The UK wine trade have for the last twenty years been like proverbial
hogs at the trough. The market has been growing like mad, in all sectors.

Lately, there has been a huge amount of collective hand wringing
amongst the trade, blaming the UK grocers for the ever deepening
discounting, worseing margins and tough times all round.

The trade seems to be in denial about the fact that wine in the UK is
now a slightly declining category.

The market is in oversupply.

And if there is one thing that people in the business have not yet
recognized, it is this:

The current market situation is defined by one word: Mature

It happened with cars, railroads, overnight services, fast food, beer, supermarkets, newspapers, etc.

And now it’s wine’s turn.

Something interesting happens when markets mature: Competition mercilessly weeds out the weak and uncreative.

It used to be, a good wine and a nice label resulted in business.

Those days are gone.

The reality is, if you are in the “Let’s sell a nice wine with a nice label” part of the wine business, and you don’t have a “B Plan”…

You’re fucked

All of us in the UK trade need to think hard about how we are going to make a difference in the short term. I suspect the UK wine landscape will look much different in a few years.