The Loire Valley is short on “locomotives”, producers with an international reputation for quality. There are many, many top-quality small producers and also a few big houses and co-operatives, but none with a significant international reputation. Perhaps Ackerman is on the way to turning up the steam to pull Loire Valley wines forward.
Ackerman has refocussed and fine-tuned there strategy to aim full throttle for quality, with an added spice of estate wines and environmental attention. This was explained in detail at a recent Paris press conference.
Read more on this in Britt’s article on Forbes: The Ackerman Group Aims For Quality, From Muscadet To Sancerre, With New Strategy.
Here is the introduction:
Maison Ackerman is a famous producer of sparkling wine in the Loire Valley. The company is part of a bigger group that owns 1120 acres (453 hectares) throughout the Loire Valley, from Muscadet close to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, to Sancerre in the east. In addition, they buy grapes from 186 growers. In total the group disposes of 3660 acres (1480 hectares). This makes the Ackerman Group the largest wine producer in the Loire Valley. 61% of the wines are still wines. The company is the second largest rosé producer and the biggest exporter in the Loire.
Now the company wants to be not only the biggest but also the best. They have just presented their new corporate strategy that is focussed on profiling themselves as a high quality négociant. “There has been no négociant with a high quality profile in the Loire Valley. We will be the first, “said Bernard Jacob, CEO of the Ackerman group, when he recently presented the company’s new strategy in Paris.
Read all of Britt’s article on BKWine on Forbes.
Here you can listen to (almost) the entire press conference, in French:
Bernard Jacob CEO:
Estelle Guerin, Director of Marketing:
