Winery.ph to Reveal the Philippines' Best-Selling Wines of 2020
The Democratization of Wine Buying in the Philippines
With the growth of wine sales in the Philippines continuing unabated over the past five years, there is more consumer interest than ever in discovering and learning about this aspirational and captivating alcoholic beverage category.
Historically, Filipino wine consumers have had their choice in wine constrained by hotels and supermarkets, where the available selection is dictated by major suppliers paying listing fees or marketing support incentives to ensure prominence of place for their brands.
However, in recent years, e-commerce wine selling has disrupted the market allowing consumers more agency in determining what they drink. With online shopping, wine buyers can now easily access a vast global range of wines to choose from and discover what they like most according to their individual palate.
Chief Sommelier and Managing Director of Winery.ph Chris Urbano stated: “At Winery.ph, we have no vested interests or backroom dealings with importers. So long as the wine passes our stringent quality standards, it may be listed on our marketplace. E-commerce has allowed us to create a direct sales channel to customers that seamlessly connects thousands of consumers to dozens of wine importers. This means we can sell customers wines that they will love, not just what we happen to import ourselves.”
As part of its mission to empower Filipinos to discover and learn about wine, Winery.ph - the Philippines’ largest online marketplace for wine - will reveal the top selling Red and White wines on its platform for the year 2020 – providing a real and unbiased snapshot of the Filipino wine palate according to consumers for the first time.
The Winery.ph Kavino Choice Bestselling Wine Awards 2020
In this democratic first for the Philippine wine market, Winery.ph Kavinos, as well as the general wine drinking public, will learn which wines have found the most favor with Filipino tastebuds, based on actual purchases by real customers from the largest in-stock and nationally available and direct to consumer wine portfolio assembled in the Philippines.
Urbano says, “This is a small but significant step to empowering Filipino consumers to take control of their wine journey and discover wines they love – instead of being told by global companies and supermarkets what they should drink.”
The award-winning wines will be documented in a subsequent Press Release and each winner will have its online listing updated to show a new medal as a Winery.ph Kavino Choice of 2020 wine. This logo will also be provided to corresponding wine importers along with written authorisation to use the logo and rating for their own wine marketing purposes in other sales channels on an unrestricted basis.
The Winery.ph 12/12 Online Wine Shopping Event
The Winery.ph Best Selling wines of 2020 will be announced as part of the Winery.ph 12/12 Online Wine Shopping Event, which will allow customers to buy a curated 2020 Best Selling Wine Mixed Dozen, along with curated red and white mixed sixers. Winery.ph has also sourced deals for big savings on six-pack orders on a selection of the Award Winning wines which will be available for a 24 hour period only during the 12/12 Shopping Event.
Urbano described the upcoming sale as a “combination of Awards Night meets Shopping Binge. We’ve lined up deals on most of the top selling wines in 2020, giving our customers a fantastic opportunity to stock up big on their favourites, or find new wines they’ve so far missed out on. If you love wine, or know someone who does, it’s an event not to be missed.”
Selection Criteria for the Kavino Choice Bestseller Wine Awards
To ensure a reasonable comparison and meaningful awards field, the Winery.ph Kavino Choice Bestseller Awards are governed by several selection criteria:
- Only products listed on the Winery.ph online marketplace for at least 6 months of the calendar year are eligible for consideration
- Award Coverage is limited to wines with regular Single Bottle selling price of PHP 600 – 2000
- Wines are limited to grape wine only and still Red or still White wines (Although other wine types will be rated in future years)
- Selection is made on the basis of average monthly gross sales value
- Sales volumes originated made under selective promotions (i.e. Flash and/or Clearance sales) are excluded from analysis and selection decision
Emerging Wine Market Insights
While the full announcement will be released on the 12th of December, Winery.ph can already share a few insights and clues as to this year’s Best Sellers.
Among red wines, robust, fruit driven Spanish and French varietals led the field while powerful Californian reds were also represented in the mix. Among whites, new world countries dominated the field, with fresh, vibrant styles from Australia, New Zealand, and USA at the top of the list.
The top red varieties in 2020 were Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo (including blends). For whites, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnays were on top, although a few lesser known varieties made the list including Pinot Grigio, Chenin Blanc and Macabeo.
Chief Sommelier Urbano, who is also a passionate home chef and Filipino food aficionado, stated, “Filipino food defies categorization. It’s eclectic and characterized by strong, juxtaposing flavors. This would seem to be reflected in the wines being selected more often by our customers, where common theme is bigger wines, fruit driven, and plenty of acidity to cut through fats in fatty cuts of pork or jamon, Spanish inspired sautees, coconut cream dishes, or oil fried US or texmex cooking.”
He added: “As the market evolves, we expect to see Filipinos to gain more interest in similar wine profiles, but from more diverse regions and varieties. Dry to semi-sweet German or Australian Rieslings seem particularly well suited to the Filipino palate but not yet well represented. While in reds, we’d expect to see growing interest in other big, fruity styles, new world Shiraz and Merlot come to mind, along with lesser known but similar styled wines like Californian Zinfandel or Southern Italian styles like Nero D’avola or Negroamaro in the longer term as consumers grow in confidence and start the branch out further.