Head of Törley: Wine was more crisis-resistant than champagne

English2020. júl. 27.Növekedés.hu

Sparkling wine is a seasonal product in Hungary. Many people only drink champagne twice a year: on their birthday and on New Year’s Eve. We would like to change this - György Kovács, managing director of Törley Pezsgőpincészet Kft. told növekedés.hu.

How did coronavirus affect your turnover?

After March 16 we experienced a severe drop in turnover, like almost every company. In that month, our sparkling wine sales fell by 50% and our wine sales were down 20%. Since then, the recovery process has begun. The situation has become better every month and the latest turnover data are now close to those of the same period last year. It is clearly visible that sparkling wine sales are catching up more slowly, which is also due to the fact that tourism and the restaurant business have not picked up yet.

Why has wine now proved to be more crisis-resistant?

No research has been carried out about this, so we do not know the exact answer. However, my theory is that during the pandemic many people were thinking that once they could no longer visit restaurants, they would at least want to have quality drinks at home. Therefore, customers bought more wine for home consumption than usual. I have to add that during the pandemic, wine in retail stores sold quite well, not only in our country but also throughout Europe.

Were there layoffs at Törley because of the current crisis?

There weren’t, because we expected from the beginning that the crisis would end sooner or later, and then we would need all members of the team. We have also taken a number of measures to preserve jobs.

Firstly, we asked our export partners to bring forward summer and autumn deliveries.

We received a positive response regarding this from several places, e.g. from England. Secondly, employees were reassigned wherever it was possible; in some cases we introduced 4 and 6 hour daily work schedules; we put employees on paid leave and we also took advantage of the government’s rescue package, which was a great help.

You want to reposition Törley sparkling wines. Why is this necessary?

Sparkling wine is a seasonal product in Hungary. There are many people who only drink champagne twice a year: on their birthday and on New Year’s Eve. We want to change that. Of course, this is a goal that takes years to achieve, as consumer habits cannot be changed overnight. In any case, we launched a billboard campaign for the Hungária brand in January, which was an unusual idea, as consumers mostly buy sparkling wine at the end of the year, in November and December.
One of our goals is to take advantage of the prevailing trends more consciously: in Hungary for example, in the sparkling wine market the demand for high-end products has visibly increased in recent years, and the popularity of dry champagne has also increased.

How successful was the Hungária campaign?

In terms of sales, we achieved a significant 71% increase over the previous year. We have plans for the summer as well, but now, due to the pandemic, we’re reducing the intensity of our marketing campaigns.

What are your main export markets?

Our most important export markets are Germany, Canada and the Scandinavian countries.
But we deliver to about 40 countries, including Africa and Japan, among others.

Where do you get your raw materials from?

We are proud of only using grapes grown in Hungary. We have our own vineyard on approximately a thousand hectares in Etyek. We also have a partner in Balatonboglár, from whom we buy grapes at a guaranteed price. Apart from this, we also buy must and bulk wine from domestic producers.