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GREEK PRODUCERS FAIL TO CAPITALISE ON OLYMPICS

Published:  23 July, 2008

By Penny Boothman

Later this year tragedy and comedy may come together when the nation with the longest winemaking heritage in the world misses out on the opportunity of a lifetime as the 2004 Olympic Games fail to motivate activity in the wine industry. Last weekend saw the sixth biennial Athens wine fair, Oenorama. With the new Conservative government in power for a little over a week, realisation was dawning that more should have been done by now to prepare for the biggest international consumer event Greece has ever seen. A spokesman for Papagiannakos Estate said, The government and (wine) associations haven't done enough work with promotions. They should have started two years ago.' Convenient as it may be to blame the Socialists, the fact remains that the Greek wine industry has no generic marketing body, and privately funded promotional activity is minimal. When questioned on what impact producers expected the Olympics to have on their export sales, answers ranged from a shrug and not much' to yes, but it will only be short-lived'. Attitude towards the UK market remains positive and producers are delighted with the 2003 vintage, especially after the wash-out 2002, but without adequate marketing this too could be a missed opportunity.

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