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Ideas behind the bottle ? |
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1. Strategy
2. Business
3. Market
4.
Target groups
5. Wine
Style
6. Image
7.
Competency
8. Vineyard
9. Varieties
10. Cultivation
11. Wine making
12. Technology
13. Quality |
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1.
Strategy |
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Villa Sandahl is a new player in a traditional wine
region, dating from thousands of years back in time. Needless to say, it
is utterly important to refine the specific terroir opportunities and
all accumulated values from the past, but it is equally important to
bring in new approaches where significant progress have been made since
the old times.
The behaviour among wine consuming
people is under constant evolution and has changed drastically in the
latest decades. It is necessary to keep up with offering a product that is recognised
for being modern and competitive.
To keep energized and passionate in the long run, it
is also vital that the owners of Villa Sandahl
love their wines and adores to taste them.
Villa Sandahl is resolutely and dedicatedly taking
on the competition in the top quality segment of dry white wine, and
have already achieved to be "Hungary's best dry Rhine Riesling wine”.
Next improvement step is to push the quality level up to produce "one of
the worlds best Riesling wines". |
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2. Business |
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It is a fact
in most parts of the world, that cheap and low quality wines have lesser
and lesser demand. Wine is more and more seen to fill a life style and
being a
source of adventures, instead of a cheap way of getting drunk.
Consequently low quality wines are exposed for a hard price press and
risk to get unprofitable to produce.
On the other hand and quite
contrary, high quality wine have a lot better profit margin. This fact has a lot of
reasons, and amongst other can be mentioned the scarceness of ultimate vineyards, the
difficulties to find necessary competency, and the timeless problem
to get quality into all parts of the wine operation.
High
quality wines have good margins but will always be a very limited volume
market. The preferred business situation for Villa Sandahl is to produce
relatively small amounts of very high quality wines.
The Villa Sandahl company group is
a solely family owned operation, and the structure being
established for wine production and sale, consists of one Hungarian company, called Villa Sandahl Kft to
cultivate vineyards, and a Swedish
company called Sandahl International AB, to own the Hungarian company and marketing the wine in the wide world. |
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3. Market |
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Villa Sandahl has some barriers
when entering the market
On the other hand, Villa Sandahl
has a couple of strengths:
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The wines are big value for
the money (The quality is far higher then the price asked for)
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A unique and remarkable
history of success, crowned by medals from Riesling du Monde and
Decanter.
To use the strengths and overcome
the barriers, it is important to find the right target groups and the
best market channels to reach them. The following targets are
identified, based on business and vision:
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Price-insensitive persons
seeking the best
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Wine loving people seeking
something extra
Price-insensitive persons can be
reach in a number of ways, for example at fashionable restaurants,
quality retailers or internet shops addressed by selective
advertisement. Top restaurants are also good, since Villa Sandahl wines go
very well with food.
Wine loving "ordinary" people are
more
sensitive for the price. But if the quality and image is obviously high
but reasonable priced, these
people are prepared to pay more then they use to do. Dedicated quality retailers
or selected internet shops are good channels.
Because Villa Sandahl is unknown
and Hungary is mostly known for cheap box wines, the above two targets need
selling personal assistance, who likes the Villa Sandahl
success and want to sell Villa Sandahl wines to them. This assistance can be specialized retailers, skilled sommeliers or newsletters in a mail box.
To offer the wine via internet
shops and ship directly to private persons also eliminate all
middlemen between the producer and consumer. This is currently
made in Sweden with very good result.
Supermarkets chains and general
grocery shops are hardly good channels for selling Villa Sandahl wines.
Such stores sell big volumes of cheap wine, without offering any kind of sale assistance. The Swedish
monopoly Systembolaget is also in this category.
These two Villa Sandahl targets are not very big
on the wine market, implying that only small volumes can
be sold at each time. Even with Villa Sandahl's modest volume production (couple of ten thousands bottles),
there are not an enough big market for this price segment within Sweden, or
even not within Scandinavia. Many countries in Europe must be targeted,
or considering to export some parts to America or Asia.
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4. Target groups |
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Based
on targets and channels in previous discussion, the following targets
groups can be identified:
1) Villa Sandahl first mission is
to satisfy vine loving "ordinary people", looking for
such wines that offer them something extra. That might be their unique
and successful history, the rich wine type, the value for money or the trend for Riesling.
The wines are intended to be enjoyed with
home cocking, or being an adventure in itself.
2) Wine quality is not very
transparent and easy analysed by people in general, resulting in a
shortage of reliable advices and guidance. This is provided by wine critics,
writing in newspapers or judging on wine competitions, who thereby get very influential,
thus becoming the second important target for Villa Sandahl.
3) Sommeliers at restaurants are the third target for
Villa Sandahl. Their preferences are between the experienced ordinary
consumers and wine critics. Since sommeliers are working close to their customers, their attitudes are
somewhere between ordinary
people and wine critics.
4) An implicit target group is the owners of Villa
Sandahl themselves. To produce a quality wine is impossible if the
owners are not passionate for the quality of their products.
Different target group has different preferences,
like: |
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Wine critics:
They are a bit "classic" conservative with
correct rules like:
"Wine to food must be dry"
"Noticeable sugar is undesired"
"Acidity must be noticeable"
"Wines must be region typical" |
Wine loving people:
They are easier to flatter, and skip correctness
and might say like:
"Pour any good wine
available"
"Some sweet body is preferred"
"Acidity may not be disturbing"
"Typicality not a big matter"
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5. Wine style |
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Villa
Sandahl
always have to consider making different types of wine
for their different target groups, or try to make compromises that both these target
groups are ready to
accept.
Most wine loving "ordinary people"
prefer a boost of the body with some sugar (5 - 7 g/l). This is a bit
over the detectable level at a tastings but clearly within the EU
definition of dry wine.
However, for wine critics this
sugar content might be (a
couple of grams) too high. Consequently, Villa Sandahl ferment the Silver Line to
higher residual sugar to satisfy wine loving "ordinary people", and
ferment the Golden Line with less sugar to catch the critics (and more
"classic" wine loving "ordinary people").
Furthermore, Villa Sandahl don't want that
their wines should be referred to as "sour" or "acid"
(quite common perception of white wines). This means that the
acidity level should be moderate (5 - 7 g/l, or about the same level as
for sugar) and that the acidity should be round and ripe. Consequently,
the "soft acidity" is mainly
achieved by moderate levels of acidity and by late grape harvesting.
On the other hand, acidity brings
elegance and freshness. Villa Sandahl's "soft acidity" approach must consequently be
balanced by a "fresh acidity" contrast. This is obtained by using the
"mineral acidity" Riesling variety as the optimal variety of choice, and to avoid malolactic
fermentation (which anyway doesn't go well with Riesling). Also
prevention from oxidation is important to not destroy the fragile
elegance.
Volatile acidity in excess levels can be regarded
as a flaw in a wine. However, in a
moderate level (0.5 - 0.7 g/l), volatile acidity release the smell and
brings complexity to the wines.
Late grape harvest cause the sugar
to rise, which means that the alcohol level can get high (above 13 %). This
is not a big problem if the wine is rich, so that the alcohol can be hidden
among a lot of other supplying components. Despite this, Villa Sandahl must avoid a
too high alcohol level, since health care institutions see high alcohol
levels as unfashionable. |
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6. Image |
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To attract the target groups above,
Villa Sandahl want to be referred as:
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Apply quality- and business
skill
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Create profit margin by
customer satisfaction
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Find the right people
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Don’t fear new thinking
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Be energized and passionate
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Keep persistent and long-term
Models
from other business
professions
are such companies as Toyota, Ikea and Google. They are interpreted as
reliable, serious, persistent, long term, inventive, market
oriented and
quality driven.
It is important to show preferred
characteristics in everything concrete being done. For example:
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Producing top quality wine to
reasonable prices for satisfied customers.
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Being awarded with medals from
the most prestigious wine competitions in the world, such as
Riesling du Monde and Decanter.
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Building a stylish promotion
house, where Villa Sandahl can receive preferred retailers and brokers.
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Changing and improving the
vineyard binding to show a model of farming.
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To be informative and honest
about the Villa Sandahl operation, like this page on the web site.
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7.
Competency |
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One of the
most important areas for to succeed with a quality operation, is to find the right people, and
to do without the others. The Villa Sandahl team is so far:
Thord Sandahl
from Värnamo in Sweden, has a genuine experience of business
and leadership, being president of the large size Swedish road carrier family
corporation Sandahlsbolagen AB.
Christer Sandahl
from Lund in Sweden, has a long experience
of official wine judgements in the Swedish wine association Munskänkarna, and has
collected and tasted rare wines from all over the world for over 25 years.
The owners are in favour to get
support
from dedicated specialists like:
Fabien Stirn from
Sigolsheim in Alsace. He
is a talented wine maker of the fifth
generation, producing superb Alsace grand cru wines. He is the invaluable
oenological consultant for us.
Stefan Cezar,
who from Hungary,
but have also lived in Sweden for long. He is the
inimitable entrepreneur managing the Cezar Winery in Nagyrada.
This company ferment and bottle the Villa Sandahl wines.
Tibor Toth from Hungary. He is cultivating the Villa Sandahl vineyards
and taking care of the Villa Sandahl's real estates. |
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8. Zsuzsanna vineyard |
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All of Hungary is scattered with
traditional wine areas, well known by Hungarians, but often rather
unknown for the rest of the world. Badacsony is one of the most
famous and situated in the west
part of Hungary, on the northern shore of lake Balaton. |
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During the 18.–19. centuries, the Badacsony wine region
was, together with Tokaj, the most well reputed wine area in Hungary and
even in the rest of Europe.
Sadly this area has declined in quality since then, with an accelerated
speed during the communist era.
The Badacsony Hill has excellent volcanic eroded basalt soil
and steep slopes down to the Balaton Lake with perfect sun exposure.
This area has always had an
enormous potential, but for the moment this is not optimally utilized.
Villa Sandahl is dedicated to once again release this potential, when to
intend to produce the best dry white wines of Hungary. |
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The vineyard is called "Zsuzsannas
vineyard", after the former owner. It is one of the steepest slopes of
the Badacsony Hill. The vineyard is 3.4 hectares, has a gradient of
about 1:5, and is straight south-facing. Villa Sandahl regard this vineyard to have
the same potential as many famous vineyards in Alsace and Wachau. |
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9. Varieties |
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Zsuzsanna Vineyard is planted with
25 years old vines of Rhine Riesling and Pinot Gris, with some
additional Zeus.
Villa Sandahl have recognised that
the Zsuzsanna vineyard is one of the hottest and driest microclimate of
then Badacsony hill. Thus the vineyard seem to be a location favourable
for both white and red varieties, either sun resistant white varieties
or easy ripening red varieties.
The late ripening Rhine Riesling
is found to be the perfect mach for the hot microclimate, and is also worldwide
highly regarded as a quality variety. Since it is already the major
variety in the vineyard, Villa Sandahl will
proceed with this variety as the major target.
Villa Sandahl runs an
improvement program to engraft the other varieties (Zeus and maybe Pinot Gris)
into Rhine Riesling. |
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10. Cultivation |
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When to producing a top quality
wine, it is crucial to have control in the vineyard and for example limit the harvest yield. Fortunately, there has
never been any overproduction in the Zsuzsanna vineyard since the current vines
were planted 1983, so there is no big need for any challenging changes in this
matter.
Currently the standard for Villa
Sandahl is to take out 5 ton per hectare, corresponding to about 31
hectolitre wine per hectare. This is a very modest yield, which maybe
considered to be heighten a bit without scarifying wine quality.

Harvest is a substantial risky
moment and must be supervised down to details. Grape clusters must be
cut off gently, carefully placed in small collecting boxes, which may not be over filled. A grape that get even the smallest rip, starts to
oxidise, which erodes the wine quality.
The transport to Nagyrada is
an additional risk for crushing more grapes and expose them to oxygen
from the wind blowing through the load. |
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11. Wine making |
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One of the most important moment
in white wine making, is the grape pressing procedure. Villa Sandahl press whole
clusters (without destemming) gently and slowly for several hours.
During the ongoing pressing, Villa
Sandahl applies the method to separate the must in several fractions of
different qualities. After pressing is finished, a first judgment can be made if
to mix any of the fractions or to ferment all of them separately.
The fermentation is done very
slowly in a reductive environment, in months rather than weeks. This
enriches the wine considerably as well as the required low temperature
keep freshness and bring elegance to the wine. There is never a need for malolactic
fermentation.
To control the fermentation speed,
temperature must be continuously watched. All wines being under
fermentation is measured and analysed every day.

After
fermenting, another judgment is made which tanks is up to standard for
Golden Line and what must be declassified to Silver Line. Qualities
below Silver Line is not sold under the Villa Sandahl label.
Bottling is done in sterile
environment into stylish bottles, and without compromising cork quality. |
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12. Technology |
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A quality wine is the result from
impeccable treatment by adequate technology.
In the vineyard the Carrera TRX
9400 AC
tractor with low gravitation centre and wide balloon tyres is the key
enabler. To the
tractor connects sprayer, crass cutter and sprout cutters.
The grape press is
essential for making white wine. Villa Sandahl use an Bucher-Vaslin XPF 80 It
is
possible to program the
press with the pressure schema, to get a reliable pressing process.
Some producers use large casks to
be traditional and/or enable some micro oxidation. Villa Sandahl avoid wood, because
the fear
to strip down the elegance and to accelerate the maturation of the
bottled wine. Villa Sandahl
use only stainless steel tanks, many of them with movable top, because fractions differ in volume
for every vintage.
To be able to measure in an
efficient and accurate way in a stressing
reality, Villa Sandahl acquired an analysing instrument named "Oenofoss" from
a
Danish company. From a wine sample drop this machine deliver the nine most common
measurements with enough accuracy within a half minute.
To ferment and bottle the wines, Villa Sandahl has a close and long
term cooperation with the Cezar Winery just outside Nagyrada in the Kis-Balaton
Area. This vinery is establishing a top modern winemaking production
site and will produce around 1
million bottles in a couple of years to come. Most of their wines are red from their own vineyard grapes. |
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13. Quality |
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Quality control is one of the most
crucial aspects when to produce great wines. The overall difficulty is, that
quality can not be separated out as a stand alone
activity performed by a certain person or group. Quality must instead be
understood and applied in
every part of the operation by everybody working for Villa Sandahl.
First of all, the value chain of
the Villa Sandahl operation is captured and understood. This is a map of
every activity from the very first planning of the vineyard, all the way
through green work, harvesting, pressing, fermentation, and up to the
wine is in the bottle and consumed by a satisfied customer. Se the
quality presentation that explains this more in detail.

After
capturing the value chain, all spots in the chain influencing the wine
quality is identified. After that, a prioritized plan is
established, describing which spots having which quality weaknesses and in
what prioritized order to improve them.
Finally and most difficult, the
decided quality improvements have to be implemented and realized. The improvement
have sometimes been to acquire better equipment, sometimes to change supplier etc, but most
often have been to deal with changing the way people think and work. This is
often considered to be a painful transition, but when Villa Sandahl has
has decided what must be done, there is commitment and patience until the
implementation has proven to be in place.
The above quality work is not a
one-time-activity, but must be continually repeated as a "continuous
learning and improvement" concept. To not improve and
learn, is in best case to stay still, but if competitors are moving
forward, then yourself are moving backward relatively to them. |
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Villa Sandahl Kft
8261 Badacsony
Római út 203/1
Hungary |
Sandahl International AB
Box 2045
331 02 Värnamo
Sweden |
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