Russian division of Moët Hennessy is taking better control of its ultra-premium wine brands such as Numanthia, Terrazas de Los Andes and Cheval des Andes, Cape Mentelle and the New Zealand’s big name – Cloudy Bay.
The Estates and Wines division presented some of the wines to the press in Moscow on February the 13th.
Fancy enough, with great intake of hi-end presentations equipment, Moët Hennesy, nevertheless, failed to gather any impressive number of media (especially, the kind of glossy magazines journalists one might expect from them). As explained bt the company representatives, they wanted to focus more on professional wine media — quite limited in Moscow.
As Olivier Sauvage, the brand ambassador for Moët Hennessy in Russia mentioned, the company will take care of these brands mostly in on-trade channels where these wines are better suited for sure.
«We see that Russian market has great potential. It is reeling from a few «crises» that hit it over the last few years, but it is pulling through. We strongly believe that market will continue to develop towards more sophistication, consumers start to appreciate quality wines more and more and that is where we find our potential», — he told WRR.
For long time the brands have been represented and distributed by such long-established importers as Whitehall, MBG and others. The desire to take more control of its wine brands is understandable – the company’s great wines portfolio is abviously underestimated and undercommunicated in Russia. This is especially true taking in mind such big brands as Moët Chandon and Hennessy which don’t need much of anything except advertising – which is banned since the beginning of 2013. Big international players are seeking ways to move their ATL budgets to other channels.