Moet Hennessey launches sparkling Argentinian wine in UK

By Helen Arnold

Published: 04 March, 2014

Moet Hennessey is hoping to persuade UK consumers to trade up from standard and premium sparkling wine, and down from entry level champagne with the forthcoming launch of its premium sparkling wine brand, Chandon.

Moet Hennessey is hoping to persuade UK consumers to trade up from standard and premium sparkling wine, and down from entry level Champagne with the forthcoming launch of its premium sparkling wine brand, Chandon.

Chandon ChandonMoet is hoping to persuade UK consumers in the sparkling wine category to trade up from standard sparkling wine to its new Argentinian variant Chandon.

Sparkling wine is the fastest growing sector of the UK wine market, and Moet Hennessey's UK managing director Jo Thornton has identified a "sweet spot" between Prosecco and cavas up to around £12 and the entry point Champagnes.

"We see a large opportunity in premium sparkling wine in the UK, in particularly around the £15 price point, where we have a wonderfully strong proposition with Chandon," he said. "We see that people are trading up and down this category more than in the past."

With vineyards in California, Australia, Brazil, India and China amongst others, Moet Hennessy could have sourced the wine from any one of those countries, but selected Argentina for the UK Chandon. "The growth in Argentine still wine in the past five years has been extremely strong, and there is an interest in that. This helps us to build the lifestyle elements of the brand, possibly more than the other countries. We like to think that the brand has a French heritage with a fantastic Latin heart.

Moet is hoping to persuade UK consumers in the sparkling wine category to trade up from standard sparkling wine to its new Argentinian variant Chandon.

"It is a very different proposition to premium grande marques Champagne, so there is no risk of cannibalisation."

The target consumer for Chandon is not any particular age or sex, said Thornton, but those people who want to drink good quality sparkling wine more frequently than the formality of premium grand marque Champagne would allow.

Chandon will be launched in the UK on May 1st, with a Brut and a Rose variety. They will retail at £14.99 for the Brut, and £15.99 for the rose. Both wines are produced using the methode traditionelle.

£1.5 million has been ear marked for consumer marketing in the first year, which will focus on conveying the 'lifestyle' of the brand, which is vivacious, informal and vibrant.

UK listings include Majestic and leading independent retailers in the off trade, while in the on trade, listings have so far been established with the Argentinean steak chain Gaucho and in Mitchells & Butlers Premium Country Pubs

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