Consumers aren't bothered to buy organic or Fairtrade wine

The vast majority of UK consumers aren’t bothered about whether their wine is organic or Fairtrade, according to new market research. While awareness of organic and Fairtrade wine was shown to be relatively high – at over 60 per cent, the research by Wine Intelligence found that this doesn’t translate directly into purchase as it does with organic and Fairtrade food. In fact, only around 10 per cent claimed to have bought organic or Fairtrade wine in the past three months.

The main reason for not buying organic wine seems to be its limited availability - perceived or otherwise. Of those who bought organic food, 41 per cent of men and 26 per cent of women said that they never see organic wines where they shop. Other reasons for not buying included cost, with 20 per cent saying organic wines seem more expensive. However, the same percentage of wine drinkers said they would be willing to pay up to 50p more for a Fairtrade wine.

Health and environmental concerns come top of the list of consumers’ motivations for buying organic, but consumers not only struggle to remember the name of what they bought before, but 13 per cent of men and 4 per cent of women actually think all wine is organic anyway.

But, then, consumers are even more baffled about biodynamic wine. A measly three per cent were aware of its existence at all and perhaps one survey participant’s response sums it up when he said, ‘Biodynamic wine - I don’t even know what that means.’