Pichon second wine goes under screwcap

Published: 23 July, 2008

Les Tourelles de Longueville, the second wine of Bordeaux Second Growth Chteau Pichon-Longueville, will be bottled under screwcap for the UK on-trade.

The decision is in part due to Bibendum, which distributes Les Tourelles exclusively in the on-trade.

One-third of Bibendum's allocation will be bottled under screwcap. The rest will continue to be bottled under cork while, in the off-trade, Les Tourelles will also be bottled under cork, with Berry Bros & Rudd handling distribution.

Chteau Pichon-Longueville is part of the AXA Millsimes portfolio, and AXA's new commercial director, Aymeric de Gironde, said that the move is a direct response to the trends in this sector'.

He said: We are working with two different segments of the market, each with a different consumer attitude. One is the on-trade, preferring easy-drinking wines that are practical to serve - often by the glass - in restaurants or over the counter, where it is a question of efficiency without affecting the wine quality.

The other is the off-trade and private customer sales, where consumers are looking for a good wine that can be consumed early, but also kept a few years in cellar for more complexity.

We believe that the more traditional bottle of wine with a cork suits this segment completely,' added Gironde.

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