Luding Group will launch a line of sparkling wines – from basic to premium

The rise in prices for basic sparkling wines from Italy and Spain after increased import duties frees up niches for new Russian brands in the category. The distributor Luding Group is launching its line of sparkling wines, intending to become one of the ten largest players in this market. Competitors and experts see the greatest potential in the segment of wines priced at 500–600 rubles. per bottle, but note a shortage of vineyards.

Alcohol distributor Luding Group will launch production of its first line of sparkling wines at the facilities of Olymp Winery in the Krasnodar Territory, Luding told Kommersant. The range ranges from basic to premium wines produced using the traditional method. The aging of limited lines has already begun, the company added.

Luding clarified that the project is led by winemaker Ilya Voloshin. He is known for his work in the Crimean project Cock t’est belle, among the investors of which, as RBC reported, was the general director of the Rossiya Segodnya MIA, chairman of the board of the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Russia Dmitry Kiselev. Luding did not disclose the volume of investments in the project and the name of the line, noting that they intend to enter the ten largest sparkling wine producers in Russia.

According to data from market participants, at the end of January-September 2023, Luding Group was the fifth importer of alcohol, importing about 21.9 million liters, including 16.6 million liters of all types of wines. It also develops its own brands. The range includes more than 5 thousand drinks, sales per day are estimated at 500 thousand bottles.

Olymp Winery, according to its own data, operates a plant with a capacity of more than 20 million liters of still wines per year, with a vineyard area of ​​1.25 thousand hectares. The company already produces still wines for Luding: Adagum, Good Steak, High Roof, Velada, etc. Olymp Winery did not answer Kommersant.

Ladoga President Veniamin Grabar notes that a niche for new Russian wines will appear as the shelves are cleared of imported wines from unfriendly countries costing 500–600 rubles. per bottle after increasing import duties. For now, the runoff in this segment is still high and could stretch into the first quarter of 2024, he notes.

Fort executive director Alexander Lipilin also points out that in the lower and middle price segments among imported sparkling wines in Russia, the leaders were Prosecco and Cava from Italy and Spain, prices for which are now rising. In Chile, Argentina, South Africa and Georgia there are few such wines, and when producing a quality drink that costs up to 500 rubles. per bottle there is a chance of success, he says. But, Mr. Lipilin notes, in the segment of wines that would compete with champagne, Russian winemakers have not had much success. Fort, in the current conditions, has begun distributing Agora sparkling wine from Crimea, which is produced by the company’s partners, said Alexander Lipilin.

The head of the WineRetail information center, Alexander Stavtsev, says that the Russian Federation lacks basic quality wines at affordable prices. According to him, Luding’s main competitors in the inexpensive sparkling wine segment could be Kuban-Vino and the Derbent Sparkling Wine Factory. But in general, this category is filled with drinks of dubious origin, including cocktails in wine bottles, the expert notes. Ilya Voloshin, Mr. Stavtsev believes, will probably start producing classic sparkling wines in small volumes, which can help shape the image of the line. The GCs Abrau-Durso, Kuban-Vino, Fanagoria, and Sparkling Wines (Lev Golitsyn brand) did not provide comments.

According to Rosalkogoltabakcontrol, in January-September 2023, the production of sparkling wines in the Russian Federation decreased by approximately 9%, to 8.5 million decaliters, while retail sales increased by 9.9%, to 12.21 million decaliters. As Mr. Grabar notes, the growth of sparkling wine production in Russia is mainly hampered by the lack of decent vineyards. The success of new projects largely depends on the raw materials and how the winemaker works with the grapes, he points out. Alexander Stavtsev attributes the growth in category sales to the fact that sparkling wines have ceased to be a seasonal New Year’s drink and have become in demand throughout the year.

Anatoly Kostyrev