In Spain, the country which is the world’s third-largest wine producer, demand is rising as holiday consumption increases. However, there is a problem.

Producers say they do not have the materials they need to dress, assemble and package wines for delivery to customers. In Jamaica, companies that supply international wines say the problem is pervasive.

Tom Tyler, the executive co-chairman and co-founder of Caribbean Producers Jamaica (CPJ), a distribution company, said, California, for instance, is a bottleneck for wine supply as many shipments received via Asia are yet to enter the distribution network. Giving an overview of supply pains wine importers are experiencing to the Jamaica Observer, he said, “In California they are receiving lots of containers from Asia [but logistics and transport challenges] have resulted in a major bottleneck.”

Similarly, he said, there is a bottleneck in the Mediterranean.

“Wines coming out of Italy and Spain have had lots of delays and heavy price increases,” he said. “Not only have they been short on bottles, boxes and labels, but the lack of containers to ship out of the Mediterranean has made it very difficult as well. Also, we have seen a 300 per cent increase in freight costs.”

CPJ imports from 35 countries including Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and Chile, and placed its orders six months ago to prepare for the Christmas season. But even with doing that, he said, “We have had delays on shipments and increased lead time and supplier production problems from around the world. But I do believe that we are ahead of the curve to be able to supply for the holiday season.”

David McConnell, CEO of wine and spirits importer and distributor Select Brands Jamaica Limited, told the Caribbean Business Report, “There are significant logistical challenges facing wines and spirits globally. In Jamaica, it is caused by supply disruptions but also due to the significant increases in cost of freight and reduced availability of shipping options.”

The main impact of this has been on the price of imports. However, McConnell said, “We have taken the view that these increases in cost will be short term… so we will be holding our prices until next year and will review them.”

Select Brands cites Sperone and Lamont Parrot as the wine brands which are most in demand in Jamaica.

McConnell is advising consumers to add to their wine stock early. “We are anticipating strong consumption this Christmas as people get together to celebrate, so our best advice is that if there is something very specific that you would like, then buy early!”

In the last decade and a half, Jamaicans have had an increasing opportunity to indulge their taste for wine. CPJ’s Tom Tyler stated that this is due mainly to his company’s market-making achievements. He outlined that before a local lobby which persuaded the Government to reduce the taxes on imported wines, Jamaicans were mainly drinking a local wine made with muste, frozen grapes which were once widely used for the manufacture of wine.

Tyler shared that at the time of the company’s entry into the wine market in 1997, tax charges on wine were “150 per cent on wine compounded. Wine was being reconstituted from muste from Wray & Nephew.”

He outlined, “Mark Hart and myself took it upon ourselves to lobby the Government for reduction of duty on wines. We had a KPMG report written showing Jamaican duties against eight other Caribbean islands. We presented this document to the Ministry of Finance. Later in our lobbying we teamed up with JHTA (Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association) and went back to the Government showing how Jamaica as a destination was not able to provide the tourist sector imported wine at a reasonable price.”

Tyler said, “It took us almost five years before the duties were changed. I can remember at a meeting at the Ministry of Finance with Omar Davies where Mark stood up and said that, if the duties were reduced and the Government lost money, he would give up everything he owned to the Government.”

“Later we were called into a meeting with Wray & Nephew and Red Stripe and finally came to terms with the new tax structure which was 30 per cent. This fixed back-end tax created the opportunity not only for the tourist industry to serve better wines, but also the local Jamaican market could also enjoy sharing and tasting different wines from around the world.

“After looking back at the last 20 years, we at CPJ are very proud to have been a part of creating a real wine culture in Jamaica and look forward to expanding on this in the years to come.”

The company now supplies wines to the tourism industry and to distributors or the retail trade, ensuring that both visitors and locals alike can have their pick of choice labels.

Tyler said, “CPJ boasts some of the most sought-after Champagne brands globally, which include Taittinger, Bollinger, Laurent Perrier, Nicolas Feuillatte and the fastest-growing French premium sparkling brand, Luc Belaire.”

CPJ’s main wine importing regions are Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain, Chile, Argentina and the USA. Locally, the wines which are top retail performers are Yellow Tail (number one among local wine lovers) retail Chilean wines from Concha y Toro, Frontera, Casillero; Argentine wines from Penaflor, Yamana, Intis, Trapiche, and Las Moras; and Spanish wines from Felix Solis and Contenda.

Meanwhile, top-selling Californian brands include Josh — the fastest-growing mid-tier wine brand in the US, Kendall Jackson, CK Mondavi, and Wente.

The top-selling Italian brands are Antinori, Banfi and Mionetto. Top-selling French brands are Hobnob, Minuty and Louis Latour.

In the category of non-alcoholic wines, Jamaicans love Bel Normande, Keror and Rendezvous.

The CPJ head said that local wine lovers may also want to try new additions which are AIX, a popular French Rose, TOSO & Graffiti, described as cost-effective sweet sparkling and still wines introduced to retail.

Tyler said that CPJ supplies over 50 per cent of the wine market in Jamaica for on- and off-premise accounts.