Wine and spirits sector grows despite high costs – 03/25/2023 – Mpme

The national wine and spirits market for small and medium-sized producers is experiencing an increase in both demand and supply and professionalization of the production chain, but manufacturers complain about costs and bureaucratic obstacles.

For Paulo Brammer, founding director of Enocultura, a wine and spirits school, the moment is encouraging for wines, despite the fact that the country does not have the ideal climate for growing wine grapes.

“We still reached a good production quality, with people labeling in an intelligent, modern, attractive way. We are talking about a production of three decades comparable to first world products”, he says.

Still according to Brammer, there is a trend towards the consolidation of authorial wines, with enologists seeking new flavor profiles focused on the grape, on acidity and on the characteristics of the soil in which the fruits are planted.

The movement includes names such as Projeto Cata Terroirs, from Santa Catarina, and Vinhas do Tempo e Arte Líquida, from Rio Grande do Sul, the state that concentrates the national production.

Luís Henrique Zanini, 52, is seen as an inspiration for these brands for promoting the rescue of ancestral techniques and for having a less interventionist view of the production process.

Winemaker and founder of Era dos Ventos, from Bento Gonçalves (RS), he sees a dynamic transformation in the market. The phenomenon is driven by a new public —with more information and also more demanding— and supported by a greater variety of points of sale.

On February 22, an operation by the Ministry of Labor and Employment, the Public Ministry of Labor and the Federal and Federal Highway Police rescued 207 Bahian workers hired by a third-party company, Fênix Prestação de Serviços, housed in a boarding house in Bento Gonçalves in a similar situation. to slavery, according to authorities.

The workers participated in the grape harvest for the production of three large gaucho wineries -Aurora, Garibaldi and Salton. Through notes, the companies apologized for what happened and promised to adapt their conduct in hiring outsourced employees.

The universe of distillates is also expanding. Arnaldo Ribeiro, 51, instructor and owner of Cana Brasil, which manufactures drinks for around 80 small brands in Itaverava, in the interior of Minas Gerais, sees today a sustained growth of gin after an acceleration that started three years ago.

Craft vodka, which lost space with the movement, is returning with flavored options, he says. And rum has also gained ground, especially among those who don’t drink cachaça. Brazilian micro-distillery whiskey, on the other hand, is still in its infancy because it requires high investment, especially due to the need for aging in oak barrels.

Cana Brasil also works as a school that trains specialists in different drinks. Cachaça continues as a favorite, and artisanal manufacturers have increased their share in relation to industrial ones, despite the stable demand.

“The segment of cachaça aged with Brazilian wood and sustainable chain is growing, where the producer plants the trees and makes exclusive blends. Many of our students are starting this without waiting for the government’s initiative”, says Ribeiro.

Despite these moves, industries are skeptical of the long-term potential of direct-to-consumer sales.

“What was useful during the pandemic is no longer useful now, this whole ecommerce purchase was a bit illusory because people were at home. Now we are looking for traditional channels and mixing them with digital ones”, says Zanini.

Renato Bittencourt, 44, founder and production supervisor of Cachaça Antonieta, from Florianópolis, one of the labels produced by Cana Brasil, had a similar experience.

The virtual sales volume after the top prize at the Brussels World Cup in 2019, one of the most important drinking competitions in the world, coincided with the start of the pandemic, but has since decreased. “A lot of people had never shopped online. [O faturamento nesse canal] it has decreased a lot since 2021, but it is still bigger than before.”

Another sensitive issue for the sector is taxation. “It’s a fight we have. The taxation corresponds to almost 53% of the value of the wine in direct and indirect taxes. This greatly affects competitiveness in relation to imported products”, says Zanini.

According to data from Ibravin (Brazilian Wine Institute), the rate varies between 15% and 25% among Mercosur countries and reaches around 15% in Europe. Not by chance, they are regions of producing nations that encourage or subsidize the sector. “If they lowered about 20%, it would be ideal for us”, he adds.

Ribeiro, from Cana Brasil, still celebrates the inclusion of micro distilleries in Simples Nacional five years ago, a movement that also included micro and small wineries and microbreweries. “Today our biggest bottleneck is the ICMS tax substitution, which varies a lot from state to state. There are places where it is impractical to sell.”

The legislation is one of the obstacles pointed out by Marina Santos, 41, winemaker and creator of Vinha Unna, a winery in Pinto Bandeira (RS), focused on the production of organic and biodynamic wines, the use of agroforestry associated with wine growing and the sustainability of the entire the production chain.

It fails to fit its production, of 6,000 bottles a year, into the Artisanal Wine Law, which provides tax benefits and state incentives.

“There is no equality or equity. I, with 6,000 bottles, need to respect the same laws as the companies that produce 6 million. Today we have our wines in restaurants like DOM and Picchi, in São Paulo, and Lasai and Grupo Irajá, in Rio de Janeiro. But it’s more for love than profit.”

Another obstacle, according to the producers, is the cost of transport, which has become higher.

Some initiatives seek to tackle this problem at the end. The Tao Longe Tao Perto, a project by sommelière Gabriela Monteleone and businessman Ariel Kogan, takes labels from artisanal winegrowers to restaurants in the Southeast and Northeast.

Special attention is paid to bottling, delivering the drink in stainless steel barrels equivalent to 25 bottles. The solution, which is lighter than the equivalent in glass, reduces the carbon footprint, eliminates an expensive input and reduces waste in serving the cup.

“What I do is a curatorship. Many times this producer is not able to sell because he does not have market penetration. Through the project’s wines, consumers get to know the producer’s other labels”, explains Gabriela.

Jaqueline Barsi, 36, sommelière and founder of Artse Vinhos, realized, after a season visiting wineries in Rio Grande do Sul, shortcomings when it came to communicating and selling production. A former Ambev employee, she used the drinks giant’s ten years of marketing experience to fill in the gaps.

The glass was exchanged for the can as a way to explore a new niche for small producers, attract new customers, especially women and young people, and make the experience more unpretentious, in line with wine bars and the idea of ​​a single dose of wine.

Logistics continues to be an issue, now assumed by her. “It is very expensive. About 14% of what I issue with the invoice is transportation. I offer free shipping for purchases of more than one hundred cans. Bank to promote more experimentation”, she says.

Ribeiro, from Cana Brasil, considers that the ideal is to have someone focused on production and another person totally dedicated to sales, as has worked at his company. In his view, distribution also benefits from this outsourcing of skills.

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Folha opens a channel to receive questions about entrepreneurship

Folha started to provide a channel to receive questions from readers about entrepreneurship. Messages should be sent to [email protected] or to this form.

The MSME section team, which produces reports on micro, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, will select some of them to be answered by specialists in the area.

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