Wine Fundis guide TOPS at SPAR customers in buying consumer-friendly wines!

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Wine customers of TOPS at SPAR now have a panel of six wine experts to guide them in buying wines at the liquor outlets linked to SPAR supermarkets, as full page advertisements in major newspapers informed on 22 August.  The ‘Wine Fundis’ also assist TOPS at SPAR in offering a more customer orientated wine range at its more than 500 outlets.

The Wine Fundi project was the brainchild of Tinus van Niekerk, a wine consultant, in conjunction with Mark Robinson, SPAR Liquor Executive.  ‘Regardless of where wine is sold, making a reliable choice amongst the plethora of labels is often a daunting task that can very easily result in “wrong” or “unwise” buying.  Therefore, objective wine recommendations will surely always be generally valuable to all consumers wherever wine selections are done and wine purchases are made‘, Mr van Niekerk explained.

The panel of Wine Fundis is the following, and their credentials are detailed in the advertisement. Mr van Niekerk emphasised the panelists’ impartiality, passion for wines,  and credentials:

*   Neil Pendock, described as ‘international wine blogger, wine judge, commentator & author of several books‘, and now minute gallery owner!

*   Samarie Smith, ‘wine judge, food writer and critic. Seasoned travel journalist’.

*   Tinus van Niekerk, ‘International wine consultant, wine maker, wine writer & wine judge’

*   Melvyn Minnaar, ‘Wine, food and art critic, writes for several local and international publications’

*   Ntsiki Biyela, ‘S.A.’s first black female winemaker, Woman Winemaker of 2009. International wine judge‘.

*   Christian Eedes, ‘Freelance wine critic, writer and wine judge‘.

The print advertisement introduced the panel under the headline ‘Wine Fundi’, and defines such a person as’An expert choosing the best everyday priced easy drinking South African wines‘.  A pay-off line ‘Drinktionary: The ultimate guide to speaking Party‘ follows a selection of sixteen wines ranging from R36,99 for Drostdy-Hof Winemakers Collection Chardonnay to R 149,90 for Plaisir de Merle Cabernet Sauvignon.  The ‘Wine Fundis’ appear at the bottom of the advertisement, with their credentials.  There is no explanation of the role of the ‘Wine Fundis‘, or their link to the  Drinktionary’ pay-off line, in the advertisement.

In developing the Wine Fundi service, the panel had to meet some guidelines: the wines already had to be listed by TOPS at SPAR, and be available through its Distribution Centres, to guarantee reliable supply;  there was no restriction on the recommended number of wines per wine supplier; sufficient stock should be available of the recommended wines, to allow supply; and the current number of wines selected per advertisement is determined by Mr Robinson, having been sixteen in August, and fourteen will appear in advertisements and in-store in November.

Mr van Niekerk described how the tastings were conducted:  Mr Robinson’s office nominated the wines for the panelists to taste, 97 wines having been evaluated over the course of one day, and ‘the tasting flights and sequence of wines, based on style and vintage, are worked out and stipulated by Marks’ office’.  The wines were all served at the same temperature, and were opened simultaneously before the tasting.  The wines were tasted unsighted, with no information provided to panelists about brand name, vintages, and prices at any stage.  Scoring was done out of 20.  The chemical analysis of each wine was available during the tasting ‘to clarify the integrity of a wine’.  Six bottles of each wine were available, in case further samples were required.  The wines were divided into flights on the basis of type and style.   The panelists were briefed to ‘ focus on selecting wines that are accessible, easy-drinking, consumer friendly and represent truly good enjoyment value‘, their task not being to compare wines nor to identify winners per varietal or style of wine.

Two auditors were present during the evaluation, and prepared a detailed auditing report. They ranked the wines based on the scores of each wine.   The scoring led to a number of wines of different types and style, and across a wide price range, being selected.  Since the selection process,  the selected 16 wines have been merchandised in a permanent dedicated display unit with specifically designed POS (point of sale) material, to showcase the Wine Fundi panel’s selection.  About 200 TOPS stores have already been merchandised, the Fundi promotion offering the sixteen recommended wines.  They will be available to customers for the next two months, and are sold at normal prices, not being discounted.   I could not get the connection between the pay-off line in the advertisement and the selection of the wines by the panellists, despite all the detail provided.

When the advertisement caught my eye in the Cape Times on 22 August, my initial reaction was one of the possible selling out of the ‘Wine Fundis‘ to the retailer (one expects they were paid for their time).  However,  the detailed procedure of the tasting, as explained in Mr van Niekerk’s e-mail to me, reflects the structured process used to undertake the evaluation of the wines selected for the promotion. It is not explained in the advertisement, and I could not find this detail on the TOPS at SPAR website either. Enquiring about the business relationship between the ‘Wine Fundis’ and TOPS at SPAR, Mr van Niekerk replied:  ‘As is custom everywhere where professional services are rendered the wine judges are indeed remunerated for their time which is of course a private matter between TOPS and the panelists‘.

TOPS at SPAR Wine Fundis promotion:   http://www.topsatspar.co.za/GetEntertaining/WineFundis.aspx

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:  www.whalecottage.com  Twitter: @WhaleCottage

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