This November’s World Bulk Wine Exhibition will once again see the majority of bulk wine available in the world being bought and sold during the show. Its why companies such as Eurotrade Business Services and its new e-commerce platform, e-vino.com, are so keen to take part.
You are a relatively new business. Can you explain what it is you do?
E-vino hopes to bring producers and suppliers together online
The company is a new project trying to develop a kind of e-commerce for bulk wine professionals. Our main company is Eurotrade Business Services and is also exhibiting at the WBWE on the e-Vino stand. Both companies are international bulk wine trading and brokering companies moving bulk wide cross over the world, with customers mainly in Middle East and Eastern European countries.
We do not own any vineyards, but are able to supply wine bottling companies and sparkling wine producer etc. We are now working with hundreds of wineries worldwide and, thankfully, that number is going up.
How has 2018 been for you?
Difficult, but interesting and the biggest challenge and opportunity has been to be able to carry on offering our customers the special services they require and come up with new ideas for them. That said the last year has brought with it a lot of challenges.
We are offering new products and wines from not well known wine producing countries, regions, and are looking to trade in unusual and obscure grape varieties. So we have to work hard to keep on top of the market. But because our service is very specialised we have built up a worldwide network of co-operating partners and suppliers who look to work with us on an exclusive basis.
Were you able to take advantage of shortages in wine last year in other parts of Europe?
We expected to do more to be honest. Normally such problematic years are our best years, but not this time. We are satisfied with the business we did, but it was not dramatically up.
2018 has shown how important having good relationships with reliable producers is Did you not have more interest from buyers? In some countries yes, in some no. Not every wine producing country had a bad harvest in 2017 – even though globally the perception from a lot of people in the trade that this was the case. The reality in the market was a little different.You are a Slovakian-based company. What is the perception of Slovakian wines amongst buyers?
They are surprised that we are able to offer good quality Slovak bulk wines at attractive and interesting prices. We hope to be able to build their profile and improve the perception of Slovak wines in the coming months and years. We were certainly able to benefit last year from being able to offer buyers attractive prices.
What are you expecting to see from the 2018 European vintage? I think we will see general price reductions in Spain and Italy, but would not expect to see too much difference in the grape prices between 2017 and 2018. In some mid-European countries the prices will remain stable, in others they will go up.But as we are able to supply wines from all origins and all categories, from basic wines for aromatisation, through to all the generic wine styles, right through to the highest PDO quality wine, we hope a good to average wine harvest will put us in a good position.What percentage of your wines is sold in bulk or bottled?We are now 95% in bulk, the rest being grape must concentrate and wine distillate in bulk. We only do bottles as a very partial service for some of our customers who ask for it.
Why are you looking to attend the World Bulk Wine Exhibition?
The WBWE attracts brokers, buyers and producers from all over the world
It is a good fair, where we can meet in a few days most of our partners in one place. It means we don’t have to travel to Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia etc. Of course we meet our key producers and customers several times a year at other events as well.
We are hoping that this year we will be able to get to know more visitors representing bulk wine importing wineries from China and show them the E-Vino app. We believe it has a strong potential future in Asia.
How do you see the next 12 months? Our main focus is to be seen as a serious and important partner for both our suppliers and customers. We follow the global markets very closely and can react very quickly to any changes, both big and small, and are able to offer our customers the best ways to take advantage of them so that they can keep their main focus on sales and running their daily businesses. * You can find out more information about how the company works at www.ebs.sk. * To find out more about the World Bulk Wine Exhibition and what to expect at this year’s show in November then click here.
