6 Is the market reaching saturation point?

The Singapore scene is just starting, lagging behind other wine-centric Asian countries like Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong. With an estimated 10 or so distributors and only a handful of dedicated bars locally, there seems to be room for growth despite some estimations that natural wines make up just 2 percent of the market globally.

Peace of Vino, which operates under Straits Wines (straitswine.com), counts its natural wine selection at perhaps 10 percent of the range, with organic and biodynamic options still leading the segment. Lamba sees that there’s ample room for growth, especially with high-end, influential restaurants making it trendy to have a natural wine column on their list.

Dellarosa, who started in November 2017 (dellarosawine.com), is steadily increasing his portfolio of French and Czech wines, buoyed by the favourable local reception. He elaborates,

“In light of the healthier characteristics of our wines, we have a following of professional women in the range of 25-50 years old. Their interest generally starts from their health consciousness and increases to other aspects.”

Yeomans has this to say, “I think Singapore is still in the early stages and there is always room for growth – baby steps are important so as to not saturate the market. Natural wines are made in small quantities, very dependent on weather and need to be handled with a lot of care. I feel they need to be handled by the right people who understand where they are coming from and have that connection with winemakers to keep these wines approchable and understood. I would hope people aren’t just trying to make a quick buck off a trend. But I always say the more the merrier, as long as the passion and understanding for these amazing wines is there.”