New wine brand Chamarré set to break the duty-free mould
By Joe Bates
10/15/2006

The Other Wine & Spirits Co (OWS), the US arm of French start-up wine cooperative OVS, has launched a new wine brand, which it hopes will raise the profile of French wine in duty-free.

Miami-based OWS is convinced that, to succeed in duty-free, French wines need to be based on grape varietals like most New World wines rather than clinging to the traditional French concept of ‘terroir’ – the idea that a wine’s taste is linked to where it is produced.

The new Chamarré range comprises three Grande Réserve wines, a chardonnay, a pinot noir and a cabernet sauvignon, which are all priced in duty-free at about $14.99. The wines feature the brand’s trademark butterfly logo, which the company says has a high recognition rate among female consumers.

OWS president and CEO Hubert Surville told DFNI the Chamarré brand had alarmed some French wine purists with its commercial approach. “But what is wrong with giving modern consumers what they want—consistently good, simple, well-balanced wines that are easy to understand and offer good value?” he said. The company is producing an exclusive twin pack for duty-free priced at $20-24, which according to Surville would offer travelers a 20-30% saving on US domestic prices and meet duty-free operators’ margin requirements.

“Duty-free operators like exclusivity so we are also developing a range of organic Chamarré wines especially for this channel,” added Surville.

OWS aims to reach case sales of 1m in the US market by 2009 and is looking for specialist duty-free distributors for key markets/regions worldwide.

OWS parent company OVS is a government-backed cooperative, representing 15,000 growers based at over 50 locations countrywide. It accounts for 9% of total French wine production.