By Andy Young
Bryan Fry, the Managing Director of Pernod Ricard Australia, has told TheShout that the company’s plans to continue the strong support of the G.H Mumm brand will see a big push on rosé.
Fry said that over the past seven years Pernod Ricard Australia has been investing strongly behind G.H Mumm and in that time the brand has seen 65 per cent growth. That growth has seen the brand move from number eight in Australia to number two with Fry adding “hopefully we’ll overtake the market leader some time very close in the future.”
Fry told TheShout: “G.H. Mumm is now a pretty sizeable part of our business, it’s pretty important for us and I think it is something that my team loves doing – everyone enjoys working on Champagne.
“We really see three opportunities with G.H. Mumm. The first one is that Australians will continue to drink better, so we think that Champagne will continue to grow.
“The second thing is that we are under indexed, versus the other top Champagne consuming countries in the world, in terms of rosé. So if you look at the US they are at 14 per cent consumption of rosé and we are well, well below that. So we see rosé as a big opportunity and so our big push for this year is rosé. We need people to understand the quality and get people to experience and taste it.
“And the third thing, and this is more work that we are doing behind the scenes, is getting people to understand vintage Champagne, the higher-end Champagne and again we under-index versus a lot of other countries on our consumption of vintage Champagne. We see there is plenty of runway for more Champagne growth in the future.”
It is the rosé focus that stands out as the real push for Pernod Ricard Australia with this brand, so much so that Fry told TheShout the company has been working with the team in Champagne, to make sure that there is enough rosé Champagne coming here.
Fry also said that growth of rosé table wine in Australia, is something that is ultimately helping rosé Champagne, and is a tremendous opportunity for retailers.
“What’s happening with rosé at the moment is table wine rosé is really growing and more importantly the stigma, particularly among men, over rosé is disappearing. So that’s a really important transition in terms of behaviour of consumption. We’ve seen it in other markets, when you see that growth in table wine rosé it really helps the Champagne.
“What a lot of people know is that it is a rosé Champagne, they know it’s more expensive, but they don’t really know what actually goes into it. So we have a job to do to educate people and make sure that they understand that rosé is a different Champagne than the normal non-vintage cuvée, in terms of the production method and the amount of time and energy that goes into it.
“The good thing is that retailers are being pretty receptive to it and they can see it, in terms of what is moving off the floor, so we are actually seeing a lot of support with increasing the range of Champagne in stores. Plus those stores who actually have a good Champagne business, getting them to expand and get rosé and vintage Champagne onto the shelf is not too big a fight. They are pretty receptive and it’s a good business for them.
“Australians are drinking better. We are 23 million people, we are number six and knocking on the door of being the number five consumer of Champagne in the world and we have been growing year-on-year for 10 years as a category. So that’s a good thing and for me, if retailers don’t have Champagne in their offering they are missing an opportunity and the second thing is not to be shy about the rosé trend. I would say it is sweeping the world a little bit, because it took over the UK, the US has had a great last four or five years in terms of the rosé movement across the country and we are starting to see it here. So again I would say if you are not having rosé in your portfolio I think retailers will miss what the consumer is looking for and we believe that Mumm rosé is the one that should be on the shelf.”
And this week sees G.H. Mumm once again build its activation at the Melbourne Cup Carnival with its marquee and Fry said, this year the big focus is getting people to sample the brand and the rosé in particular.
“For us Melbourne Cup is about G.H. Mumm. Our activation there, our presence there is really about the G.H. Mumm brand. What we are doing this year is very much in terms of the trial and we are showcasing rosé much more. If you come into the marquee this year, the first thing you will be offered is rosé, we’re putting at the forefront and we really want people to try it and start talking about it. Overall we hope to pour about 75,000 glasses of Champagne over the Melbourne Cup Carnival, so it’s a pretty important trial and sampling opportunity for us.”