Flaaten is one of the leading wine importers in Norway and we are here to help you to understand and achieve great success in the market, through the Norwegian monopoly system. We have long experience both in the on-trade and we are working very close with the Norwegian monopoly.
Flaaten has delivered quality wine to the norwegian market for more than 125 years. With passion for good wines, we are fortunate to work closely with some of the world’s best producers.
We mainly import wine from Europe and spirits from all over the world. And sell to the ordering range in the Norwegian monopoly and we work a lot with the tenders for the Norwegian monopoly as well. Much of our strength is our close collaboration with our winegrowers, regardless of country, but depending on quality. For us, it is important to have a close dialogue with those who actually work in the vineyards and in the cellar. We work hard to be able to offer the market’s best wines at a good price to both the on trade and to the Norwegian monopoly.
Our manufacturers and customers mean a lot to us. To take care of them, we are 100% loyal and deliver personal service beyond the ordinary.
We sell a large part of our portfolio to our good customers in the on trade. We see that the market demands organic wines, biodynamic wines, vegan wines and also sustainable wine production. This is a factor that we at Flaaten think is very important, and we are working with more and more producers who delivers on these points.
If you have any questions please let us help, we will be happy to answer you.
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO ENTER THE TENDER PLAN FOR THE NORWEGIAN MONOPOLY LAUNCH 2025-1
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT TENDERS AND MARKETING PLAN AT THE NORWEGIAN MONOPOLY
Vinmonopolet is a Norwegian monopoly situation in charge of the retail distribution of wine, spirits and beer above 4,7 abv in Norway. The products to the Norwegian monopoly distributes are purchased from licensed suppliers. In Flaaten we hold a required license and agreements to act as a supplier to the Norwegian monopoly (and for the horeca industry)
The Norwegian Monopoly organization, called Vinmonopolet, have about 300 stores in Norway, in four different size categories. The population of Norway is approximately 5,5 million people.
Vinmonopolet has approximately 18 000 products in its product range at this stage, and every year they purchase about 300 new products. Most of the products are purchased via the normal tender procedure, where Vinmonopolet announce a tender request and different products submitted will be judged on quality in relation to price in a blind tasting session.
The volumes required for a product varies a lot, depending on the price, distribution and idea with a listing.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE NORWEGIAN MONOPOLY AND THE TENDER SYSTEM
As the monopoly tendering system is pretty complicated and difficult to understand, we ́ve tried to summarize the process. For us it is very important that the producers we represent understand the procedure and by doing so participate with us in an ongoing, proactive work.
Many producers today misunderstand the procedure due to unclear information from Scandinavian partners and we really want to avoid this. We want you to understand how it works so we together can co- operate to do as good as possible in trying to get your wines into the system.
If you have further questions about how the system works after reading this document, do not hesitate to contact our CEO Mattias Hallin, mattias@flaatenvin.no or our product manager, karin@flaatenvin.no
We look forward to hear from you!
STEP BY STEP PROCESS ON HOW A TENDER IS CREATED
Vinmonopolet get inputs from meetings with importers/producers/sommeliers in order to decide what kind of products they will request for the next coming year. This input summarized creates the Marketing plan (tender plan) launched every 6 months. This plan tells us which tenders that will be announced in the upcoming year, usually for the next 6 months.
The tender plan is announced every 6 months, usually in December and June. The plan tells us about the specific requests that Vinmonopolet look for and it also tells us when we can submit an offer and when a potential launch will take place.
As the tender date in the marketing plan arrives we can proceed and submit a written offer of a product. We will send you a form to fill out and it is very important to make sure to fill out the form with all the necessary information.
In order to participate in a tender your wine needs to meet all the criteria as stated in the description. For example- Region, vintage, type of closure, grape varieties etc. But, as the wine finally is selected only upon sensory analysis, the taste description in the tender is almost more important, and this is something which a lot of importers forget. It doesn’t matter how good a wine is, if it doesn’t match the taste and style they are looking for, it has no chance of winning.
After the deadline, the buyer reviews all submitted offers, and samples from each importer that participated on the specific tender
A blind tasting is conducted with all selected wines that submit their samples on time. The best wine of the tasting (first taste, then quality and price) is the winner and will be purchased.
A tasting panel of minimum 5 people will taste the wine and score the wine individually. They score each offer 1-9, where 9 is the best score. The most score is for the quality, price as well as the ability to deliver.
IF YOU WIN A TENDER
In case a wine wins the tender tasting, the wine will be launched approximately 5 months after the offer has been submitted to Vinmonopolet. Flaaten will require the wine in its warehouse located in Norway approximately 6 weeks before the launch date.
To check the quality Vinmonopolet will compare samples from first shipment with the samples that won the blind tasting. In case there is a difference in taste or an analysis problem appears, Vinmonopolet will have the right to cancel the purchase.
THE TENDER SUBMISSION PROCESS
This guide explains how to proceed with an offer.
A first thing to understand is that the wine offered has to be identical to the wine later shipped for a potential launch. In case they are not identical Vinmonopolet will reject the purchase and the supplier will bear all the costs.
- Fill out the tender form that you will receive from us by email. Make sure to fill out the form correctly with all necessary information.
- Send 4 sample bottles to Flaaten as the second step. Notice that the samples you sent must look like the original wine that you intend to launch, equipped with proper label, bar codes etc. If you send tank samples we ask you to write alcohol volume %, vintage, name of wine and the producer name manually. Write this information on a sticker on the label.
- We also request you to include Lot number visible on the bottle.
- Notice that the deadline we state in our information is absolute. The offer will be automatically rejected if we are not able to submit before the deadline dates. This is the same both for the written offer as well as for the sample submission. The samples should be sent to our office in Oslo, to this address;
Hans A. Flaaten AS, Bygdøy Allé 23, 0263 Oslo, Norway
HOW DOES THE ORDINARY LISTING WORKS?
Once you win a tender in the ordinary range, your wine will be compared to the other wines in the same segment, by sales. The segment is divided on the basis of price and style. For instance, a red wine in a particular price range is compared to other red wines in that particular price range. For the first 6 months listed, the wine is not judged on the basis of its sales figures, but the next 6 months the wine will be compared the first time. In case the wine do not reach its sales goals, Vinmonopolet will de-list the wine or change the distribution of the wine to fewer stores. In case it reaches its sales goals, the wine will remain with the same distribution.
Every second month after the first 12 months, Vinmonpolet compare wines, and in case a wine does not reach the sales goals, it will change its distribution 3 months later from the announcement.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions, we will gladly help you out and explain even more.
Our email addresses you can find underneath:
See a video from Vinmonopolet:
You can get in contact with us on the following emails or call us for a nice conversation.
Managing Director, Mattias Hallin
Mattias@flaatenvin.no , or call me directly on +47 97 69 68 92