Tavel turns to cocktails to attract younger drinkers

hat is Tavel? A food-friendly rosé? A lightly coloured red? “Boomers enjoy this terroir-driven wine, but for the younger generation, which is less knowledgeable about wine, its dark colour mostly points to a high-alcohol wine”, laments Vanessa Riou, head of communications for the Tavel and Lirac winery.

The co-operative therefore came up with the idea of focusing on cocktails to rejuvenate its image and attract Millennials to its two cellar door stores. “In the cocktail space, colour is not an issue, quite the contrary”, claims Riou.

On the advice of one of its employees, the winery contacted young Marseilles mixologist Elsa Leblanc. “She mixed Tavel with verjuice, tequila and agave syrup to add sweetness without the calories”. Staff at the winery liked it. “Elsa fully met our expectations by providing us with a cocktail that does not distort either the colour or the taste of Tavel”, says Riou. “We have called it Pink Valet”.

To introduce consumers to the new drink, the winery decided to host an afterwork event with a DJ, every first Thursday in the month through to August. “The first one took place on May 4. By reaching out via Facebook and Instagram, we attracted around one hundred people, a lot of them younger and female”.

The cocktail was a resounding success. “Just as we hoped, Pink Valet prompted people to want to come and discover Tavel and the rest of the range”, continues Riou. And winegrowers were delighted to see that many left the winery with wine.