Garda DOC Consortium seeks higher profile in UK market

By James Lawrence

Published: 09 May, 2022

The president of the Garda DOC Consortium, Paolo Fiorini, has announced plans to raise awareness of the region’s wines in the UK, following a study undertaken by Wine Intelligence.

The analysts’ findings indicated that British consumers were generally aloof to the region, with only 7% of regular UK wine drinkers expressing recognition of the area’s diverse styles. In addition, only 5% of regular wine drinkers who are familiar with Garda DOC wines have purchased them in the last three months.

Conducted in January 2022, the research project sought to measure the health of Garda DOC as a wine-producing region among its competitors, profile Garda DOC wine drinkers in the UK and measure their motivations for buying Garda DOC wines.

“Lack of availability and information about Garda DOC are the main barriers to purchase for British wine consumers,” said Paolo Fiorini.

“Our ambition over the next five years will be to raise awareness of Garda DOC expressly through its ‘Vini Varietali’ among British consumers, but also to ensure that the authentic quality of our wines matches their recognition by British consumers."

According to Wine Intelligence, consumers familiar with Garda DOC are older than the average wine drinker in the UK, with more than two-thirds over the age of 55.

“They have greater involvement in the wine category and spend more per bottle on average in the on-trade than the average regular wine drinker in the UK,” the research stated.

It added: “Nearly two-thirds of Garda DOC consumers drink wine at least twice a week, more often than average. Although this is a very small base, the primary motivations for those who have purchased wine from Garda DOC in the past have been discount and promotion or familiarity with the region.”

Garda DOC is a young umbrella appellation, created in 1996 to promote the wines of three cities: Verona, with six DOCs; Brescia, with three; and Mantua, with one. It covers 31,100ha, 3,340 of which are dedicated to Pinot Grigio (11%).

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