Baron De Valls Re-Confirms Control of the
Nigerian Wine Market
By Ingram Osigwe
The progress of wine among beverages on the Nigerian
consumers’ list of staples can be compared to the gradual march of civilization
from echelon to echelon, through the various historical epochs. There is no
known documented history but the first European beverages to reach the Nigerian
coasts must have been the rums. Easily brewed and preserved, they were a
favourite of the Portuguese sailors and soon became a currency of exchange for
slaves, between the Portuguese and local chiefs. Also they became the first
European beverages to be brewed locally in the riverine communities of
Niger-delta area.
Although wines existed in Europe before beer, their expensive
nature even in Europe made them to be scarce
outside the Western countries. With the invention of pasteurization and canning
as a process of food preservation, beers and stouts, whose raw materials are
far cheaper and more easily procurable, became the next beverages to arrive in
commercial quantities into Nigeria.
With canning prolonging their shelf lives, they arrived first in cans and was
later brewed in Nigerian factories and sold in refillable bottles.
Real wines remained a sole preserve of the rich and mighty,
most of who are elites who bought them on shopping sprees abroad.
In the late 70s and early 80s, Ekulo International ltd, one
of the foremost pioneers of international trade and brand representation in the
Nigeria,
forayed into wine importation, first with brands such as Campari and Mateuse
Rose. The coincidence of this move with the arrival of newly discovered oil
wealth at the same time, created a cataclysmic success out of the venture for
the visionary company. A fast expanding middle class of young graduate workers,
serving in new organizations in an explosively growing economy fuelled by the
newly discovered oil wealth, arrived in the Nigerian demography. With new
salaries and high living standards, they latched onto the newly arrived wines,
thus becoming the first crop of connoisseurs to acquire a taste for wine in the
country.
Spurred by the success of this experience, Ekulo International ltd, was encouraged to
sign a sole distributorship contract with Bodegas Gandia wine fields in Spain. The
result was the arrival of Baron De Valls wines on the Nigerian consumers’
table.
Baron De Valls became an instant success. Made from the best
wine grapes from Valencia, Spain’s foremost wine making region where the
Bodegas Gandia family reigned supreme as wine makers, Baron De Valls’ sterling
qualities immediately crowned it as the king of the wines in Nigeria. So
great was the demand that the Gandia family’s annual production had to be
increased to meet Nigeria’s
demands. From Weddings, traditional and contemporary, to naming ceremonies,
house warming parties, promotion parties, annual general meetings and
birthdays, to weekend parties, no event was complete without Baron De Valls. So
strong was the brand’s influence that for many Nigerians, Baron De Valls became
the only known appellation for wines, as no local school had any reason to
explain the origins and name of beverages made from grapes!
Baron de Valls are a range of excellent
wines, made with a selection of the best grapes, and comes in various flavours
like Cherry, ripe fruit, creamy oak, minerals and a sweet finish. Baron De
Valls have great taste which makes it very outstanding. They also have
sufficient percentage of alcohol which makes them ideal for any party or get
together. Baron de Valls wine recently thrilled her teeming admirers with more
wine varieties by the debut of Baron De Valls Cabernet Sauvignon, Baron De
Valls Cava Brut and Brut Rose.
The great success of Baron De Valls
however of recent, led to the odious cropping up of other wines who try to ride
on a platform sacrificially built by Ekulo International ltd, to reap
consumers’ patronage where they did not sow.
So many other counterfeit drinks now arrive the Nigerian market, with
their names bearing the prefix of “Baron De…..” with all kinds of suffixes. The
aim is to deceive uninformed Nigerians into thinking that they are all like Baron
De Valls. However, in a recent media parley, the marketing Manager of Ekulo
Group of companies, Mr. Emeka Oramadike assured Nigerians that the company had
taken visionary steps to forestall any moves to deceive Nigerians into buying
other wines in the name of Baron De Valls. He said that thus the company found
it necessary to come out and say to the Nigerian Media and Public: “IF IT IS
NOT BARON DE VALLS, IT CANNOT BE LIKE BARON DE VALLS” He urged millions of
their loyal Baron De Valls Consumers not to be deceived by look alikes, but to
stay comfortably and immovably with their beloved Baron De Valls because the
quality and price will not change and henceforth, it will be available even
closer to them than before.
Among Strategies listed by the company for
re-strengthening the brand are massive seasonal bonuses for the Christmas yuletide
as well as reduced prices, greater availability and more credit lines to new and
old distributors, to ensure a wider reach of the wine to loyal consumers.
According to him, these moves are born out of the knowledge of the company that
if the real Baron De valls wine is available, the chances of the loyal
consumers being deceived by counterfeit substitutes will be completely
eliminated.
Also speaking at the parley, The Head,
Sales and marketing for Ekulo group of companies Mr. Pawan Moudgil, while
supporting his colleague, urged Nigerians not to be swayed or stampeded into
abandoning their loyalties for Baron De Valls. He reassured them that Baron De
Valls was produced in Valencia,
the highest and most traditionally revered wine-making region in Spain by the
Vincente Bodegas Gandia wine making family. He said that the company is over one
hundred and twenty five years old and has retained an untainted culture of
making quality wines fit for royalties. He said that today, the company has
presence in over 85 countries world wide, combining tradition with innovation
and quality to create wines of value at affordable prices, thus becoming
undisputedly one of the most professional wine making outfits in Spain today.
He says: “to sell millions of bottles year after year in such difficult and
demanding markets as the UK,
the wines must be free of any weaknesses and to achieve this, consistency in
the best managerial practices is needed and this is what Bodegas Gandia does.”
Mr. Pawan said that at Bodegas Gandia, there is one single policy: all wines
must be “Not Just Good but Great”
Epidemiological studies have consistently
demonstrated that moderate consumption of red wine such as Baron De Valls, wine
is statistically associated with a decrease in cardiovascular illness such as
heart failure. Moderate wine drinkers have a lower risk of heart problems than
non-drinkers. Studies have also shown that there are greater benefits for red
wine than white wine. Red wines like baron De valls contain a lot of
polyphenols which are particularly protective against cardiovascular diseases. They
also contain a substance known as resveratrol, produced in the skins of grape.
Resveratrol is proven to have cardio-protective and chemo-protective effects
and have wide influence on genetic factors related to aging, thus reducing the
negative effects of aging. White wine has little resveratrol due to the
manufacturing process which engenders limited contact with the grape skins.
Other beneficial compounds in red wine also include anti-oxidants and
flavonoids.
To benefit fully from the resveratrol in
wine, it is recommended to sip slowly when drinking. Due to inactivation in the
gut and liver, most of the resveratrol consumed while drinking red wine does
not reach blood circulation. However when sipping slowly, absorption via the
mucus membranes in the mouth can result in up to 100 percent increment in blood
levels of resveratrol.
According to Oramadike the loyal consumers
o Baron De Valls will be assured of longer life and freedom from cardiovascular
ailments this season as their favourite and top quality Baron De valls will be
more available than ever and at a more affordable price. He says as far as the
wine market in Nigeria
is concerned, there are two brands: Baron De Valls and others. He reiterated
that major concern of the company is to protect its loyal consumers, not struggling
for market share as the market already belongs to Baron De Valls.
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