WikiWinery

Wine has become essential in fine dining

早陣子跟從事紅酒買賣的朋友喝酒聊天 (試酒報告容後張貼)，談到香港的紅酒零售市場，其實香港的市場已近乎飽和了，連超市貨架上都有數十或上百款不同價格的紅酒，紅酒商要「發圍」就要另謀出路。

其中一個較新的做法是這樣的，酒商會跟餐廳接洽，「買起」對方的 Wine Menu，例如餐廳的 Wine Menu 上有 1 至 10 號酒，酒商就跟餐廳談好，「以後一年內 Menu 要不變，1 至 5 號都要由我供貨」，條件是酒商會給餐廳一筆錢，名為資助推廣紅酒的費用。

這樣餐廳就等於可以免費的入貨來賣，當然酒商給的錢用完以後餐廳還要繼續賣的話就得真金白銀付錢了。你可能會問，那餐廳拿了錢不推廣他的酒怎辦? 如果餐廳不賣 1 至 5 號酒，就等於 Wine Menu 只剩 6 至 10 號 (協議說明 Wine Menu 在一定時間內不能更改)，這對餐廳生意也會有負面影響，所以這協議某程度上是可以制衡雙方的。

另外，若餐廳在指定時間內購入一定數量的酒，酒商會提供回贈，跟一般零售商跟供貨的協議非常相似。

Recently I had a dinner meeting with one of my friends selling wine (excuse me, tasting report will be uploaded soon). He pointed out that the wine market in Hong Kong is actually saturated. Even supermarkets have dozens or hundreds of different wines on their shelves. Wine traders hence have to find a new way to beat their competitors.

One of the new playing rule is like this, wine trader "buys" the wine menu of a restaurant. For example, there are wine no.1 to no. 10 on that menu. They would say "your menu can't be changed in the coming year, and we will be the exclusive supplier of no. 1 to 5". In return, wine trader would "sponsor" the restaurant to promote their wines.

In this case restaurant can get free wines, as long as the sponsorship is not used up. So what if the restaurant take the trader's money but does not promote his wines? Then the restaurant will lost its wines no. 1 to 5 (remember the menu can't be changed for a period of time). This would harm its business. So this kind of agreement can balance interest of both sides to some extent.

Restaurant may also receive some rebate if they buy a certain quantity of wine in a given period. Retailers in other industries make similar agreements with their suppliers.