Grands Crus Narratives

Professor Mora then presented an analysis of the Grands Crus Narratives, in which the history of family and the uniqueness of wine are major elements when we are communicating about wine. The 13 communication figures, namely history, family, appellation of origin, geography, wine making, wine aging, wines characteristics, grape varieties, investments, art and culture, partners and certification, are key elements used by chateaus to tell others about their produce.

Professor Mora’s research on the vocabulary characterizing the main forms of communication is quite complicated but we can still narrow it down to three major keywords: origin, history and techniques. It is interesting for us to see how wine makers in France are differentiating themselves from others. It is also an important and insightful lecture for wine marketers to understand and make use of Professor Mora’s findings in order to grasp future opportunities in the wine world.