This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
This new product does not seem to enjoy the success that was promised. Is it the fault of its name, which makes one think of bad wine? Or the can in which it is distributed, sometimes associated with low-end products? The answer is simpler: consumers simply do not know what it is. So let’s demystify this product which nevertheless has everything going for it.
Historically served to workers during the grape harvest in France, piquette has very modern qualities: low alcohol, artisanal, ecological, inexpensive… This drink, produced by adding water to the grape marc, which generates a new fermentation, allows the winemaker to give a “second life” to his fruits after pressing them. The result is a drink with a low alcohol content (often around 5%) and very thirst-quenching.
In recent years, piquette has taken off in the United States, and the movement has spread, particularly in natural wine circles. In Quebec, the artisanal winemaker’s permit only allows wine to be produced, so it was not until 2021 that it was extended to “alcoholic beverages made from grapes or wine.” This is how the first piquettes from here appeared, such as those from the En roue libre, Château de cartes, Clos des cigales and Pastoral estates.
Some winemakers add other fruits or herbs to the drink, such as Lieux communs, whose Piquette Pale mixes Frontenac grapes and holy basil syrup. “Guillaume Laliberté [un des producteurs] sees piquette as a canvas that allows him to be creative by adding other ingredients, says Anna Demay, sales director at Oenopole, the agency that represents Lieux communs. Piquette is interesting environmentally, but also intellectually.” This is also what Matthieu Beauchemin, of Domaine du Nival, appreciates with his Eau-de-vin: if the wine makes him work with very classic products with which he allows himself less things, he considers piquette as “a playground to have fun.”
Compete with big brands
This drink, which is lighter than wine, both in terms of alcohol and aroma, is a good fit for the current demand for summer ready-to-drinks. “In this category, the SAQ mainly offered industrial products with a lot of sugar,” notes Anna Demay. “Lieux communs saw an opportunity to offer ready-to-drinks made with local ingredients. Now there are artisanal and higher-quality ready-to-drinks, and we find that really exciting!” A new offering that also attracts wine consumers, who usually look for specialty products made with respect in the vineyard and in the cellar.
According to Oenopole, the response to its piquette is good “for a first summer of distribution.” The sales director emphasizes, however, that it needs time, because it is a beginning and a fairly new product in Quebec. “Especially since the ready-to-drink offering is huge, with products often from big brands and that have large promotional budgets,” adds Anna Demay. “It’s harder to stand out in stores with an artisanal product…” At Domaine du Nival, which says it produces 8,000 cans annually, “it’s not crazy, but it sells well.” Piquette has not yet entered mass distribution and remains a marginal product, the winemaker qualifies.
For him, the can is the most appropriate container for piquette, because it lends itself well to consumption on the go, at the beach or in the park. “It’s more pleasant to consume in large gulps, directly from the can, as you would with a beer,” he explains. “It’s also less engaging than opening a bottle, especially in a discovery context.” He notes that with piquette distributed in a bottle, people will tend to swirl it around in their glass and compare it to a wine. For Anna Demay, the can therefore does not harm piquette – “it’s a product that is simple, so it’s okay to adapt the container.” As for the name, while there can sometimes be a semantic shift, with some people wrongly associating it with bad wine, she does not think it is a brake on sales.
An agricultural product
The real problem is the definition of the product, people simply don’t know what they’re dealing with – wine, cider, cocktail? In an inflationary environment, consumers are more cautious and are less likely to go for an unfamiliar product, turning instead to their usual brands. The confusion may come from the swill coming from abroad, particularly from the United States, which often contains more aromatics, and sometimes no alcohol or grapes at all.
“In Quebec, we are pretty much all on the same type of product and philosophy. There is always a strong grape base, because of the provincial law: the alcohol must come mainly from grapes, and the product must not contain more than 20% of aromatics, explains Matthieu Beauchemin. There is a certain framework that means that we remain in a grape-based drink, we are less in the anything goes. It is more interesting to have legislation like that, so that in the long term the product remains agricultural.”
Last year, the estate put mixed cases of wine, cider and piquette on sale to encourage people to try the product. “A lot of people don’t know what it is yet, or don’t even know it exists. Beyond the name, there’s still a lot of work to be done to get people to taste it.” While piquette is mostly a related product that allows them to earn additional income from the same harvest, it also shows that Quebec estates can reach even more diverse consumer profiles. In the meantime, the process is still banned in French vineyards.
This content was produced by the Special Publications Team of Dutyrelevant to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part in it.