The Wine Market in Central America: A Q&A with Eduardo Aguirre Victoria of Les Vins Gérard Bertrand

This region may surprise you. The Regional Sales Director - Latin America for Gérard Bertrand provides his insights into Central America's growing interest in wine.

Panama City at night (photo: Charlie Leary)

Eduardo Aguirre Victoria was kind enough to provide detailed insights into the wine market in Central America, where consumption and demand is growing. This contrasts with many other markets, including North America and the EU.

I sent the questions to Eduardo for an article regarding “Why Is the U.S. Wine Industry Ignoring Central America and the Caribbean?” His insights are sufficiently intriguing to be published in their entirety. I translated the questions and answers from Spanish into English.

Since October 2019, Eduardo is the Regional Sales Director - Latin America for Les Vins Gérard Bertrand, based in Panama. He graduated with a degree in Wine Sales & Marketing from ESA in France in 2012 and previously worked as Export Manager for Producta Vignobles in Bordeaux.

Eduardo Aguirre Victoria (source: LinkedIn)

Q: Gérard Bertrand seems to take exporting to Latin America seriously. Is that the case?

A: Yes. Gérard Bertrand has always shown great interest in the Latin American markets. However, it wasn’t until 2019 that Gérard launched a project to structure distribution and implement the brand strategy. The first step was the creation of the position of regional sales director and, consequently, my hiring to fill that role.

Q: Are Central America and the Caribbean regions growing markets in terms of wine consumption and demand? Can we generalize, or do we have to look at individual countries?

A: Overall, wine consumption and demand in these markets are increasing. According to the OIV, the countries with the most growth in the last five years were Panama and Costa Rica, with a growth peak in the post-Covid-19 pandemic period. For Gérard Bertrand, the three main markets are Panama, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, in that order.