After more than 50 years of steady growth, Danish wine consumption has remained stable since the turn of the century, with only some minor fluctuations. But the trendiness of wine is far from faded, and is a significant weapon in the war between retailers. The three big multiples have an estimated 83% of sales between them, leaving just a mere 17% to HoReCa and the independent retailers. Yet despite the strong position of the multiples, the wine market is probably one of the most diversified in the world, due to the fact that Denmark holds the record for having the highest number of wine importers per head in the world. When it comes to preferred countries, Italy is number one with a market share of 21.5%, followed by Chile (13.3%), Spain (12.7%), France (12.7%) South Africa (11.7%) and Australia (6.8%).
One emperor, several kings
Coop is Denmark’s biggest multiple, with a market share of 48% to 50%, according to category group manager Brian Karstens. Since he took the reins in April 2012, his small team of 10 has increased their market share by almost 10%. What they buy, bottle and brand are sold in the retail chains Kvickly (79 shops), SuperBrugsen (231 shops), Dagli’Brugsen (359 shops), Irma (80 shops) and Fakta (446 shops). Italy, Australia and Chile in the price level 45DKK to 60DKK ($6.80-$9.10) are the most popular, with considerable growth seen in the white, rosé and sparkling categories in the past few years.
Purchasing is done from the office outside Copenhagen. “People come to us,” as Karstens says. “That’s one of the advantages of being so big.”
The wine division of the second-biggest multiple, Dansk Supermarked, is run by Henrik Dahlgaard. He and his three-man buying team – Karsten Jensen, Daniel Skov Daugaard and Niels Hvas – are responsible for the wines sold in the three chains: Netto (462 shops), Føtex (95 shops) and Bilka (18 warehouses).
The third big multiple is Dagrofa led by Mogens Alexander Krasilnikoff and his category purchaser Dan Christiansen. They sell their chosen wines in five chains: Meny (119 shops), Spar (125 shops), Min Købmand (205 shops), Let-Køb (100 shops) and Kiwi (94 shops).
The distributors
One very significant importer and distributor is AMKA, which does business not only with all the three of the big multiples, but also with wine shops, B2B, HoReCa, duty free and travel retail. Here the key name is purchaser Peter Gade.
Taster Wine A/S has a similar profile, with a nationwide distribution to chain stores, supermarkets, grocers, discount chains, specialist shops and duty-free/travel retail. The wine buyer is Bo Halstrøm.
Of the 182m L of wine imported into Denmark in 2014, 43% was bulk and 20% of the total was re-exported. Part of the explanation is that in 2007, Henning Skov Andersen and his Globus Wine opened state-of-the art filling facilities outside Copenhagen. Huge quantities of BiB and bottles pass their lines before being delivered to large distributors throughout Scandinavia.
Most significant independent
Skjold Burne is the oldest chain of specialist wine shops in Denmark. Their 52 shops are owned and supplied by Taster Wine A/S. Vinspecialisten, operated by H.J. Hansen, is another nationwide chain of 53 specialist stores. Østjysk Vinforsyning owns the third-biggest chain, Vinoble, which has 30 specialist stores.
Among the other significant independent players you’ll find Sigurd Müller Vinhandel, Kjær & Sommerfeldt, Løgismose Vin, Otto Suenson and Vinens Verden. Generally the Danish specialist dealers are doing well, with some of them even expanding. This explains why the big multiples have begun copying the specialist dealers’ distinctive features by upgrading their services and promoting premium wines like Barolo and St. Emilion.
Online retailer
It’s widely recognised that Christian Philipson is the most successful online retailer in Denmark. He was the CEO of a steel factory in Burgundy when, in 1987, he began importing some of his favourite wines, which he sold from his grandparents’ garage. An entrepreneur par excellence, he was appointed ‘Gazelle of the Year’ six years running by the financial newspaper Børsen; in 2007, his company was ranked the ninth biggest wine company in Denmark. In 1992 he introduced the ‘cash and carry’ concept of selling only 12-bottle cases. For a period he was on the list of the 50 biggest advertisers in Denmark. Quite unheard of for a Danish wine company.
During the 1990s, Denmark’s wine trade was struggling to adapt to the rise of the supermarkets. Into this milieu came Christian Philipson, a youngster for whom rules didn’t exist, who was thrilled to sell wine at reasonable prices and earn a good return from the strength of his buying skills. He bought big quantities of classified Bordeaux at very low prices from the Norwegian and Swedish monopoles, who had more stock than they could sell, and became famous nationwide in 1993 when he sold Château Latour 1987 for a mere 199DKK ($30.00). This created an uproar in the established wine trade, because his actions threatened not just pricing, but many years of fat profits. But he just carried on. During the 2009 Christmas period, he drove his wife crazy working on a deal with the Sogevinus Group, that eventually saw him take possession of more than 700,000 bottles of Burmester Port, most of which was old Colheita. “Rather wine in stock than money in the bank,” was his logic.
Since 2000, Guigal has been one of his ‘race horses’, a relationship that developed further when a Côtes du Rhône 2000 Cuvée Philipson, tailor-made by Christian Philipson in collaboration with Marcel Guigal, was launched. It was a success and the concept has been repeated with other producers like Catena, Viu Manent, Boekenhoutskloof, Bodega Del Fin Mundo and Telmo Rodríguez.
Italian wine is currently the most sought after in Denmark, particularly Brunello and Barolo at the high end. Here again, Philipson managed to buy big volumes at the right time and for a discounted price, from well-known estates. He also sells single-vineyard wines bottled for him by a cooperative. “Brunello discount, you might say, but you need to have the customer return, so it has to be a good bargain,” he says.
Sommeliers
Christian Aarø Mortensen is the president of the Danish Sommelier Society, as well as being the owner of two of Copenhagen’s best-known restaurants: the two-star AOC and No.2, an informal version of AOC. He has been in the trade since 1989 and is a three-time Danish Champion and one-time Nordic Champion.
Just as gastronomy has reached new heights with the new Nordic Cuisine, so has the skill and education of sommeliers. Here, influential sommelier Jesper Boelskifte has also played a key role, not least in the education of the new generation. One Danish journalist has even characterised his influence as the ‘Boelskifte school’. Boelskifte was president of The Danish Sommelier Society for 11 years, while also developing a restaurant empire, Le Sommelier which he founded with co-owners in 1989.
Significant among the younger generation of sommeliers are Christian Thorsholt Jacobsen, Rune Sauer Sonnichsen and Dan Rauhe Christensen, co-owners of the bisto-restaurants Anarki and Mêlée.
Geranium, Copenhagen’s first three-star Michelin restaurant, features the services of co-owner Søren Ledet, renowned for serving organic extravagances. These ‘wild wines’ have now been supplemented by a classic selection, including Pétrus 1947.
PR Agencies
Many do public relations, but only a few have a thorough knowledge of the Danish wine scene and its mechanisms. As Ruth Tilgaard, who’s been in the trade since 1979, puts it: “The structure of the Danish market is difficult to grasp and get an overview of, because there are so many small and specialised importers.” Tilgaard has done PR for Wines of California for almost 30 years, from her office in the old historic ‘House of Wine’ (Vinens Hus) in the centre of Copenhagen. Today her client list includes Washington State Wine Commission and International Wine Traders in Italy.
Experienced and professional wine PR is also executed by the bigger – and now independent – Sopexa Denmark, with clients like: Wines of Chile, Ribera del Duero, Piemonte, APCOR, Alsace (CIVA), Inter Rhône, Médoc (Conseil des Vins du Médoc), ANIVIN Vins de France and CentreEco. Peter Esper Larsen is head of marketing.
Communication
Denmark is a small country, whose population was 5.7m in January 2016, so the wine communicators who have an impact are not difficult to identify – in fact, they number less than two dozen. Some of them overlap, being active in several media while also involved in education for both private consumers and the trade. The newspapers are still important, mostly for their weekly ratings of wines of all categories, available from the big multiples and the independent retailers alike. Good ratings in these columns are used by the trade for promotion in ads and newsletters. Below is a list of the most important newspapers, magazines and digital publications, with the names of the contributors:
Newspapers
Berlingske Tidende: Søren Frank
Jyllands-Posten: Niels Lillelund
Politiken: Thomas Ilkjær, Henrik Steen Andersen
Børsen: Ole Troelsøe
Fyens Stiftstidende: Morten Vilsbæk, Kenneth Klingenberg
BT: Tim Vollerslev
Magazines
Gastro: Jesper Uhrup, René Langdahl Jørgensen
Smag & Behag: Niels Ehler
Penge & Privatøkonomi: Andre Devald
DinVinGuide: Thomas Rydberg
Sommelier: Rasmus Amdi Larsen
Websites
www.vinavisen.dk: Mariette Tiedemann, Anker Tiedemann, Jørgen Aldrich
www.ekstrabladet.dk/vin: Thomas Rydberg
www.winelab.dk: Mads Jordansen
www.vinbladet.dk: Peter Winding, Erik Skovenborg, Niels Ehler, Jørgen Aldrich
Most influential person
When asked who is the most influential person in the Danish wine trade, Morten Berg-Stærk from AMKA promptly answered: “The government.” Which is not surprising, given that the trade has had to cope with a taxation increase of 84% since 2012. “That aside,” he continued, “the nominee must be Brian Karstens from COOP, given the market share he has.” Asked the same question, Ib Bergkjær from Sigurd Müller Vinhandel, himself an influential person, said everybody was important, for being part “of a stimulating eco-system”.
Figures are sourced from: Dansk Erhverv and VSOD based on the latest available 2014 numbers from Danmarks Statistik.
