Christmas is the best time of year for Flox Wines & Spirits, National Marketing director Lukas Papargiris says.
“Basically all stock does sell through Christmas, and what we do find is that our novelty items sell a little bit better during this period, meaning alcoholic beverages that may come in novelty bottles such as a Bouzouki bottle or anything that is gift packaged or comes in some form of gift box,” Papargiris says.
Flox Wines & Spirits imports, exports, produces and distributes over 180 local and internationally respected beverages. Beverages are imported from Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom, amongst others.
The silly season’s best seller is beer, Papargiris says, which is why the company has a ‘three plus one’ campaign running, where for every three beers people buy they receive one complimentary bonus beer.
Since early September, Flox Wines & Spirits have been importing Vergina premium lager from Greece. After starting with one container on trial, by the end of January the company will be on their fourth container.
“It’s going remarkably well, we were quite surprised; it’s been accepted widely in the community,” Papargiris says. The beer isn’t just consumed by Greeks, but has also become mainstream and done well in the national market, he added.
Vergina beer has a distinct taste, Papargiris says, adding that customers have commented that this particular beer is “not like another Heineken”. “It has a bit of a bitter taste to it, it is a little different from traditional Greek and European beers, it’s quite distinctive in that manner,” Papargiris says.
Flox Wines & Spirits also sells Greek wine, which Papargiris says has established a more reliable reputation over time.
“I’d say over the past four years the Greek wine companies are producing some exceptional Greek wines. What has come to the forefront is stability, where once upon a time you’d buy a bottle of wine in a particular brand and then the next shipment would come in and be quite different, now stability has come into it.”
Greece exports both red and white wine and has between 200 and 300 indigenous grape varieties but the main one that is well accepted is Savatiano, Papargiris says.
While beer is the best seller over Christmas, red wine and 2 litre flagons also do very well, Papargiris says. “The normal table wines are great, especially for barbecues and souvlas,” he says.
While the company imports spirits from 17 countries the best selling product is Butterscotch schnapps. “The schnapps and Absinthe are our premium brands within Australia; spirits do very well,” Papargiris says.