the wine merchant. - Street Stream Blog

Transcription

THE WINE MERCHANT.
An independent magazine for independent retailers
Issue 43, January 2016
Uber-style courier firm
set to expand nationally
A business that has been described as the
Uber of the courier market is looking to
expand beyond its London heartland.
Street Stream has a number of the capital’s
wine merchants among its client base and boss
James Middleton says he will “definitely” be
rolling out the service to other cities.
Clients go online to enter details of the
package they want collected and delivered.
Self-employed couriers, vetted and insured by
Street Stream, then quote for the business and
the client chooses between them.
Customers are kept up to date about the
delivery “at every stage” and are invited to rate
the courier they use on the website.
Middleton argues that the system provides
better value for both the customer and the
courier. The business, which uses a mixture
of cargo bikes, motorcycles and vans to make
deliveries, is “doubling in size every month”.
“We have a Street Stream-branded cargo
bike,” he says. “It’s basically a push bike with
a great big platform on the front. We can
carry quite heavy loads.” Middleton says it can
comfortably take the equivalent of two cases of
wine.
“That’s greener – and in London, it’s often
much faster – than getting a van through the
centre of town.”
London independent merchant Bedales is
Continues page 2
You asked for more,
so we gave it to you
THIS MONTH
2 BACCHUS
Wine matched with Greggs
pasties, and cocktail refills
4 comings & GOINGS
Yet another Brighton indie,
and a second for Truro
8 tried & TESTED
Wines that taste of fireworks
and orang-utans
12 AKE & HUMPHRIS
Was it a wine merchant that
made Harrogate so happy?
18 david williams
Just how many vintages
of a lifetime can a person
experience?
22 called to the bar
The indies who moved
beyond traditional retailing
34 tour of britain
The Scottish merchants who
are keeping it local
46 supplier Bulletin
Essential updates from agents
and suppliers
53 make a date
Many retailers venture off-site for their annual wine fairs but few choose venues as spectacular
as Manchester Cathedral. More pictures from Hangingditch’s Christmas event on page 20.
Strap yourselves in: the
tasting season is back!
BACCHUS
b
Frazier’s signals
Hedonistic intent
“My aim is to make it like the Hedonism
of the Midlands,” says William Frazier,
discussing the £500,000 investment in
his company’s new wine studio. “That’s
a fair target, isn’t it?”
Frazier’s Wine Merchants may have been
trading in the Birmingham area, in one
form or another, since the 19th century but
there is a sense that not enough people are
aware of its fine wine offer.
The head office near Solihull is mainly
devoted to wholesale business, but Frazier
is investing in a refurb that will showcase
more of its wines for retail sale, as well
as create a setting for tastings and other
events.
“It’s been my plan since I came back into
the business about four years ago,” he says.
“It’s about developing the brand.
“Originally this was the distribution
centre for Morris’s Wine Stores, which was
explains. Technology will be at the heart
of the new space but there are no plans
for Enomatic-type machines and Frazier
is keen to stay faithful to the architecture.
“It’s a 1930s hairbrush factory and we’re
going to make sure it looks like that,” he
says.
Frazier’s also operates a small store
in Lapworth, Warwickshire, and derives
25% of its sales from retail business.
Frazier expects the studio in Solihull to
have a positive impact and is predicting a
doubling of turnover within two years.
Does the Hedonism comparison mean
Frazier’s will be sourcing more top-end
wines? “We’ve already got a fantastic
well that we can use.
tickets – in record time and at £25 a throw
independent family business and most of
paired with wines chosen by Darren Smith,
“We just need somewhere to display that
and it’s about creating an events space as
“I hope the brand awareness will drive
all parts of the business. We’re a small
the reactions we get are ‘we haven’t heard
of you’ or ‘we didn’t know you were here’,
so it’s about telling a story and raising the
profile as well.
“It’s about learning, understanding and
educating – and becoming the go-to place
for wine in the Midlands.”
Courier scheme
set for expansion
From page 1
people can place orders online or phone us
more flexible and responsive,” says director
up and come and collect them, but we don’t
currently have a display area because it’s a
few months of using Street Stream we
have cut our costs, saved time and become
Jamie Watts.
He adds: “We will still use the traditional
working environment.”
courier and postal companies for very
the front of the building upstairs,” Frazier
else.”
The studio will occupy about one third
of the site. “We’re moving the offices from
Don’t let anyone say that proximity to a
branch of Greggs is bad for a wine shop’s
among Street Stream’s clients. “In the last
“Currently we just have a reception so
Who drank what
with all the pies?
selection of Bordeaux,” responds Frazier.
my grandfather’s business, supplying 30
shops, so it’s much more of a warehouse.
Greggs tasting was a sell-out at £25 a ticket
large or long distance deliveries, but for the
majority of work we won’t consider anyone
THE WINE MERCHANT JANUARY 2016
2
image.
Darlington’s Vesuvio Wines sold all 35
– for a tasting at which selections from the
Greggs Christmas takeaway range were
who owns the shop and wine bar.
In all, Vesuvio matched wines with
eight delicacies including a tuna crunch
baguette with Bernard Haas & Fils Cremant
d’Alsace; a festive flatbread – containing
turkey, stuffing and cranberry relish
– with the same region’s Frey Sohler
Gerwurztraminer; and a Christmas muffin
with Ca del Console Extra Dry Prosecco.
Smith said sausage roll with dry red Dao,
and chicken club baguette with a lightly-
oaked Loire Valley Chardonnay, had been
big successes. “The baguette was quite a
rich sandwich so we just wanted a little of
bit of acidity and creaminess in it.“
The idea for the tasting was suggested
by a customer who had seen Smith eating a
Greggs pasty. “We had a bit of a laugh about
it but then thought, actually, it wasn’t the
worst idea in the world,” he says.
Smith initially intended to buy in the food
and only approached Greggs for permission
to use its name, but staff at the baker’s
head office liked the idea so much they
supplied the food free of charge and sent
The drinks are selling for £15 for a 25cl
people down to support the event.
bottle and £28 for 50cl.
old Eastern Bloc and another featuring
Symonds, “but there is always that thing of
Vesuvio has held other unusual tastings,
including one of “Soviet” wines from the
iconic wines of the 1980s.
“We don’t really want it to be seen as a
gimmick,” Smith adds, “but it’s always the
strange tastings that sell out the quickest.”
The Greggs event has already been
followed up with one pairing wines with
pies and Scotch eggs from local butcher
Taylors, and there are hints of a Greggs
follow-up when its summer menu hits the
high street.
Brahms cocktails
added to Liszt
Refill wine systems have been making
their mark in independents in recent
times, but one east London specialist
has come up with its own take –
refillable cocktails.
Hospitality professional and Quiquiriqui
mezcal brand owner Melanie Symonds has
created a range of ready-made cocktails
for her Brahms & Liszt wine shop, which
opened last year in Hackney.
“People are more interested in cocktails
Flying Füchs
and starting to make them at home,” says
having to buy three, four, five bottles of the
spirits you need.”
However, should any customers fancy
buying three, four or five bottles to make
their own, all the individual ingredients in
Symonds’ pre-mixes are available to buy
as well.
“We change our flavours weekly,” she
adds. “They’re all spirit-forward and
designed to be taken home and go straight
over ice. There’s nothing perishable in
them, so you can keep them indefinitely
like a bottle of spirits.”
Symonds says the quality of branded
pre-mix cocktails on the market “varies
dramatically”.
She adds: “There are some new people
coming in like [cocktail guru and creator of
the Mr Lyan’s brand] Ryan Chetiyawardana
but then you get the other end of the
spectrum where things are pumped full of
additives and sugar.
“I’m quite anti that and the whole point
of the shop is promoting amazing spirits
for sipping or as a base for cocktails.”
“Our Man with the Facts”
• American biologist Robert Dudley
argues that humans are programmed
to have an attraction to alcohol. He
suggests that primitive people were
drawn to fermenting fruit because it
has reached peak calorie content.
• The Hunter Valley was first planted
with grape vines in 1788. The river was
discovered accidentally by Lieutenant
John Shortland, who had been
searching for escaped convicts.
• The term “wino” was originally
coined in the Great Depression to refer
to someone who over-indulged in cheap
fortified wines, such as Thunderbird.
• The world’s tallest wine rack
is claimed to be the four-storey,
16,000-bottle creation at the Aureole
Restaurant in Las Vegas. Staff wear
harnesses to access bottles stored in
the 42-foot high structure.
• Babich celebrates its centenary this
year. Founder Josip Babić, a Croat who
spoke no English when he arrived in
New Zealand, would travel 80 miles on
Symonds’ refillable cocktails are spirit-forward and anti-sugar
3
horseback to make a £1 sale of his wine.
‘It’s a grown-up toy
shop wine shop’
After working her socks off at
Wadebridge Wines for over 12 years,
with a brief interval making wine in
the Pyrenees, Tamsin Jones has found
her happy place on the north coast of
Cornwall.
The Carruan Shop & Café incorporating
basis. The café can seat up to 24 people,
the bars and they come because we know
all the wine in the UK. I’m using Carte
Now it’s time for
the gallery
serving breakfast, brunch and supper.
Jones says: “At the moment I am sourcing
Blanche, Caves de Pyrene; a bit of Boutinot
and Alliance. I’m relying on the reps a lot
right now but in January and February
we’ll close the café and concentrate on the
wine side of the business and we’ll be in
London for tastings.”
Mission Wines is the “happy accident”
room and art exhibitions. We’re going
great time. It’s brilliant because without
to hold opening nights for artists. It’s
Wanted: one manager
Raising the bar
and Jones reports being on the receiving
Jo and Thierry de Magneval already
is very tough down here. A lot of reps don’t
Boutique de Vins & Épicerie Fine in
restaurants and nice cars, there’s also a lot
shop,” explains Jo.
not that much [business] to compete over.”
and for Michel Roux. Jo says: “We want
end of some petty behaviour at tastings in
own two wine bars and have now
realise – they just tend to see the shiny bits.
Ripley, Surrey. “We’ve taken our wine
“Despite the number of really amazing
of poverty. If you go five miles inland there
opened their first shop: Cellar Magneval
bar concept and are putting it into a
Thierry has worked with Pierre
are people relying on food banks. There’s
Koffmann at The Berkeley in Knightsbridge
natives, are shaping their plans
The main thing in our bars is the level of
Jones and Stephens, both Cornish
accordingly. “We know that for the main
three months of the season we have to
really work every hour. At present the café
part of the business is quite dependent on
the tourist trade but that will change as we
build it up.
“We’re flipping it on its head and
building a business to appeal to the locals,
and the tourists will be a bonus.”
The store opens from Thursday to
Sunday, but can open up on an ad-hoc
Stokes and girlfriend Enora Senlanne have
“Upstairs is given over to food, a tasting
Jones. “We are workaholics but having a
the past. “It can be very small town-y … it
Former construction worker Roland
Emotion machine in there,” Stokes explains.
want everyone to engage with us,” says
always friendly between Cornish indies
Wine.
bottle sales and we’ll have a 16-bottle Wine
“We both love wine so much and we
It’s no secret that relations are not
merchant with the arrival of The Art of
“The ground floor will be given over to
same day.
grown-up toy shop wine shop!”
Truro has a second independent wine
former clothes shop.
Stephens after both quit their jobs on the
I did for Wadebridge, it’s like having a
shop is vital.”
established the business in a two-storey
conceived by Jones and her friend Emma
having to do the vast commercial work
what they like. Having that aspect in the
to take that sommelier feel into the shop.
customer service – we make sure everyone
is welcomed with a smile and a hello, and
we love helping people find the wine they
really like.”
At we went to press they were looking
for a manager. “We’ll be there at the start,
and involved because it’s our brand, but
we want to find a manager who is happy
to talk about wine all day and make people
feel comfortable.
“We have so many regulars who come in
4
something we’re just both passionate
about and art and wine seem to go hand in
hand.”
The shop is less than five minutes’
walk from the Cornish city’s existing
independent merchant, Old Chapel Cellars.
But Stokes says he believes the two
businesses will offer different things.
“We’ve sought out smaller independent
wholesalers and we’re aiming for
uniqueness within Cornwall. We’ve tried
to find suppliers who are not necessarily
supplying in this neck of the woods – and
looking for organic and biodynamic wines
as well. We’ve used the likes of Indigo,
HispaMerchants and Aussie Rules.”
Stokes lived in France for 10 years and
California for two. “I have always been
really passionate about wine,” he says.
“I put myself through the WSET and I’ve
always been reading and tasting lots.”
He says his ambition to open his own
wine shop was crystallised by the arrival
of wine dispensing machines. “It’s such a
fantastic bit of tech to allow people to try
wines,” he says. “There’s a round model
that Wine Emotion is about to bring out so
we’re looking to expand with that upstairs.”
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5
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Seven Dials for
Seven Cellars
Seven Cellars is the latest wine
merchant to open in Brighton and Hove,
a city fast becoming the epicentre of the
wine industry in southern England.
Owner Louise Oliver, a Plumpton College
graduate with a particular passion for
Sicilian and Portuguese wines, says the
venture will be a generalist wine merchant
directly importing wine as well as sourcing
from suppliers.
Cask ale will also be on sale at the store
in the Seven Dials neighbourhood, a short
walk from the main railway station.
Oliver also runs The Wine Keg Company,
which sells Italian sparkling wine in kegs.
Inspired by travels to Italy, the business
started two years ago and now supplies
wholesalers, restaurants and Sussex
County Cricket Club – which has reportedly
seen sales shoot up since taking on the
20-litre kegs.
Veritas, in September.
Scarlett has the background in wine
and does all the buying for the shop. “The
customers who aren’t real wine experts
seem to like us because they aren’t made
Refill and refuel at
Islington store
Two ex-Borough Wines employees
to feel inadequate,” says Orchard-Lisle.
started their new Islington venture,
you’ because they really like our selection
coincided with Hugo Meyer Esquerré’s
balance of knowing our stuff and not being
admits that their new shop, which sells 100
“But equally the guys who really know
Provisions, just in time for Christmas.
of wine and our general knowledge of the
return from Norway where he had been
their stuff are coming in and saying ‘thank
wines. We seem to striking a really nice
intimidating.”
It took the pair about three months to
renovate the derelict shop, which now has
a tasting room large enough for up to 25
covers. For a corkage fee (£5 during the
week and £7 at weekends), customers can
enjoy a bottle of wine in-house.
Orchard-Lisle adds: “We offer small
amounts of food to complement the wine:
baked Camembert, a charcuterie board, a
selection of cheeses, olives … things like
that.”
Ben Proctor’s departure from Borough
running a wine bar and deli in Oslo. Proctor
wines and 70 cheeses, is “surrounded” by
other wine retailers but says the list differs
greatly as they import most of the wines
themselves from France and Italy.
At the refill station customers can
purchase a bottle at £2 and fill it with their
choice of red or white wine (there are two
of each on offer), for £6. Proctor says they
have “brought an element of a trade tasting
to a consumer level; grab a glass and a list
of wines and you go round and try anything
you want”.
“I want to attract people for whom wine
is a hobby, offering all price ranges,” says
Oliver. “We want to offer a selection of
wines from all around the world, that you
can’t buy anywhere else. We want to have
fantastic price points to tempt people away
from buying wine in supermarkets.”
Seven Cellars joins a growing number of
independent wine merchants in Brighton
and Hove, but Oliver is undeterred by the
competition. “In Seven Dials we are quite
away from the likes of Quaff and Butler’s
and I am not treading on anyone’s toes.”
Cheesy feat
Only, perhaps, in the hipster territory
of Walthamstow would you find a wine
merchant who also works as a sound
engineer and record producer.
Jamie Orchard-Lisle and partner Eleanor
Scarlett opened their first shop, In Vino
Vini Italiani has opened its second wine café and store. The new branch in
The Piazza, Covent Garden, is based on the original in South Kensington,
offering wines from 20 Italian regions either by the glass or the bottle. Both
branches also sell Italian cold cuts and cheeses, as well as hot snacks.
“Morning coffee and a new Italian breakfast menu will be on offer, together
with a selection of breakfast wines,” the company says.
6
Adeline Mangevine
Not just a shop, but
‘a sociable club’
The Beckford Bottle Shop opened in
Tisbury, Wiltshire, on December 12.
Owners Dan Brod and Charlie Luxton
already have two successful country pubs:
The Beckford Arms, also in Tisbury, and
The Talbot Inn in Mells.
Brod says: “Over time we’ve learnt what
the local customers want. This shop space
just came up in the nearby village so we
thought this would be a good thing to do.
Basically, we had the distributors in place,
so why not retail the wine?”
At weekends they serve charcuterie,
sourced from the local delicatessen, “just to
help people taste the wines”, says Brod.
The shop exterior has a “traditional wine
merchant look” but inside there’s an art
deco-style tin ceiling and shelving made
from wood reclaimed from Southampton
Pier.
Brod adds: “It looks really great and
we’re going to have a massive leather red
sofa – it’s not just a shop, it’s going to be a
sociable club.”
• Brian Wilding, owner of Chordale Wine
Merchants in Chorley, retired in December
and is selling his shop. He estimates he
has sold almost 500,000 bottles, the most
expensive being “a Remy Martin Louis XIII
for £950, about 10 or 15 years ago. That
bottle would be worth £1,500 now”.
• The Grape & The Good has opened
for business in Wells, Somerset. The shop
offers craft beers and speciality ciders in
addition to a wine range “with something
for everyone”.
• Covent Garden wine bar and restaurant
Dalla Terra has opened Vetro, “an informal
wine shop, cafe and enoteca” offering more
than 30 wines by the glass from its Soho
premises.
Hasty despatches from the frontline of wine retailing
G
reetings fellow wine merchants!
I’m writing this column from
my private beach in Barbados,
sunning myself on a bed made from all
the crisp £20 notes I raked in over the
festive season, with my own personal
butler on hand to top up my glass every
hour, on the hour.
OK, OK. Yes, it was a good Christmas,
thank you very much, and I am on a
beach. But sitting, in a sweater, on
Rhodes. Got to make all those crisp £20
bottles featured will rarely rise above £8.
Independents will be routinely ignored
for the sake of “accessibility”.
5. There will not be a Sherry revival.
Nor a German Riesling comeback. They
will both remain the preserve of wine
geeks and pensioners. I will make an
effort to try to show customers the error
of their ways. But, despite the initial
unbridled enthusiasm (“it’s quite nice
really”), sales will remain static.
No awards,no
imports:
include me. I’m – ahem – helping the
Greek economy.)
10 things that
As I stare into the blustery Aegean, I
ponder the year ahead and things that I
won’t happen
know won’t be happening. It is my first
in 2016
January column, so please indulge me …
notes last until people start drinking
again in February. (NB: That doesn’t
1. I will not see a single customer
until the third week of January, when
6. I will not be celebrating a special
willpower finally breaks down and
Sauvignon Blanc or Malbec Day. In this
of wine. Any wine really. So, I will shift
January.)
customers collapse through the door
in a heap, desperate for a decent glass
all the stuff I want rid of in a how-low-
country, that’s EVERY day. They don’t
need any more help. (Except, perhaps, in
7. My plans to import will not come to
can-I-go-without-losing-money sale.
fruition, despite reading wine merchant
sparkling blush Pinot Grigio.
a “fool”. I’m a fool. A fool without cash
Which then gives me cash to buy all the
Valentine’s tat. Yes, I’m looking at you,
2. The shop will not be winning any
merchant awards. This is because I won’t
have the time, nor the money, to enter
any of them. Instead, I will watch from
afar, as the usual suspects declare their
utter surprise at winning (again), and
tweet just how delicious the sponsors’
profiles in this august organ that tell
me that anyone who doesn’t import is
snarled up in hundreds of bottles I need
to create a wholesale channel to move.
8. The trade’s bi-monthly war of words
over natural wines will not end. Nor will
the arguments change. Consumers in
most of the country will remain oblivious.
9. Wine points will remain
wine on their tables tasted.
meaningless, as the most mediocre of
again, get lost in the post.
Christmas. Nor for the starkness of the
3. My invitation to join a trade trip to
visit the best cellars in Champagne will,
4. Wine will continue not to feature on
TV in any meaningful way. The price of
7
wines continue to garner scores of 80.
10. I will not be prepared for
New Year. Nor will I be off to Barbados
any time soon. Perhaps I should import ...
tried & Tested
Swartland Winery
Limited Release Viognier 2015
The Pawn The Gambit
Sangiovese 2013
The buzz in South Africa’s wild west may be coming
Hand-crafted in the cool-climate Adelaide Hills from
with Swartland Winery (est 1948) to create a series
a sour cherry, cranberry-like component. Or, as one of
from the young guns but the more established players
are part of the action too. Hallgarten has joined forces
of exclusives, including this pure, peachy, rounded
Viognier with an orangey tang. Great fun, great value.
RRP: £9.99
a blend of two Sangiovese clones, this is an intriguing
and satisfying melange of dense, earthy flavours and
our tasters put it: “It tastes of fireworks.” No need for
chess puns: just write a cheque, mate.
RRP: £14.75
ABV: 13%
Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Wines (01582 722538)
ABV: 14.5%
Seckford Agencies (01206 231188)
hdnwines.co.uk
seckfordagencies.co.uk
Recolta Malbec 2015
Latitude 41˚ Nelson Hill Block
Pinot Gris 2014
OK, we know that Malbec sells itself and maybe it’s
time to broaden our Argentine horizons. And yet …
Fruit from Marlborough and Nelson combines in a
from Mendoza. Robust but smooth, with hints of tar
vanilla; pears, spices … and then a nice zesty crispness
wine that’s fruity and rounded, with a little help from
and yet … you’d need to be a pretty hard-hearted
French oak and lees ageing. A bit of butter, a bit of
contrarian to find fault with this entry-level example
to round it all off. Collect the vine cuttings on the neck
and liquorice and a faint whiff of smoke, it’s a really
week by week to create your own replica vineyard.
well-made and honest wine at a bargain price.
RRP: £9.99
RRP: £16.99
ABV: 13.5%
ABV: 13%
Las Bodegas (01435 874772 )
McKinley Vintners (020 7928 7300)
lasbodegas.co.uk
mckinleyvintners.co.uk
The Liberator Old Breton
Cabernet Franc 2013
Bossi Fedrigotti Fojaneghe 2011
Did Cabernet Franc (known as Breton in parts of the
blend in Trentino it was seen as a pretty radical move.
When Bossi Fedrigotti made Italy’s first Bordeaux
Fifty years on, it’s close to perfecting the art. The 2011
Loire valley) arrive in South Africa with the 17th-
century Huguenot settlers? It’s a question that arises
from the history lesson that accompanies Episode 5 of
the Liberator saga. A mouthwatering mix of dark fruits
and crunchier, greener elements.
RRP: £16
ABV: 14%
is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, with a
sprinkling of Teroldego thrown in for good measure.
It’s captivating fare: fumy, juicy, rich, wholesome and
earthy but by no means OTT. Excellent stuff.
RRP: £24.99
ABV: 13.5%
Berkmann Wine Cellars (020 7670 0972)
Dreyfus Ashby (01636 858774)
dreyfus-ashby.co.uk
berkmann.co.uk
Tenuta J Hofstätter Meczan
Pinot Nero 2014
Milton Park Chardonnay 2015
A couple of sips of this and we were transported to the
to “fossicking sandpipers” – a handy expletive,
southern Tyrol, breathing in the fresh Alpine air and
making eye contact with goats. This was always going
to be on the lighter, fresher end of the Pinot spectrum
(no jam in Alto Adige) but the palate gradually fills
out, with umami notes and a cool mineral edge.
RRP: £19.99
ABV: 12.5%
Berkmann Wine Cellars (020 7670 0972)
berkmann.co.uk
Any wine with a back label making reference
incidentally, to adopt in 2016 – is all right in our book.
Hailing from South Australia, this unoaked, mediumbodied Chardonnay has a luxurious, slightly oily
texture, with peach and pineapple notes and a gentle
prickle on the finish. Great value at under a tenner.
RRP: £9.50
ABV: 12.5%
Seckford Agencies (01206 231188)
seckfordagencies.co.uk
8
bits & BOBs
FAVOURITE
THINGS
Stephen Finch
Vagabond Wines
London
Favourite wine on my list
Eagles’ Nest, Little Eagle Red Blend
2012. I came across Eagles’ Nest when
I visited South Africa a few years ago,
and was blown away by everything they
did. This “entry level” Bordeaux blend
was shockingly good – distinctly Cab
and Merlot working well together, yet
with the full, clean fruit that South Africa
Champagne Taittinger has bought land
near Chilham, Kent, where it plans to
make wine in partnership with Hatch
Mansfield.
business,” says Pierre-Emmanuel
Taittinger, president of Taittinger. “We now
have many very good English sparkling
wines. Global warming helps as the climate
is more generous.
“But when things are good we don’t talk
Phil Barnet of Les Caves de Pyrene. He’s
a sales rep who puts in the time and
effort to know our business, and makes
incredibly thoughtful recommendations.
quaffable, 10%; legs, 5%; terroir, 3%;
unctuous, 3%; herbaceous, 2%; hollow,
2%; vegetal, 2%.
The Drinks Business, December 15
single glass of wine every day – or the
equivalent of two to three units of
alcohol – are significantly less likely to
die of the disease than those who drink
more or are teetotal, research suggests.
However scientists at the University of
Copenhagen who conducted the study said
Favourite wine trip
Favourite wine trade person
are: bouquet, 21%; nose, 11%; tart, 10%;
Alzheimer’s sufferers who drink a
with fish ‘n’ chips.
everywhere.
percentage of customers likely to use them
The Telegraph, December 9
is Brigitte Bardot.”
Chassagne/Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru
France). And terrific restaurants
Just 23% understood the term “terroir”.
Wine ‘may help
with Alzheimer’s’
Guinness is Alec Guinness. Brigitte Bardot
Call me a heathen, but I love having a
Wineries that cater to visitors (ahem,
respectable company”.
about nationality. Mozart is Mozart. Alec
Favourite wine and food match
Jaw-droppingly beautiful scenery.
meant a “cheap, brash wine unsuitable for
The 10 silliest wine terms, and the
“Competition is good in sport and
does so well.
Stellenbosch. Utterly fantastic wines.
Magpie
Taittinger invests
in Kent countryside
Brigitte Bardot and Alex Guinness celebrate
the results may be down not to the effects
of the alcohol itself, but because the social
atmosphere in the pub helps keep the brain
Confused by tart
young.
A survey has revealed the 10 wine
terms that customers are least likely to
understand when deciding what wines
to buy.
One in three people don’t know what
“tart” means. As many as 11% thought it
Dr Andrew Sommerlad at University
College London said the results of the
study were “interesting” and built upon
other evidence suggesting “drinking small
amounts is unlikely to be damaging and
may even confer some health benefits”.
The Independent, December 11
winemerchantmag.com
We’ll take his calls any day.
Favourite wine shop
I love The Winery in Maida Vale for
their German and Burgundy selections
– probably the most thoughtful I’ve seen
anywhere. Philglas & Swiggot always has
excellent Australian wines that you can’t
find anywhere else.
01323 871836
[email protected]
Twitter: @WineMerchantMag
The Wine Merchant is mailed freely to the owners of the UK’s 780
specialist independent wine shops. Except one, and that’s deliberate. The
magazine is edited by Graham Holter. Printed in Sussex by East Print.
Registered in England: No 6441762
© Graham Holter Ltd 2016
10
VAT 943 8771 82
merchant profile: ake & HUMPHRIS
Happy days in Harro
Seventy per cent of Laan’s range
is imported direct
Jim Nicholson, Crossgar, September 2015:
keen on further expansion if the right
opportunity presents itself
Paul Auty, October 2015. “I was one of those people
who would bleed Oddbins if you cut them in half”
Ake & Humphris has opened its third branch and brought in a new UK director. Paul Auty, who manages
the Harrogate store, is relishing the changes but says the buzz of selling good wine is the same as ever
H
arrogate has, apparently,
topped the league table of
Britain’s happiest places and it’s
conceivable that Ake & Humphris played a
small part in this achievement.
The company’s branch in the North
Yorkshire spa town is about a mile south of
the centre, not a part of the borough where
you’d expect to see tourists with their
cameras poised. You sense this is a place
where the locals go.
It’s managed by Paul Auty, a Leeds
native who ran Oddbins stores across the
UK before linking up with the business,
originally known as Wineways. The owners
got started by taking on a former House
of Townend shop in Collingham, and the
Harrogate branch, which had been part
of First Quench’s doomed empire. More
recently the Ake & Humphris estate grew
to three, with the opening of a two-storey
branch in Ripon. Downstairs is dedicated
12
to retail, while upstairs the Friends of Wine
bar offers wine to drink in.
Edward Ake and Jonathan Humphris
are based overseas these days but new
managing director Martin Jeffrey has
recently joined the business, which is now
achieving turnover in excess of £1m.
“There were originally three directors,
and they were two of them,” Auty explains.
“The other director was involved at the
beginning but parted company around
ogate
are very much shopping trips with a list
wine. That’s never going to go away.
things later on in the day that are probably
has influenced so many people in the
be interesting to see if we can sell that”.
shops seem to have moved on from that
with the Collingham site; he also brought
possible to get institutionalised in a
I had some breathing space to think about
while for me to get my feet under the table
those people who, when you cut them in
October 2011 and went off to do something
completely different.
“He was the one who had the history
in mind. You walk around a room and
invariably you will lean towards trying
more to your own taste. And you’re like,
that people now running their own
You spent a long time at Oddbins. Is it
It dawned on me when I left Oddbins and
company like that?
and then say, ‘hang on guys, this doesn’t
half, would bleed Oddbins. But it turns out
really say what we do’. It sounds to me
too much like a Threshers-style name or
a discounter and didn’t really reflect the
quality. So we came up with a list of about
10 names that we could call the business
and put it to a staff vote, then a customer
vote.”
Auty was amused by the name The
Kabinett. “I don’t know whether that would
have worked, or whether it might have
been a bit too esoteric,” he says.
independent trade. But it’s interesting
“wow – that’s really opened my eyes, it’ll
the name Wineways along.
“I never really liked the name. It took a
The Oddbins blueprint of the 1990s
When I worked for Oddbins I was one of
it’s actually the product and the people you
end up having the greater affinity with.
Working here is different in a lot of
respects but there’s still at its heart a
desire inside everyone in the business to
put a great bottle of wine in somebody’s
hands and for everyone to get excited
about it. I think that was always part of
Oddbins from a staff point of view.
I will still get a buzz from selling a bottle of
formula.
it a bit more: actually you can’t just open
your doors and expect people to come in.
You’ve got to be quite active and then
think about something that’s going to give
you an edge – that extra thing that makes
you different from the norm.
Some people have the enoteca side, some
people have the tasting, sampling thing …
obviously that’s quite cool in London but
I haven’t seen too many of them up north.
Maybe it’s a London thing at the moment.
Continues page 14
Where do your buy your wine?
We do an awful lot of sourcing parcels of
The décor is high-spec and borrows ideas from merchants as far afield as Latvia
things, bin ends, things like that. We do
have stuff that’s sourced direct from Italy
but the majority of stuff from the retail side
comes through basically cherry-picking
from UK agents, trying to find people
who do have the agency rather than other
people in the middle, as it were.
Do you go to many London tastings and
events?
We get an awful lot of visits – there are a
couple of people who say they are touring
with this particular winemaker or this
particular wine representative, and they’ll
drop in.
We go to some of the big portfolio
tastings in London or in Edinburgh, or
sometimes even Manchester. For me those
The Harrogate store was originally branded Wineways and before that was a Threshers
13
From page 13
What is the Collingham branch like – is
it along the same lines as this one?
Collingham was a wine shop for a very long
time in a kind of off-licence style. House of
Townend had it for a while.
The director I mentioned before had
a business called Collingham Wines and
obviously it became Wineways after that.
It’s slightly smaller than here, but it’s got
most of the things we have here. Its focus is
probably a little bit more New World than
we are. France, Spain and particularly Italy
make up a big chunk of what we do in this
store.
We’re all working off a broad list, as it
were, and each of the individual managers
of the stores has the autonomy to be
able to sell what works in their local
environment or to feature one wine over
another. There’s nobody saying, “this week
you’ve got to have a deal on this particular
product”. We all know when
An Australian Pinot at £20
was our third-best selling
product last year
something new comes in how well it’s
what that wine is supposed to be and
Collingham than we do.
we didn’t have a Châteauneuf on the shelf
going to work and sometimes if it’s a New
World product they might sell more of it in
The teams get excited about different
products. Up in Ripon, my colleague Des
[Tinline] is absolutely mad, mad, mad on
German Riesling and is a really big Pinot
Noir lover as well, particularly Old World.
He has a little fridge of about 40 different
German Rieslings and he has the language
to be able to make that work for him.
At the end of the day you’re never going
to go wrong having a good quality New
Zealand Sauvignon – it’s always going to
be in the top 10. Prosecco is always going
to be in the top 10. Argentine Malbec is
always going to be up there too.
All these known-value items are always
making sure that it’s a decent price for
that product. It means that for a long time
because we hadn’t found the right one but
we did have a lot of Villages around.
You put the name “wine specialist”
above the door and you have to make sure
there are certain types of wine that people
expect to buy from a specialist. But a small
business can’t have every wine on the
shelf, and I certainly am keen to make sure
there’s that balance between things that
can move really well and things that are
aspirational – amazing bottles that are a
birthday treat to yourself or something that
you might want to put down.
How does the team fit together and how
going to be in that mix but there will
many staff do you have?
product of the year last year and it was £20
run a flower shop in Harrogate for a long
also be some surprises. One particular
Mr Humphris is in Spain and Mr Ake is in
per bottle, so there’s always going to be
time. She’s retired now and when she
Australian Pinot was third-best selling
something that we’ve found and got behind
as a gang that might not necessarily fit the
normal patterns of being a successful wine
in the marketplace.
So is the buying responsibility shared
between a few of you? I see Des is the
“fine wine buyer”.
To be fair it’s almost like a panel – we all
want to try as much of the entire range as
we can. We always go to tastings even if it’s
to keep up with vintage changes and things
like that, to make sure that what we bought
last year is right for this year.
What underpins everything is that
we are trying to find a good example of
14
Hondurus. Edward Ake’s mother used to
comes in the store I call her “boss”. She’s
absolutely amazing, I love her.
Generally speaking people have fallen
into and fallen in love with the business.
It’s a small team but each person is
bringing their experience, personality,
desires and passions … it’s a bit like a
family. We don’t agree all the time – but we
always agree on one thing, and that’s what
we want to do for the customers.
There are less than 10 of us. Barry, Alex,
Des, Simon, Adam, Martin, Tara and me,
and the other two directors.
Is there anything you wish you could sell
more of?
I’ve always been a huge fan of South
America and I think that I’d like to be
moving South American wines at the price
of reasonable Bordeaux, and reasonable
Burgundies, because I think that your £25
bottle of wine from Chile is really more
like a 40 or 50 quid bottle anywhere else
in the world. So you feel like you’re selling
somebody a bargain.
Are people around here reasonably well
educated about wine?
Yes, I think they are, generally speaking.
You always felt that Harrogate customers
wouldn’t take too much guidance: ask them
what they’re into, and make suggestions
from there.
You can see a marked difference between
Harrogate wine drinkers don’t need too much guidance
So it’s a shop downstairs and a bar
a small village like Collingham, where
upstairs. Are the wines in the bar
the touch paper for a lot of people –
do downstairs just to make sure that things
we have the other store, where it’s not as
supplied by you?
making sure they get a great bottle of wine
work upstairs nicely. Generally speaking
informed and it’s very much about lighting
Yes but obviously there are wines we won’t
at the price they want to pay for it.
if customers want to take something away
I have this running debate about the
difference between wine appreciation and
what I would regard as medication. To
varying degrees we are all appreciators
and medicators: how much do you need
that glass of wine at the end of the day, and
we’ve got people on hand to recommend
the closest thing to it. It’s very early doors
and when you’re working so closely with
somebody you’ve got to make sure you
for us in the last few years.
My new boss in the UK saw the
opportunity there and he asked me how I
thought the numbers would stack up.
Tell us more about the new boss.
From day one, one of our suppliers was
Martin Jeffrey of Spen Valley Wine. He has
a wholesale business and he has a great
palate and has found some of the great
solid bread-and-butter products – things
A colleague of mine said that he is an
that have become what we do.
appreciator, so I said, “OK, I’m going to take
the alcohol out of wine, would you still buy
Is he importing it himself?
it?” and he said, “Oh, no, no, not at all”.
Some of it. Obviously he was able to buy
How is the Ripon branch performing so
stuff probably cheaper than we could as he
far?
was buying in large volumes and he was
able to get us access to some of the biggest
At the moment we’re working with the
players, some of the big suppliers who we
wine bar upstairs and there’s a nice
were probably a bit too small for with just
balance between retail and on-trade.
two shops.
Obviously the upstairs bit is a separate
Our directors had a chat with him and
entity. It’s a growing thing – it was never
be a slow burn.
the most exciting things that has happened
history, and also found us a lot of really
appreciate it?
did but the wine shop was always going to
for all parties. I think it represents one of
parcels that we’ve had throughout our
how much are you going to sit there and
going to go “boom” overnight. The bar bit
grow together and all the good ideas work
Wine buying is a team responsibility
15
suggested working closer in the future. It
Continues page 16
From page 15
took a while; originally it wasn’t the idea
to join forces. Originally it was a case of
maybe we could do more and import things
together. He’s somebody that I’ve always
In one year there’ll be 2,000
products that have been
through the business
had a lot of respect for and was always
become more important in the future.
I always get a thrill out of finding products
How is it structured – was it a reverse
you walked through the shop; it’s like that
Most people can make a great bottle of
excited by the idea of working with him.
takeover?
Just a joining of forces – so he is basically
the UK director and the other two
directors, who both come from Harrogate,
work abroad and have discussions over
Skype. Mr Ake and Mr Humphris are still
very much in the picture and still very
much my bosses – I now have three bosses
– and having Martin on hand in the UK just
means that top-level decisions can be made
a lot quicker.
How are you performing online?
The website is something we embarked
on around December last year [2014]. The
website is another shop window and it
contributes, and is worth having – it will
I think that the purpose was to make it
as much like the experience you’d get if
personal recommendation. It’s a digital
version of the actual shop and there’s still
plenty of things we could do with it.
It’s meant to reflect mostly what’s in
the shops at any one time but it’s nigh
on impossible, when things are coming
through on a weekly basis, to be 100%
representative. The beer side of things
moves so fast. There might be 600 different
products on the shelf in any one day, but
in one year there’ll be 2,000 products that
have been through the business. We’re
constantly looking for a new thing to share.
How do you balance out the various
price points of the wines in your range?
There seem to be some bargains.
that seem to be batting way above where
they should be on the shelf price-wise.
wine that costs 30 quid on the shelf.
There are wineries making some very
nice wines and you never find them on the
supermarket shelf at all because they don’t
make enough of them. We talked about
opening new shops: we will reach a point
in the future where whatever we do will be
capped because there will only be so many
wines that stand true to the core values
of the business that are made on the scale
that can go into the stores.
You walk through the door and you see a
Pinot there and a Merlot there and they are
brands within themselves, as it were. It’s a
case of being able to provide people with
at least some semblance of recognition of
what they’re used to if they were walking
around a supermarket.
I would say that about 30% of our
range and our business comes from wines
between six and 10 quid and the sales in
that category are slightly bigger than the
range in that category, so that tells me
straightaway that really that’s where some
of the work needs to be done as we move
forward.
Maybe 40% of the business does come
from products that cost over a tenner but
that base has been covered fairly well
because the sales match that. When you’re
a young business like we are you have to
choose your battles and I’m certainly keen
to find more wines between £6 and £7 that
act like they’re beyond that.
Auty: “When you’re a young business like we are you have to choose your battles”
16
It gets harder in certain areas. I don’t
know if there’s a bottle of Chablis for under
a tenner that’s good …
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17
just williams
Variations on a vintage
The influence of meteorological conditions on wine may be overstated, not least by winemakers,
but the distinction between vintages remains a crucial part of wine’s appeal
T
here’s always a different feeling in a wine region when
winemakers genuinely feel they have just harvested a
good vintage. I should say that “genuinely” is very much
the operative word, here. The winemaker willing to admit that the
current vintage is a dodgy one is vanishingly rare (an older vintage
with no commercial consequence is a different matter). Most have
a working euphemism-generating machine at hand for the bad
times, with those operating in the upper echelons of Bordeaux –
home of, among others, the “technical vintage”, “the winemaker’s
vintage”, “the restaurant vintage” and “the best not-great vintage”
– seemingly having access, as they do in all winemaking kit, to the
highest-spec models.
Still, for those of us with even a moderately efficient BS-detector
installed, it’s generally fairly easy to tell when they really mean
it. Visit a winemaker in a good year, and they’ll be anxious to
lead you away from the current-release bottled wines to the
barrels and tanks where the new vintage may have yet to finish
“Out of all the vintages of a lifetime so far this decade,
this is definitely the best one”
its fermentation. They’ll be looking back, misty-eyed, at previous
great years that might match this magnificence. Like a retired
relative back from a trip-of-a-lifetime cruise, they may even have
photos, lots of photos, of healthy berries at various stages on the
journey from vine to press.
EVEN FOR A cynical hack this kind of enthusiasm is infectious.
It was very hard, for example, to ignore the good vibes wafting
around amid the alluring fumes of young Syrah in the Northern
The best winemakers
are adept at making
good wines in even the
most challenging years
Rhône when I visited in mid-November. It may have been early
days for 2015, but there was not a single note of caution to be
found among the winemakers I met. “Ideal spring, ideal summer,
rains at the right time, ideal early autumn. It is the best vintage I
have known in a long time,” said Yann Chave in Crozes-Hermitage;
many more said it was the best they’d ever seen.
This being one of my favourite wine regions – not least because,
with a few exceptions, the top wines haven’t quite ascended into
the investment stratosphere in the same way as Burgundy – by the
time I left Tain, I was already calculating how many cases I might
be able to afford when the wines eventually come on the market.
And I won’t be alone. Vintage verdicts remain a hugely
influential factor in the sale of fine wine (if less so at the more
commercial end; does anyone check the vintage on Blossom Hill?).
Indeed, their power to make-or-break fortunes – most obviously in
Burgundy and Bordeaux, but also, as the recent rush for the much-
18
theme
David Williams is wine critic
for The Observer
hyped 2010s showed, in Brunello and Barolo – seems to have
grown even as advances in wine-growing and making, coupled
with the effects of climate change, have made the differences
between vintages considerably less pronounced than they used to
be.
Bad vintages are increasingly rare, and the best winemakers
are in any case now adept at making good wines even in the most
challenging years. They may have less fruit to work with, and they
may have more work to do in the vineyard and at the sorting table.
More often than not, however, the meteorological conditions play a
far less significant role in shaping the character and quality of their
finished wine than the competence and stylistic preferences of the
production team, the age of the vines and the composition of the
soils they’re grown on.
So why, then, does the concept of vintage continue to exert such
a hold on the wine trade’s imagination? Why is so much wine
discussion devoted to blanket vintage assessments when we know
the wisdom of our own tastes mean we would always take, say,
Vieux Château Certan in a reputedly bad year over Château Pavie
in a “vintage of the century”, or vice-versa?
OF COURSE THERE’S a commercial imperative here. One of the
many reasons given for the historical lack of innovation in the
wine sector is that the annual release of a new vintage effectively
removes the need for NPD: every new vintage is a new product,
and every new product requires a launch. It’s an easy cycle of
endless renewal.
But there’s more to it than that. While vintage differences may
be (or, in the case of Bordeaux 2015, will be) overstated, and while
they may be less significant than those between producers, that
doesn’t mean they don’t exist at all. The progression in a vertical
tasting of a single wine from lesser to great year is like a twist on
the camera viewfinder from fuzzy to pin-sharp focus, or the guitar
string from just off-key to perfectly in-tune. Fine distinctions, then,
but isn’t that what fine wine is all about?
19
RETAILER NEWS
All pictures by Joby Catto ([email protected])
A barman inwardly yearns
for a quieter life running a
provincial wine shop
O come, all ye faithful
Manchester Cathedral was the setting for Hangingditch’s eighth Christmas wine fair. There were 250
tickets available, priced at £35 and worth £25 off any mixed case of wine bought on the night
20
digital diary
> Expert advice from our master of web Steve Chippington
J
anuary provides an opportunity to
• A focus on local with your SEO plan, a hot
draw breath and think about how to
digital topic of the day.
re-energise the business for the year
Online competition is increasing so it’s
ahead. One way of doing this is to make the
not enough to sit back and rely on the old
online side of things work harder to appeal
marketing tools. Customers expect a smart
to new customers.
and slick service and the digital journey
Just as in the rest of the business,
retailers’ online presence should focus on
their passions and specialisms. The website
needs to be consistent across everything
you do.
Shopping should be easy for customers,
is at centre of this but traffic needs to be
whether they want to buy online and have
driven there through social media, email
wines delivered or collect them from the
marketing, search engine optimisation, paid
store.
search, videos and affiliates.
The challenge is to quickly build a strong
All these need to be part of a coordinated
plan that is constantly refined to clearly
define the business’ strengths and
communicate them in digital marketing.
Ask yourself: What impression does the
website give? Does it portray all the key
messages, knowledge and personality you
want? Does it reassure customers to trust
you and part with their hard earned cash?
Do you make it easy for customers to buy
your website
should focus
on your
passions and
specialisms
online or do you insist they come to your
bond by creating a good impression – and
shop or email you? What other content or
then keep delivering inspiration to trigger
functionality would you like to add to make
additional purchases by building up regular
a stronger impact?
streams of activity.
Here are a few of the basics you will need:
Having a blog is a start but your marketing
• A responsive website where content
should set some regular themes so that
automatically adjusts for desktop, tablet or
customers can look out for it. Don’t just try
mobile screens
to sell things but inspire, involve and inform
• Rich content about your stock
your customers – and make it fun.
• An online shop
Use the post-Christmas lull to fine tune
• Reviews and ratings to give reassurance to
and refocus your digital marketing. We offer
new customers
a range of website services from off-the-
• Active campaigns to build traffic and
shelf mobile friendly template designs to
engage users
fully bespoke solutions.
• Evidence of your specialist skills and
We can help you create your digital
knowledge
marketing plan and support you with
• A clear target customer profile instead of
resources or training. Drop me an email and
trying to be all things to all people
let’s see how we can help you.
> For advice from Steve about your online activities visit
www.limitless.co.uk/limitless-wine, call 020 8682 9140 or
email [email protected]
21
reader TRIP
trip TO
to champagne
champagne in association with champagnes & CHATEAUX
READER
Things to worry
about, and things
to ignore
From page 23
‘The way they strive to
get the best out of their
grapes is rather inspiring.
Everyone involved was
incredibly knowledgeable
and clearly had a passion
for what they do’
24
22
on-premise special
When wine retailers
cross the line
Most wine merchants start off by selling wine in a traditional off-premise setting.
Most stay focused on those retail sales. But an increasing number of independents
are opening wine bars or enotecas – sometimes within their original shops, and
sometimes elsewhere. Four merchants who have taken the plunge with on-premise
sales share their stories and offer their advice
Park + Bridge
Acton
Park + Bridge is one of several
independent merchants which have
branched out into on-premise sales
after acquiring a second site. The
Vindinista bar is situated just over the
road from the shop and offers wine by
the glass or the bottle.
Owner Paola Tich was keen from the
start to give both ventures their own
identity.
Licensing
“Getting the licence for the bar was a lot
easier than getting the licence for the shop
because we had a history,” Tich explains.
“We’d been trading for almost two years
and there hadn’t been any issues. Getting
the licence for the shop had been a bit
more laboured because Acton is an area
where there are no-drinking zones. It’s
interesting: we can have tables out on the
pavement, and that’s not an issue, but if
you’re walking past with a can of White
Lightning, that seems to be an issue.”
The licence application was smoothed by
Tich’s decision to make Vindinista a cashfree business.
“We take cards only and cash tips
which are divided between the staff, so
there’s no cash on the premises,” she says.
may have an unusual grape and a lesser-
known region, and then by the bottle it’s
generally some more classics.
“We currently have a Ruchè wine on;
we’ve had a Susumaniello on before and
Austrian wines that aren’t necessarily
Gruner Veltliners.”
Even the house wines can be quirky,
“Sometimes it surprises people that it’s
including organic Spanish wines and
delighted that they don’t have to go down
Customer Perception
a card-only business. Generally it makes
life a lot easier and 99% of customers are
the road to the cash point. Our wines start
foot-trodden Gamay rosé that Tich buys in
boxes rather than bottles.
at £3.50 so we have to take lower amounts
“We’re different premises, and have
The Range
associated,” says Tich.
on cards – but that’s a decision we made.”
“We do about five reds, five whites, a
different brand names, but a lot of people
know Vindinista and Park + Bridge are
Vindinista has a flat £12 corkage fee but
couple of sparkling and a rosé by the glass,”
does not charge for service.
because it’s quite a new thing for people
the shop, buy the wine and take it into the
says Tich. “We’re about to put another
orange wine on by the glass as well
in west London and they like to try it; it
piques interest.
“Our proposition is that by the glass it
tends to be a bit more adventurous, so you
23
“Occasionally people will ask for a wine
from the shop. They can either come into
bar and we’ll charge £12 on top … or, as
Continues page 24
on-premise special
From page 23
happened on Saturday, a customer loves a
particular wine in our shop, so we sent one
over and charged the extra £12 for her to
drink it in the bar.”
By and large, customers are sticking to
what’s on Vindinista’s list.
“When you’re not on the same premises,
people will only look at what you’re
offering in the bar – what you’re offering
on the list – even though we make it quite
clear that you can have anything from the
shop.
The Vindinista bar attracts customers that “don’t necessarily shop at Park + Bridge”
“People like something that is easy to
navigate, where they don’t necessarily
have too much choice – and because we
make sure there is something for everyone,
I think it makes the customer’s life a lot
easier.
“We get far fewer customers than I
thought who will ask for something from
the shop that’s not on the list. We are
attracting people who don’t necessarily
shop with us, but do like to come and drink
with us.”
The Food Offer
Tich says: “We do small plates of
charcuterie. We don’t slice it on the
premises partly because we’re really small
and we have a constant debate about
slicing machines. But we get some really
good charcuterie from an Italian supplier.
“There’s a chef nearby who runs a
business called Mr Duck’s Delicacies and
we stock his organic duck
rillettes.
“We take smoked
fish paté from Upton
Smokery and we do
Tich: free
corkage on
Sundays
cheese boards.
says Tich. “We call it Sunday Service. But
right but it’s basically cheese, truffle paste,
in for it, but mostly people come in on a
“I created a cheese truffle toastie: it
took me about a week to get the formula
truffle sauce and truffle butter – that’s very
popular.”
Customers regularly ask about the food
offer and some assume the bar is also a
restaurant.
“They want to know whether it’s just
wine and nibbles or whether they can get
something more substantial,” says Tich.
“We do have people who come in, have a
drink, go elsewhere for dinner and then
come back. So we’re planning to bring in an
after-dinner menu.
“We already do Port and chocolate but
we’re looking to expand that a little bit to
maybe some vin santo and tokaji. What
I’d like to do is some Madeira and some
panforte.”
Sunday Opening
Vindinista planned to continue opening
every Sunday in the run-up to Christmas,
but will stop in the New Year and resume
in the summer.
“We don’t charge corkage on a Sunday,”
24
people don’t really register it. It’s really
interesting: occasionally you’ll get people
Sunday because they want to go out on a
Sunday – not because you’re waiving the
corkage.”
Event Management
The bar has allowed Tich to run more
events. “We did a Gusbourne English
wine and cheese event and a know-yourBordeaux event,” she says.
“We used to do them in the shop but it
meant I’d have to spend half a day moving
everything beforehand and then moving
everything back afterwards.
“In the bar, everything is already set up,
which is another advantage of having a
different space.”
Advice to Others
For independents who are thinking of
introducing on-premise sales, Tich’s main
advice is “decide what you want to be:
primarily a shop or primarily a wine bar”.
She explains: “Originally we wanted to
do the two together, and evidence is now
showing that people will see you as either
“We thought the bar might affect our
one or the other. Do you want to be a shop
sales but it hasn’t impacted our trade in
want to be a wine bar with shop sales?
going to do well against the bar as people
with a tasting room on the side, like Vino
Vero in Leigh, for example … or do you
“I think I have an advantage by having
a split premises because we’ve branded it
differently and have different staff, but the
downside is that we have got higher costs.
Noble Fine Liquor
East London
Noble Fine Liquor opened its P Franco spinoff in 2014, a short distance away from its
store in Broadway Market, east London. The
second branch does sell wine to take away
any way. We’re in an area where there are a
lot of young families so the shop is always
want to buy wine to drink at home. It might
be a different dynamic elsewhere.
“We’re not on the high street so
Saturdays for us tend to be quieter as
people have dinner parties at home, but
we have noticed recently that Saturday is
really starting to creep up. We are a small
space and we don’t do full service food so
it’s limited to some extent to what we can
do overall. But because we run the two as
a joint business and we are buying through
he shop it means that the synergy works
really well.”
would probably be £50 or £60 – but here they
of people who own restaurants, who own
can have it for £35. Some people do struggle
wine bars, who work in the industry – they
with that concept and that is hard to convey
are our customers. They know it is the
and explain politely.
cheapest place in London to come and drink
“The reason P Franco survives is because
interesting wine.”
Bringing a touch of Paris to Clapton
but its real appeal is its on-premise licence.
Business has been brisk. “It’s been pretty
hectic,” says director Liam Kelleher. “I think
the whole idea of what made us open Noble
Fine Liquor in the first place was hanging out
in these wine shops in Paris.
“We couldn’t find the sort of wine we were
into and liked buying anywhere so we would
go to Paris to drink the wines we couldn’t
find in London. At about 6 o’clock you’d be
in the shop talking to the guy and all of a
sudden a couple of chairs and a table would
appear from nowhere, then a guy would
appear with some cheese.
“It was so nonchalant – the wine shop
would just turn into a wine bar. People don’t
really understand that in London; you have
to explain it to them.”
But the concept has gradually been
sinking in, even if a significant chunk of P
Franco’s clientele comes from the trade.
“It’s been quite interesting to see people’s
reactions,” says Kelleher. “It’s not in our
culture. The biggest reservation is when you
tell them there’s a £10 corkage, but then
you explain that £25 bottle of wine they are
buying, if they were buying it in a restaurant,
Liam Kelleher was inspired by the cheese that miraculously appears in French wine shops
25
on-premise special
Flourish & Prosper
Howden
Flourish & Prosper in East Yorkshire
has been serving wine to enjoy on the
premises for some while, but its Friday
night wine bar is a new idea.
Owner Sean Welsh has a background
in the hotel trade, and at one time had a
restaurant in the town, so already had the
required skill set.
by the glass,” Welsh explained, “and we
– I’ve decided to run it until Christmas to
of wine in the shop to drink here for £5
Speaking to The Wine Merchant late last
year, Welsh described the move as “a trial
see if it’s working”. The early signs were
encouraging: Welsh reported that the bar
“made a huge difference in October” and
said he was on the look-out for extra staff
to share the workload.
“Each Friday we have three different
reds and three different whites available
Simple formula that pays dividends
use a premium gin to make a good G&T.
In addition to that you can buy any bottle
corkage.
“On top of that we do simple platters:
warm pitta bread, hummus, taramasalata,
that sort of thing … crisps, pistachio nuts
etcetera.
“Some will come and have a bite here
before going off to a restaurant in town;
others will stay longer. We do it from 4pm
until 10pm. I read in The Wine Merchant
about the place that does it until 9pm –
‘throw them out at 9 o’clock as people are
only nice until 9pm’ – but here in the north
people are nice until 10 o’clock!”
IF THE WINE bar continues in the New
Year, Welsh plans to extend it into the large
courtyard area. “In the summer we had a
wine tasting and barbecue there for about
140 people,” he says.
His advice to independents going the
same route is to “keep it really simple”.
He adds: “Don’t try to over-complicate
the message or the offer. We promoted it
on Facebook and on blackboards outside
the shop. It’s about making sure you’ve got
enough equipment, glassware etcetera. It’s
very easy if you’re a wine merchant to do it.
There’s no real outlay for equipment – we
already had glasses and fridges. We cleared
the decks a bit and begged and borrowed
bits of furniture.”
Flourish & Prosper’s full licence has
contributed towards a surge in sales since
the business moved to new premises in
November 2014.
“We relocated to slightly smaller
premises, but better laid out than our
old premises and more central,” Welsh
A summer barbie attracted
more than 140 punters
26
explains. “For the 12 months since we
moved we’re 29% up; for the last six
months we are 39% up and for October we
are 52% up.”
Champion Wines
Chislehurst
Penny Champion opened her shop in
Australian approach helps
customers find new favourites
June 2011 but it took her another nine
months to obtain an on-premise licence.
Bromley council “just couldn’t work out
what I was trying to do” and originally
wanted Champion to reclassify her
premises as A3 rather than A1, but this was
something she was able to fend off.
The store now has 20 covers and opens
until 7pm from Monday to Wednesday, and
9pm on Thursday and Friday.
“It’s more a pre-dinner drinks place than
a come-and-spend-the-night-here kind of
thing,” Champion says. “People come in and
have a drink then go off to the restaurants
in the high street.
“It was always my plan to have the wine
to do the wine bar: to be able to offer
people things that weren’t just the norm.
it, to be honest, as you are having to pay
something a little bit different that they
what I do. I do get a day off a week now,
Not always a Chablis or a New Zealand
Sauvignon Blanc from a wine menu …
would never have tried before, like a glass
of English wine or Argentinian Torrontes,
that kind of thing.
than have what everyone expects you
to have on the menu, have something
different.”
olives and wasabi nuts – so I keep it very
WINE BY THE glass is a mainstay of the
on-premise business. “We change our
menu every two weeks we keep it a little
bit different.
“That’s another reason why I wanted
small deli offer. “We don’t do any hot food
– just cheese platters, crisps, really good
simple.
“Through the summer we offered Sherry
by the glass and that went really well.
Again, that’s not something that people
would normally want to drink but if you
Store faces competition from chains like Zizzi
some really nice nuts – it was brilliant.”
days off. It’s a little bit better but I’m aware
at that as I don’t know if we’re too cheap
Wednesday are dead on the wine bar front”.
offer a really nice dry Fino, they love it. We
added meats to the cheese platters and
Champion’s corkage fee is £6.95, and
£7.95 for sparkling wine. “We’re looking
or too expensive,” she says. “I think we’re
probably about right for the area.
“I think corkage is important so don’t
have lots of different prices because people
don’t understand it and they don’t want to
be bothered.”
The addition of on-premise sales has
Champion: “I’m aware we need more staff”
then I work six days straight and get two
have to step outside the box and, rather
have a lot of shops with small bars in them
so the idea was always there to do that.”
working. My shop is the biggest part of
part of your business then you’re going to
CHAMPION HAS A cheese fridge and a
eastern coast. In Melbourne and Sydney we
for the staff and the extra hours you are
“I think if you’re going to have this as
bar in here because I grew up in Australia
and this kind of thing happens a lot on the
“We don’t make a lot of money out of
made a difference to the business, though
Champion says the impact has been
limited.
27
we need more staff.”
She admits that “Monday, Tuesday and
“I’m doing a lunchtime offer where
you get two glasses of wine and a cheese
platter for £9.95 and I still can’t get them
in the door. It’s because I’m on a high
street full of big chains so I am up against
people like Côte, Zizzi and Café Rouge, and
we’re not close to offices either – it’s lots of
mums with buggies.
“I’m not complaining – it just would be
nice to see it work through the week.”
on-premise special
Keeping it legal
Jon Wallsgrove of Blake Morgan offers some advice to retailers in England and Wales about the licensing
issues facing any retailer looking to start selling wine for consumption on the premises
• The first thing to do is to get on to the local authority’s
website and look at the licensing policy. There is a consistent
approach across the country to licensing, but one or two local
authorities do have policies with specified hours that they will
grant licences for, or in some places they will have cumulative
impact policies. Basically these define an area within the
borough where they feel there are already enough licences, and
if anyone applies for a new one it’s deemed to be refused.
• The second thing to do is to try and have a chat with the
licensing officer at the council and, most importantly, the
police licensing officer. You can tell them what it is you’re
trying to achieve and they can flag up any concerns they might
the police will help shape what goes into the form. They’ll let you
know what issues the licensing committee might have current
concerns about.
• Police, licensing officers and trading standards have
a standard set of conditions. A Challenge 25 policy; they
would want a condition that all your staff are trained in their
responsibilities in selling alcohol; probably a log of any customers
you refuse service to. The biggest one is asking for the premises
to be covered by CCTV. In every application I’ve done that has
been asked for, but that’s not to say it’s always imposed.
• If you only have A1 use as a retail premises and want
have before you submit any application.
customers to consume food and alcohol on the premises it
black and white saying “we want to sell alcohol on the
planning permission because there could well be conditions that
• There can be a knee-jerk reaction to an application in
premises” – people get the wrong end of the stick. So getting
the police onside from the outset, and explaining limited hours,
the small number of people you’re serving and exactly how
would need to be A3, or A4, or both. It would be a change of
use. So planning could well be an issue. You need to check your
don’t allow you to use the premises in that way.
• With outside areas and planning it can vary from council
you’re going to be running the operation is vital.
to council. If it’s public highway then you need a street trading
pages. In the operating schedule there are boxes for each of the
and chairs. If they’re just standing out there and drinking on
• The application form is pretty lengthy; it’s about 26
licensing objectives and one that just says “general”. In there
you’re supposed to put what steps you would take to promote
those four licensing objectives. Basically what you put there
becomes a condition on your licence so it needs a bit of thought.
Generally you either put far too much and
end up putting yourself in a straitjacket
and not allowing your business to
develop – or you put too little, and
everyone wants to put in their two
penn’orth and add conditions to your
licence. It’s definitely where
our expertise can kick in,
but the conversations with
the licensing officer and
licence or pavement licence – whatever particular term that
local authority uses to allow people to sit out there at tables
the pavement it becomes a bit of a management issue to ensure
customers don’t cause an obstruction of the highway. Some
planning authorities say that if you have land outside being used
for eating and drinking, if you haven’t got the required use for
that bit of land they require you to put a planning application in.
• Under the Live Music Act, if you get a licence to sell alcohol
on the premises that automatically entitles you to have live
and recorded music from 8am to 11pm, without a licence,
for a maximum of 500 people. That does add a big advantage. It
makes the licence more valuable.
Contact [email protected] or call
023 8085 7224 for more information and advice
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SPECIALISTS
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on-premise special
Scots count the toilets
Is it harder for wine retailers to
get permission to sell wine on the
premises in Scotland? “I think it’s just
different,” says Michael McDougall
of Lindsays, a licensing practice with
branches across the country.
Unlike in England in Wales, such an
application “always goes to a hearing of
the licensing board”, even if there have
been no objections.
“With that comes a few other issues,
for example the number of toilets on
your premises.” This could typically be
a stipulation of one WC per 15 people.
“All of a sudden you go from having no
restriction on the number of people
on your premises to being an on-sales
premises with a restriction. That can
be very costly. There are building
regulations that go through it all in quite
a bit of detail.”
The licensing objectives in Scotland are
the same as those in England and Wales,
with an extra one – the promotion of
public health – thrown in. This means an
NHS representative with access to local
data could object to a licence on the basis
of alcohol-related disease in a particular
part of a town or city.
“There’s also children’s and young
persons’ access to consider,” says
McDougall. “With on-sales there will
always be a stipulation about what age
they can be on the premises and whether
or not they need to be accompanied.
Every board has a different policy.
Most boards say children have to be
accompanied by an adult so suddenly
it might be that you can’t have a young
person coming into the shop.”
McDougall encourages a pre-
application dialogue with police and the
licensing board.
Webster: “A clean environment is better than old-fashioned dusty floors”
Simplicity itself: suppliers
offer tips for on-premise sales
Gerry Moss
Retail development manager
Wine Box Company
When wine retailers move into an onpremise drinking experience there are
definitely a few things to consider:
• Great tasting notes as they relate to grape
variety, seasonality and cuisine are a must
• A “cosy” area of the shop with
comfortable seating is essential
• A simple snack menu could be
advantageous in terms of higher wine
consumption
30
• Pairing wine with food helps to illustrate
tonality and experience of the wine
• Lighting in this area of the business
should be softer than regular “store”
lighting
• Use floor pedestal wine buckets if your
seating area tables are bijou
• Wine buckets, stemware, corkscrews,
coasters etcetera are all extra-value items
which could be part of the customer
experience and then sold on the shop floor
alongside the wine offering
• Gifting vouchers could also be added as a
subtext on menus.
“You can drink the wine at the table for no extra fee, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to charge you £15 for bringing your own vegetables”
Laurie Webster
Chief executive, Las Bodegas
I’ve felt for some time there’s a question
mark over the ability of a business to
run purely as a wine shop – or even a
wine, spirits and craft beer shop.
Clearly some of our customers do very
well at that but I do admire those who have
made the move. The ones that do it best
are the ones who keep it very simple. They
want to minimise waste and just serve
really nice cold plates – charcuterie and
good cheeses and things like that.
I don’t think it necessarily works in
the old fashioned dusty wooden floor
environment – it works better in a cleaner
environment which is more modern and
perhaps more attractive to women.
The biggest difference, and this is a great
thing, is merchants have the ability to
put on better tastings. Once you’ve made
that jump, and connected up food and
wine, it opens doors to doing much more
I would probably arrange the list by
grape variety, but that’s just me.
Emily Macdonald
interesting things. Suppliers can then do a
Sales director, Liberty Wines
sommelier for the evening and it was great:
understand that they pay a premium for
bit more theatre.
Recently at The Secret Cellar I was their
it wasn’t just me standing there giving a
A clear pricing policy is key. Consumers
drinking in so are not surprised by two
talk about wines; I was talking to people at
levels of pricing.
simple. I would rotate wines of the week
the retail price for on-premise sales. This
tables, taking orders, and time just flew.
If it were me I would keep lists very, very
or wines of the month and I would have
specials boards. I would want to be very
focused on what the wines were, partly to
control the stock and also in order to keep
it interesting. So I would limit it to 12 or
16 wines at any given point, in terms of the
focus wines.
31
A lot of those who have been successful
work on a flat cash margin addition to
means they don’t have to have separate
lists for each and allows them to use the
on-trade sales to act as a window on their
entire range.
As with any good wine list, we suggest
glass sizes should be 125ml and 175ml –
250ml is too large for most consumers.
12
things your competitors did last year
Checking in on the chains
It’s important to keep a weather eye on the multiples, but frankly who’s got the time?
Here’s a five-minute guide to what the big boys have been up to lately
TESCO: LEANER AND MEANER
ALDI: THAT’S YOUR LOT
MAJESTIC: MINIMUMS MASHED
Turns out that supermarket customers don’t
Last year saw the launch of The Lot, an
It was a happy year for Rowan Gormley, who
really want a big wall of wine after all, which
exclusive range of £9.99 wines, including
sold the loss-making Naked Wines business
is why Tesco took the decision to cull 300 of
collaborations with winemakers such as
to Majestic for £70m and was crowned chief
its SKUs – about a third of its range. Toadying
Jean-Claude Mas and Nicolas Bizzarri. Bottles
executive as part of the deal. The six-bottle
suppliers gushed about what a wise decision this
were individually numbered and
minimum was scrapped, as was much of
was, but the response from online customers to
restricted to four per customer,
Majestic’s expansion programme: it now
the closure of the Tesco Wine
sparking a boom in sales of wigs
envisages an estate size of
Community (yes, there was
and Groucho glasses in Aldi car
230 stores rather than the 330
such a thing) was more abusive.
parks to outfox security guards.
it originally planned.
LIDL: PASSING THE PARCELS
MORRISONS: REVOLUTION REWARDED
THE CO-OPERATIVE: PEACE IN OUR TIME
The premium Wine Cellar range is paying
When the bottle stopped spinning during the
Critics raved about the surprisingly bold range
dividends for Lidl, but the problem with sourcing
International Wine Challenge retail judging, it was
put together by Paul Bastard during his tenure as
exclusive parcels is that it’s hard to share them
left pointing at Morrisons – or at least that’s the
the Co-op’s wine chief. Since then there’s been
around evenly: a 6,000-bottle consignment works
way the Supermarket of the Year announcement
a sense that the group has played things fairly
out at one case per store. Lidl is now being more
was interpreted by the cynics. Morrisons, which
strategic in how it allocates
safe. But Parallel Vines, a blend
of Australian Chardonnay
also picked up 80 gongs for
stock, meaning branches
its own-labels, saw it as a
and Kiwi Sauvignon made by
in upmarket areas will get
reward for a “completely
Andrew Peace, has provided
an unlikely talking point.
revolutionised wine offer”.
more of the good stuff.
WAITROSE: PASS THE PARCELS
ASDA: THE ROARING TWENTIES
SPAR: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
The online Waitrose Cellar range has seen
As with Morrisons’ victory at the IWC,
The convenience chains don’t tend to worry
sales jump by 21%, according to the company,
Merlot was spat incredulously across
specialist merchants unduly, but Spar has a
and now offers 200 exclusives. The range was
dinner plates when Asda picked up
doggedness in its approach to wine that has
boosted by around 60 new lines last year, and
the Best Supermarket prize at the
seen more than one MW join its ranks over the
will see more small-parcel
Decanter awards. But there has been
years. Its latest wheeze is a new “everyday low
wines in the coming year.
critical acclaim for the grocer’s Wine
price” of £16 for its
Waitrose has replaced
Atlas range, with its 1920s-style labels
house Champagne and
Averys as The Telegraph’s
designed to imprint a sense of place in
seven new upmarket
wine club partner.
consumers’ minds.
own-labels.
WINE RACK: PUNCHING ABOVE ITS WEIGHT
SAINSBURY’S: SCINTILLATING
ODDBINS: HERE FOR THE BEER
Another bizarre chapter has opened in the story
It was certainly a thrilling year in the Sainsbury’s
How do you react if your chain of
of the franchised chain with the reverse takeover
wine aisles, what with all those new vintages
wine shops registers a 37% increase
of Matthew Clark by owner Conviviality Retail.
coming in. And all that other stuff. Obviously
in beer sales over the course of a
The deal includes supply agreements with MC’s
there isn’t space to list it all here, especially not
year? In Oddbins’ case, the answer
previous owners, Punch Taverns and Accolade
in the detail that would be required to convey
is that you open a specialist beer
Wines, so don’t be surprised to see window
just how exciting and radical
store in Blackheath. Made a lot
displays of Nobilo, Ravenswood, Mud House and
Sainsbury’s has been with its
more sense than that Christmas
(gulp) Echo Falls.
exceptionally interesting wine
ad in which a customer is briefly
range.
abducted by Basil Brush.
32
33
regional focus: Scotland
Local Heroes
for us,” says owner Chris Lockett. “It’s
great having a gin producer in the town. It
almost sells itself.”
Lockett lists several other Scottish gins,
among them Pickering’s, Bruichladdichproduced The Botanist, Caorunn and
Crossbill, whose distillery in a converted
chicken coop recently won this year’s UK
In the first of a new series, Nigel Huddleston tours the regions of
the UK and talks to the people making and selling drinks with a
real sense of place. First stop: Scotland
Shed of the Year award.
The gin is made from 100% Scottish
juniper and rosehip.
“They forage for their own botanicals
around Aviemore,” says Lockett. “The
important thing is their independence.
There are lots of smaller producers doing
their own thing and I like championing that
quality.”
A
FOR LOCKETT, THE independence of a
wave of nationalism and
patriotism swept the Scottish
producer usually trumps localness, a factor
Nationalists to victory in the
which comes into play in Scotch whisky.
country’s Westminster elections last May.
“People do quite often want a local
It might be reasonable to assume the
whisky but really there only is Glenkinchie
major drinking trends in Scotland would
that’s close to here and it’s owned by
reflect some clamour for Scottish products
Diageo,” says Lockett. “It’s by no means a
on the back of SNP fervour.
bad whisky but we probably wouldn’t sell
“Not at all,” says Chris Lockett at Lockett
it if it wasn’t local.”
Bros in North Berwick. “We’re in East
Lothian and the vote was 65% against
independence, so there’s been nothing like
With Scotch production concentrated in
that.”
the easy option and load the shelves with
Scottish drinks. It’s just that demand is
production that has been sweeping the UK
That’s not to say that Lockett and other
retailers aren’t detecting a thirst for
being driven – as in other arts of the UK
– by interest in smallness and localness
rather than any political scenario.
No other part of the UK is quite so
closely associated with the production of
a particular alcoholic drink as Scotland
is with whisky. It’s a source of £4 billion
in annual trade revenue for the country,
even before tourism has been taken into
account. In short, whisky makes Scotland
world famous.
It would seem obvious, then, if you
owned a drinks shop in Scotland, to take
Scotch whisky – as many do.
But the boom in boutique alcohol
– with beer and gin in particular – means
that other local drinks are available, and
canny retailers have taken advantage to
give their ranges a modern and distinctive
twist.
At Lockett Bros that’s meant close ties
with the locally-made NB gin.
NB has its own tab on the Lockett
Brothers website and the store had a world
exclusive on NB’s citrus vodka when it was
launched last summer.
“It’s pretty amazing how well they’re
doing and it’s obviously been a big seller
34
very specific historical areas, retailer and
consumer affections for the drink tend to
be a national rather than a local affair –
and shops, like Lockett Bros, that want to
set themselves apart often seek out more
niche products that come from outside the
immediate vicinity.
That promises to change in years to come
with new operators bringing Scotch whisky
production into the major cities.
Glasgow Distillery started producing
Makar gin as its first revenue stream
last year and is just laying down spirit to
produce single malt, though the legal threeyear ageing limit for Scotch whisky means
that it will be 2018 at the earliest before
any sees the light of day.
Over in Edinburgh, former Macallan
master distiller David Robertson
announced plans last month to build
or Bruichladdich. Since Bruichladdich was
engine shed in the city centre, but the best
quality and got rid of age statements and
the city’s first single malt distillery – to
be called Holyrood Park – in a disused
estimate for its whisky going on sale is
2023, and it could be as late as 2027.
Until that happens, further-flung smaller
distillers are providing excitement.
Kilchoman on Islay is one that’s set a few
pulses racing in recent times. The Wills
family set up the distillery in 2005 and
grow a third of the barley they use. They
even have their own malting floor.
Their presence on the island has shaken
up an old order of famous distillers and
brands who – since Remy Cointreau bought
Bruichladdich in 2013 – are all owned by
multinational spirits groups.
“It’s outstanding stuff,” says Lockett.
“It’s a great example of a family operation
that’s focused on quality. We sell more of
its whisky than we do Ardbeg, Bowmore
taken over by Remy we don’t sell nearly as
much as we did. It’s lost that independent
it’s not really so much our bag.”
ISLE OF ARRAN is another island producer
singled out by Lockett for its independent
spirit, commitment to quality and
really about little independents but the big
who didn’t want to go on the record, also
prefers to look to the brewing world.
enthusiasm for dealing smaller retailers.
Another independent wine merchant,
heaped praise on Arran and bemoaned the
inflated prices that some big brands are
now charging for limited edition whisky
marques.
James Wrobel at Cornelius Beer & Wine
in Edinburgh’s Easter Road, which lends
its name to the home of Hibernian FC,
is another to namecheck Kilchoman as
an independent Scotch whisky distiller
to watch but adds: “Scotch whisky isn’t
multinationals.”
For smaller producer interest, Wrobel
“My idea of local is anywhere within an
hour’s drive,” he says. “I prefer to focus
on genuinely local brewers but the rest of
Scotland is very good as well.
“The great thing about dealing with
smaller producers is that you’re dealing
with the people who make the beer, not a
Continues page 36
Scotland’s only floating wine shop
waits
for business
to pick up
The vines are in Spain, but that
mountain
is Portuguese
35
regional focus: Scotland
Makar Glasgow Gin
The Arran Malt
The Isle of Arran Distillery is one
Makar Glasgow Gin is the
of the few remaining independent,
award-winning
Scottish-owned whisky distilleries and
handcrafted
has been producing award-winning
by The Glasgow Distillery
Single Malt in Lochranza on the Isle
Company.
of Arran since its construction in
November 2014, Makar is
1995. The range consists of a 10-year-
Glasgow’s first ever gin.
premium
gin
produced
Launched
in
old, 12-year-old Cask Strength and
Distilled in small batches
14-year-old which each embody the
in a copper pot still, Annie,
distillery’s fresh, smooth and full
Makar is a luxuriously smooth
bodied unpeated island style. The
juniper-forward gin entwined with seven other botanicals to a
perfect choice for those who want to
create the perfect balance. Bright and robust, Makar is perfect
offer something that can’t be found
for gin-led cocktails and invigorating with premium tonic and fine
on every supermarket shelf.
slice of fresh green chilli to garnish.
Contact: 01786 431 900
Contact: 0141 404 7191
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.arranwhisky.com
www.glasgowdistillery.com
Kilchoman Distillery
Edinburgh Gin
Kilchoman was the first Distillery to
The Edinburgh Gin collection is constantly
be opened on Islay for 124 years. It
evolving to offer a taste of the Scottish
was founded by Anthony Wills, who
capital in refreshingly imaginative ways.
wanted to take whisky-making back
That may be with the introduction of
to its roots.
seasonal limited editions, a new native
fruit liqueur, or simply our classic gin,
Kilchoman is only independently
reimagined.
owned and family-run distillery
on Islay. For some of Kilchoman’s
Nestled in the shadow of Edinburgh
production they grow barley on
Castle you’ll find the Edinburgh Gin
their farm, which is then malted
Distillery. A veritable wonderland of all
in traditional floor maltings before
things gin, visitors can learn about the
distilling, maturing and bottling at
history of gin while designing, distilling
Kilchoman. Kilchoman produces
and bottling their own custom made gin
only 150,000 litres of whisky a year.
with the help of Edinburgh Gin’s Master
Distillers.
Contact: 01496 850011
Contact: 0131 656 2810
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.kilchomandistillery.com
www.edinburghgindistillery.co.uk
36
REGIONAL FOCUS: Scotland
From page 35
wholesaler or importer. It means you can
be first in the queue for interesting bits
and pieces.
“But none of this would happen if they
weren’t making products that are good
quality and that have good customer
demand for them.”
Wrobel says that “anything from
Tempest” is high on his shopping list.
The brewery started out life as a
microbrewery within Kelso freehouse The
Cobbles, but has now moved to standalone premises on a nearby industrial
estate to increase capacity to meet demand
for its products.
It was founded by the Cobbles head chef
Gavin Meiklejohn on the philosophy that,
if you want really good beer to sell in your
pub, you might as well make it yourself.
“They’re local enough,” says Wrobel.
“They’re really well respected and make
Marmalade on Rye is a double IPA
crammed with oranges and ginger
great quality beer at a reasonable price.”
says Wrobel. “We’re doing very well with
sense of identity: Porter Leith and Choose
of Top Out and Stewart are also strongly
Cornelius has used Tempest to make
two beers of its own, both with a firm local
Leith NZPA.
Tempest’s own brews include the
wonderfully-named In The Dark We Live –
a hybrid beer billed as “IPA by attitude and
porter by appearance”. Marmalade on Rye
is a double IPA crammed with oranges and
ginger.
ANOTHER CORNELIUS FAVOURITE is
Luckie Ales, based in Glenrothes, better
known for its eponymous Berry Brosowned single malt.
“Luckie does really good old-school
recipes that go back to the 19th century,”
New uses for kelp, thistles and scurvy grass
SCOTLAND’S WHISKY DISTILLING heritage has crossed over
into white spirit production with Highland farm Arbikie growing its
own Maris Pipers and King Edwards to make vodka, and infusing
batches with locally-grown kelp and carline thistle for its gin … the
area in and around Edinburgh is home to a clutch of gins including
Pickering, NB, Daffy’s and Spencerfield Spirit’s Edinburgh Gin
range which includes fruit liqueurs and the new Seaside gin
featuring seaweed and scurvy grass from the nearby coast … St
Andrews is home to microbrewer and distiller Eden Mill which
fuses its two areas of expertise to make Oak Gin, matured in
ex-whisky casks, and Hop Gin, which does what it says on the
bottle … while Brewdog makes all the headlines a whole bunch of smaller
brewers have breathed life into a beer market stereotyped around pints of heavy
and cans of Tennent’s Lager with Bute Brew Co, Fyne Ales, Tempest, Cromarty
and Williams Bros among the names to drop … Dunbar-based cider maker
Thistly Cross produces one matured in whisky casks while Perthshire’s Cairn o’
Mohr will soon chalk up three decades of making cider and country wines from
them.”
The neighbouring Edinburgh breweries
backed by Wrobel. Top Out does “one of
the best IPAs in Scotland”, he argues, while
Stewart earns praise for committing to
a quality 80/-, the traditional ale style
otherwise known as heavy.
That style also features in the beer range
at Lockett Bros, where Chris Lockett has
been experimenting with ageing beers
in whisky casks in partnership with local
brewer Knops, based three miles away in
Dirleton.
The initiative is an extension of Lockett’s
own bottlings of casks of malt whisky – a
practice for which retailer-wholesalers
such as Cadenhead’s and Gordon &
MacPhail are famous.
Lockett says: “We’ve taken porter and
put it into two Islay whisky casks from
Bunnahabhain: one a Sherry hogshead and
the other a bourbon hogshead. And we’ve
put an 80/- into a bourbon hogshead from
the Tomatin distillery.”
Such experimentation brings together
the two separate worlds of brewing and
distilling to make exciting new products.
But it could be a while before the third
great art of alcohol making makes its mark
in Scottish retailers’ local offerings.
The inaugural wine made by the
country’s first vineyard, Chateau Largo
in Fife, was given a public airing in the
summer only to be branded “undrinkable”
by critics and “horrible” by its owner,
though Edinburgh retailer Great Grog’s
owner Richard Meadows told the
Telegraph that he “enjoyed it in a bizarre,
local
berries taking
and wild
flowers.
Six
merchants
a broad
view
THE WINE MERCHANT January 2016
38
masochistic way”.
THE WINE MERCHANT
ANNUAL READER
SURVEY
• 2016 •
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
ENOTRIA
Every year The Wine Merchant conducts the biggest survey
of the UK independent wine trade.
The results help build a reliable picture of the state of play in our dynamic part
of the market: how it’s performing, how much it’s worth, how independent wine
merchants are changing and what we can expect from the year ahead.
Please take 10 minutes to take part in this year’s survey at winemerchantmag.com.
We’ll be entering all participants in a draw to win some superb prizes from Enotria.
THE WINE MERCHANT.
reader trip to bordeaux
It’s a family affair
What exactly is Les Grands Chais de France? Why are more and more independents trading with the
company? Who does it work with in Bordeaux? The answers were revealed during a November trip
M
ost of us tend to visit vineyards when the sun is beating
down, but there’s a lot to be said for treading the
terroir in the late autumn.
We arrive in Bordeaux just as the last of the harvest is being
pressed and the fate of the 2015 vintage effectively sealed. The
vine leaves are putting on their final show of the year, creating a
regal, red-and-gold vista against a backdrop of cold morning fog.
The occasional solitary grape still clings on, either forgotten or
rejected by the pickers, an unexpected prize for opportunistic
birds.
Les Grands Chais de France is based in Alsace but Bordeaux
is one of its strongholds: 17 of its properties are located in the
region. Our journey begins in Haut-Médoc, at Château Lestage
Simon, in the company of Merete Lövig Larsen, the acclaimed
Danish winemaker with responsibility for all the company’s Left
Four merchants on a flying visit
Bank production.
on Neal Martin of The Wine Advocate with a sneak preview of the
takes us through recent vintages – not just from Lestage Simon,
bottle? Only time will tell.
The last juice of 2015 has just been transferred to tank as we
arrive and, with the pressure off, she is in a cheerful mood as she
but other properties either owned by GCF or with which the group
has exclusive supply agreements.
Château Cartillon’s samples
in the barrel-room tasting
are powerful and tight,
promising great
things to come
as they age. The
Lestage Simon
wines are also
concentrated
and savoury,
with a pleasing
spicy character.
We steal a march
Merete Lövig Larsen: loving life
on the Left Bank
2015 wine, straight from tank, midway through malolactic. Will
those wild strawberries and liquorice flavours endure into the
THE NEXT STOP is Château Pédesclaux, a stunning fifth-growth
Pauillac estate owned by Jacky Lorenzetti, whose portfolio also
includes Racing Métro 92, the Paris rugby club. Grand-scale winery
architecture can often be crass and vainglorious, but Pédesclaux
doesn’t feel vulgar at all. In fact, for such a visually impressive
building, it’s actually more about function than form.
The sleek, glass-fronted cellar is designed to make winemakers
feel more connected with their landscape, rather than shielded
from it. Inside, there’s a hushed and almost clinical efficiency to
the working environment, with its gleaming tanks and blinking
electronics. It seems a world away from the splash and clatter of
most wineries.
We taste as far back as the 2006, a mellow, fresh and elegant
wine with a tautness that will doubtless loosen with age.
Pédesclaux’s modern-day story really began in 2009 and here the
heat of the vintage is reflected in a more full-bodied style. We taste
THE WINE MERCHANT january 2016
40
in association with les grands chais de france
the 2014 barrel sample and sense a rounder, fruitier ambition
from the winemaking team.
DAY TWO BEGINS with a brief stop at Château La Conseillante
in Pomerol, a 12-hectare property whose closest neighbours are
Petrus and Cheval Blanc. Family owned since 1871 and a proud
partner of GCF, its vineyards are 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet
Franc.
The 2014 wine is a delight: perfumed and spicy with a soft
elegance, it will be in its prime within six or seven years. Its
evolution should correspond with the château’s ambition to move
gradually towards totally organic winemaking.
Next we’re off to Château Laroque, one of the biggest and oldest
properties in St Emilion. The vineyards date back to medieval
times and today’s 61-hectare estate was larger before phylloxera
took its toll. Again, Merlot is king here, thriving on the limestone,
A visual treat for us, and some bonus nourishment for the crows
while Cabernet Franc plays a supporting role. All the grapes are
from the simple but expressive Les Vignerons Vin de France range
smoky and spicy, but all exhibit a fresh, chalky minerality.
Baume in the Languedoc.
hand-harvested and fermented in concrete tanks.
We taste from 2006 to 2012: the wines are variously plummy,
At Château Cantin, also in St Emilion, we meet Sebastien
Villenave, responsible for GCF’s Right Bank winemaking. This
particular property joined GCF’s portfolio in 2008 and Villenave
admits to some nervousness about joining such a large family
business. “But there are individual teams for individual châteaux,”
he says. “You know that you’re working for a family company.”
Villenave gets support from Michel Rolland’s consultancy and
benefits from the interchange of knowledge and ideas that the
relationship brings.
What does he say to critics who believe Rolland’s ideas lead to a
homogenous wine style for his client base? “Even if the technical
protocols are more or less the same in our properties, you’re
dealing with such different vineyards that you end up with very
distinct wines,” Villenave responds.
Before lunch, where we enjoy a range of GCF’s top clarets, we are
given a snapshot tasting of other wines in the group’s portfolio:
to the syrupy, saline Château de Fesles Chenin, the tangy St Roch
Limoux Chardonnay and the earthy Elisabeth Viognier from La
The final stop is at Château La Gaffeliere, a St Emilion Grand Cru
family estate with 22 hectares of vineyards. The emphasis here,
we’re told, is on “wines that are about pleasure and easy to drink”
– an obvious maxim, perhaps, but one that isn’t always associated
with Bordeaux.
The wines are a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc in varying
proportions, according to vintage. They have an explosive and
intense character, but they’re still really adolescents. These wines
have a long journey ahead of them, something we later empathise
with as we sit delayed at the airport.
The murk outside shows no immediate sign of clearing. But
as far as our understanding of Les Grands Chais de France’s
Bordeaux portfolio is concerned – and indeed its wider appeal to
independents – the fog has lifted.
41
Continues page 42
reader trip to bordeaux
La Conseillante, La Gaffeliere
and Pédescleaux impressed me
Our hosts did
most. These are all wines that we
a great job of introducing a
stock older vintages of. I found it very
company that, while epic in size, has
informative to see their facilities, try their
wines, and gain an insight into production. I
managed to cultivate a sense of personality: one
saw GCF as a large producer with a focus on
driven by an idea of family, from its ownership right
volume; now I see that they are diversifying
through to its focus on sustaining the individual
their production and moving away from this
grower. I was particularly interested to learn about
image through the acquisition of smaller
vineyards, keeping an eye on trends, and
representing some very prestigious
their central distribution system that would allow
us to directly import some wonderful and niche
products without being committed to whole
pallets from single wineries. Seeing the
names known for quality.
vineyards and the cellars and listening to the
winemakers reminded me of the passion
and dedication that lies in every bottle.
Krystenne Macmullin
The Sampler, London
Jamie Watts
Bedales, London
My perception of
GCF was totally transformed by
the trip. I was mightily impressed by their
broad portfolio and obvious care and attention with
My perception
each individual château partner. Their winemakers were
all impressive and seemed dedicated and focused on making
wines and being true to their site and appellation. I had no idea
they had long-standing distribution relationships
of GCF now is very good. I was
impressed by the quality of the winemaking
in the regional tasting … I thought the prices were
with such well-known classed growth chateaux
and have access to allocations from other
top names. I look forward to adding
a number of wines to my shelves,
certainly Château Laroque and
La Conseillante and a couple
of petits châteaux.
certainly attractive enough to make the wines a
serious consideration and that the products were
certainly commercial – clearly GCF has access to
some serious wine knowledge.
On a personal level, our hosts showed
a broad set of skills and left me with
confidence that were we to begin shipping
with them, our orders would be in
safe hands. Undoubtedly, there are
wines from the GCF portfolio that
HarperWells can work with.
Camilla Wood
Somerset Wine Company
Castle Cary
42
Sam Howard
HarperWells, Norwich
in association with les grands chais de france
Exclusively for independents
Les Grands Chais de France is a family-owned company
that built much of its success on the JP Chenet brand, as
well as through contract business with leading multiples.
Since its creation by Joseph Helfrich in 1979, the group has
acquired almost 30 wine estates in seven French regions,
including Arthur Metz (Alsace); Lacheteau, Château du Cléray
and Château de Fesles (Loire Valley); Château Cantin and
Clos Beauregard (Bordeaux); Pasquier-Desvignes (Beaujolais);
and Domaine de la Baume (Languedoc-Roussillon).
The GCF Exclusif division has a portfolio of more than 700
wines, aimed at independent merchants and the on-trade.
Eighteenth-century grandeur at Château Laroque
Many of these wines come from GCF’s own properties; others
are sourced from producers with whom the company has
exclusive supply agreements.
CHRIS DAVIES, WHO heads the division in the UK, believes
the business is well placed to meet the needs of independents.
“Trips like this help me understand them better and what
they need, and invariably there are individual needs for
different independents. But there are three common themes.
“Sector exclusivity is very important to them, and we
understand that; interesting and exciting wines that overdeliver; and a logistics platform that delivers smaller volumes.
So that’s half a pallet or a full pallet that’s mixed with anything
from entry-level wines to top grands crus.
The vintage is almost finished at Château La Conseillante
“I think we tick all three of those boxes and that’s really
been the key message of the last two or three years.”
The other advantage is that “there are no distributor or
agency fees, because we are the producer and we are
delivering direct to market,” Davies points out. “So you’ve
stripped out one whole tier there in terms of pricing.”
Is GCF’s trade with independents increasing? “Absolutely,”
says Davies. “We’re having pretty much double-digit growth
with the indies because no other French company can offer the
same breadth of offer as us. We have a real commitment to
get in there and to provide a flexible service to these guys. I’m
really pleased with how it’s going.”
For more details call 07789 008540
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @GCFExclusifU
Tanks at Château Pédesclaux gleam in the natural light
43
GUEST COLUMNIST: JULIE CAMPBELL
The road to recovery
Julie Campbell’s world, and business, seemed to collapse last summer after a freak accident left her
with a broken neck. Now the east London wine merchant is planning for the future with a little help
from the trade’s charity, The Benevolent, which has helped her through a hellish few months
O
ver the last 12 years I’ve been involved in various aspects
of the wine industry, from events and marketing for the
International Wine Challenge to working in the on-trade
as a sommelier and bartender.
I started a wine and spirit consultancy and finally succumbed
to the retail world, opening my first shop Vinvixen in Hackney in
early 2013.
Life can play some cruel tricks and last summer I found myself
in the struggle of a lifetime with a broken neck and an uncertain
prognosis.
We all are really comfortable using phrases like “life can change
in the blink of an eye” or “bad things can happen to anyone” but
the truth is we never include ourselves in these statements. I think
that’s the only way we can live a fulfilled life, because if we did we
wouldn’t do anything at all.
However, it’s how we deal with the consequences of “bad things”
happening that really matters. One minute I was enjoying a sunny
afternoon in the park, being silly, and the next I had broken my C1
vertebra and was in a full halo body brace.
The brace only came off on December 7. I was unable to leave
my flat, shower or lift a laundry basket. Perhaps worst of all,
I closed up shop one Saturday evening and never went back.
Overnight it was gone.
I was very fortunate to have a wonderful support system around
me of people who helped to keep Vinvixen open for the few weeks
after my accident.
But it was obvious that my injury was far too great to overcome
while continuing to run a business. With great sadness, I closed
the shop in September to concentrate solely on my recovery.
The loss was completely devastating. I had created such strong
relationships with my customers and put so much work into the
business and my commitment to improving wine culture. I felt like
it was all gone and I didn’t know how to pick up the pieces.
MY NEW REALITY was to face the painful and difficult task of
getting healthy and figure out how to overcome the foreseeable
financial hardships that were just on the horizon.
Not knowing where to turn for help was equally distressing, and
just when I was at a complete loss … enter
The Benevolent.
A close friend who had previously
received assistance contacted them on my
behalf. I knew of The Benevolent but had
assumed that it was a charity to help trade
pensioners or other individuals who had
made a substantial commitment to the
industry over time.
I didn’t think that I would be the kind of
charitable case that it would be interested
in. Thankfully, I was completely wrong.
Benevolent staff were “incredibly kind and generous” with the support they offered
44
The Benevolent became a lifeline for me,
offering not only financial assistance but
practical advice to help me deal with the
I didn’t think that I
would be the kind of
case The Benevolent
would be interested in.
Thankfully I was wrong
day-to-day challenges of my new situation. It was there to help
alleviate some of the financial burdens of closing the shop, and
the team were incredibly kind and generous with their time and
emotional support. No one was ever more than an email or phone
call away if I needed them, and just knowing that made all the
difference in my struggle. The importance of what they actually do
cannot be understated.
I UNDERSTAND NOW that The Benevolent needs all of our
support to help it reach the right individuals. The very least I can
do is to help publicise its efforts and get people talking about what
it does and who it helps, so that it can continue to do its amazing
work.
So what’s next for the Vinvixen? It’s still a bit uncertain. I’m
hoping to have a new base in east London in the New Year, and
hopefully, pick up where I left off.
The benefits of independent wine retailers are indisputable
when it comes to sharing a passion for wine. We are responsible
for encouraging customers to be adventurous and supporting
winemakers who are truly dedicated to their craft.
We strive to stimulate conversation, make more good wines
available to more people, and encourage our customers to spend
just a little bit more to get the most out of what they buy. This is
still my goal, in whatever capacity Vinvixen re-emerges.
The Vinvixen is hopeful of establishing a new base in 2016
Practical,
emotional and
financial support
The Benevolent was founded in 1886 with the mission
of helping colleagues from the drinks industry who face
serious medical or financial hardship.
Today The Benevolent continues to be at the heart of
the UK drinks industry, providing assistance – both in
preventative and caring capacities – that improves the
quality of life for vulnerable members of the trade.
In partnership with the drinks industry the charity works
to combat issues such as financial hardship, loneliness,
serious illness and disability, as well as providing practical,
emotional and financial support to members of the trade
when they need it most.
More information at thebenevolent.org.uk
45
supplier bulletin
ENOTRIA
23 Cumberland Avenue
London
NW10 7RX
020 8961 5161
[email protected]
www.enotria.co.uk
UNRIVALLED PORTFOLIO OF PREMIUM
PRODUCTS
Connecting our indie customers with
the world’s finest producers
producers – here are a few top picks from
the Enotria portfolio.
• Quinta do Crasto Syrah Superior
• Trimbach Cuvée M. Riesling
We work with some of the most
• Planeta Noto Nero D’Avola
enables us to offer you an unrivalled
• Henschke Croft Chardonnay
all, whatever the need!
for 2016, so do get in touch to find out
prestigious, popular, innovative and
• d’Arenberg The Bonsai Vine
iconic wine producers in the world, which
• Henschke Giles Pinot Noir
and variety … in essence, something for
We have exciting plans in the pipeline
available from a host of our talented
independent wine merchants.
premium portfolio of depth, breadth, class
We have a fantastic exclusive range
more about what we have available for
Talk to us at
@enotriaindies
SECKFORD AGENCIES
Old Barn Farm
Harts Lane, Ardleigh
Colchester CO7 7QQ
01206 231686
[email protected]
@seckfordagency
Seckford Agencies Ltd
Australia Day Tasting At RHH on 26th January
Seckford Agencies winery representatives attending this year on tables 70-72
Hollick, Coonawarra
The Pawn Wine Co, Adelaide Hills
The new CEO at Hollick, Rebecca Poynter,
Owner, viticulturist and sometime
Corey since 2012 which have gained high
he has resolved to save from the corporate
will attend ADT to present their “pride of
place” wines, created by winemaker Joe
praise from James Halliday.
Noteworthy is the 2012 Cabernet
Sauvignon (94 points, RRP
£17.25) and Ravenswood
Cabernet Sauvignon (96 points,
RRP £35).
A new introduction to the
UK during 2015 being the
BARD series comprising
Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Shiraz
and Cabernet Sauvignon – all
retailing between £11.25£12.95.
46
winemaker Tom Keelan will present this
great range of cool-climate varietals that
blending process.
Having worked for a decade or more
with these vineyards, he is
delighted to present ‘The
Austrian Attack’ Gruner
Veltliner (96 points, James
Halliday, RRP £14.50) and
‘The Gambit’ Sangiovese
(93 points, James Halliday,
RRP £14.50) amongst many
other intriguing examples all
named after chess moves.
supplier bulletin
LOUIS LATOUR
AGENCIES
0207 409 7276
[email protected]
www.louislatour.co.uk
We have moved. Please send all
post to 12-14 Denman Street
London W1D 7HJ. Our telephone
numbers remain the same.
Join us at the Louis Latour Agencies Portfolio tasting on the 3rd
February 2016 in Central London.
Learn more about our portfolio of family owned wineries and meet the
people behind them.
11am-12 noon Masterclass & Vertical Tasting: Côte-Rôtie La
Chatillonne, Vidal-Fleury’s historic Côte Blonde vineyard: 2004 to 2012.
La Chatillonne has been part of Vidal-Fleury’s domaine since its
foundation in 1781 and is central to the company’s story. Join Vidal-Fleury
to learn more about the company’s history and philosophy.
New Agencies: Champagne Gosset, Cognac Frapin and Morgenhof Estate
London Cheese Board: This London based wholesaler will be launching
an exclusive new range of Belgian cheeses made by Trappist monks in
Chimay alongside a selection of its award-winning British farmhouse
cheeses.
2014 Burgundy Releases: Louis Latour’s Côte d’Or wines and Chablis
from Simonnet-Febvre.
Meet the winemakers: The people behind our wines will be travelling
to London from our Burgundy, Beaujolais, Champagne, Cognac, Rhône,
Margaret River, Clare Valley, Colchagua Valley and Stellenbosch producers.
For more information and to RSVP contact [email protected]
or call her on 020 7409 7276.
gonzalez byass uk
Give the gift of Amour
Make the most of the season of romance with
01707 274790
www.gonzalezbyassuk.com
[email protected]
@GonzalezByassUK
the fantastic range of Valentine’s Day offers from
Champagne Deutz.
With small production, longer ageing and a constant
focus on quality, Champagne Deutz is the Grande Marque Champagne with boutique
philosophies. Exclusive to the independent and on-trade sector, Deutz is perfect for
the more discerning Champagne customer. With
every bottle depicting the iconic Deutz cherub that
overlooks the maison, it is also the perfect choice
for those romantic occasions.
Special prices are available on the below cuvées.
For more information on adding Deutz to your
range or taking advantage of these offers please
contact Arthur Voulgaris via
[email protected].
Deutz Rosé NV
Deutz Rosé Vintage 2009
Amour de Deutz Rosé 2006
47
supplier bulletin
berkmann wine
cellarS
10-12 Brewery Road
London N7 9NH
[email protected]
www.berkmann.co.uk
London, South, Midlands,
South West 020 7670 0972
North & Scotland
01423 357567
New Zealand Annual Trade Tasting – 18th January
We will be introducing the latest addition to our New Zealand portfolio:
Bannockburn Bridge Pinot Noir from Central Otago. This wine exemplifies
the purity, balance and succulence that has made the region’s reputation.
Coopers Creek – classic varietals are pure expressions of the grape, each
sourced from the most suitable region.
Mount Holdsworth – a family-owned winery in Wairarapa, sourcing fruit
from a single 80-hectare vineyard.
Julicher – The winery’s style is a graceful combination of clarity and texture,
these wines showcase Martinborough’s new wave at its best.
Australia Day Trade Tasting – 26th January
Langmeil, Barossa – home to what is believed to be the oldest surviving Shiraz vineyard
in the world, planted in 1843, Langmeil has an unwavering commitment to quality.
Chapel Hill, McLaren Vale – Michael Fragos is a pioneer in sustainability and strives to
hand craft wines with purity and balance.
Katnook Estate, Coonawarra – one of the oldest wineries in Australia. Wayne Stehbens
produces wines with rich flavour profiles and astonishing longevity.
Deakin Estate, Victoria – produce the finest quality wines using only the best fruit from
their family own estate. Deakin offers wines of consistent quality and impressive value.
Our Portfolio Tasting is on 1st March. Contact Louise Bull – [email protected].
Melanie Symonds, of Brahms & Liszt
in Hackney, prepares a cocktail
48
supplier bulletin
liberty wines
6 Timbermill Way
London
SW4 6LY
020 7720 5350
[email protected]
www.libertywines.co.uk
@liberty_wines
The new generation of South African winemakers deserves attention for the distinctive
and characterful wines they are producing. Indeed, they’ve encouraged us to expand our
South African portfolio.
While not new to the Swartland, Charles Back was a pioneer when he started Spice Route
in 1998. “Without [Charles]… the Swartland would still be regarded as a rural backwater,”
wrote Tim Atkin. Today, the region produces many of South Africa’s outstanding wines,
yet Spice Route remains one of its most consistently credible producers. Using fruit
from their own vineyards in Malmesbury and Darling, their wines have an intensity that
characterises the best from this region.
Tim Martin’s old vines are in Swartland and Paarl. The wines are made with minimal
intervention in his immaculate Cape Town cellar. Tim’s first vintage, 2014, is impressive,
with a fragrant Mourvèdre and two Chenin Blancs that display clear regional identity.
Gabriëlskloof is a beautiful wine estate in Overberg, east of Cape Town, now run by
Peter-Allan Finlayson of Crystallum. The vineyards, cooled by their proximity to Walker
Bay, are farmed sustainably. The 2015s include the elegant Sauvignon Blanc, a pale Syrah/
Viognier rosé, an oaked Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc blend and an old vine Chenin Blanc.
The reds will follow in the autumn.
negociants uk
Davenport House
Bowers Way, Harpenden
Herts AL5 4HX
01582 797510
[email protected]
Twitter: @NegociantsUK
Facebook: NegociantsUK
Happy New Year – we hope that the festive season treated you well and trading was a
great success.
Kicking off 2016, first in our trade calendar on Tuesday 18th January is the New
Zealand Wine Annual Trade Tasting, where we will be showcasing our latest vintages
from Nautilus Estate and Opawa from Marlborough and Two Paddocks from Central
Otago.
Hot on the heels a week later is the London Australia Day Tasting on Tuesday
26th January, followed by Dublin on Wednesday 27th and Edinburgh on Thursday
28th – as with each year, these are very busy and brilliantly attended events so we look
forward to seeing you there!
For further details about the wines we are exhibiting at both events, please email Alex
Layton [email protected] or contact your Negociants sales manager.
Jansz vineyards in Tasmania
49
supplier bulletin
mentzendorff
1st Floor, The Woolyard
52 Bermondsey Street
London SE1 3UD
020 7840 3600
[email protected]
www.mentzendorff.co.uk
“New World Resolutions”
The New Year brings an exciting
development for Mentzendorff as
we relocate to our new offices on
Bermondsey Street, SE1. Mentzendorff
will be showcasing the offices’ impressive
in-house tasting space with the 2014
Domaine Chanson EP tasting on Monday
11th January. Taste the latest vintage,
meet Président Gilles de Courcel,
Winemaker Jean-Pierre Confuron and
discover our fantastic new offices!
January also sees the wine
walker & Wodehouse
113 Regents Park Road
London NW1 8UR
0207 449 1665
customercare@
walkerwodehousewines.com
www.walkerwodehousewines.com
co-chairing a masterclass
on Riesling and Pinot Noir
varieties.
Wines from our other
Australian Collection
agencies Turkey Flat,
Tapanappa, Domaine
Tournon, Domaine Terlato
and Chapoutier will also be available to
taste on tables 58, 59 and 60.
Place, time and people are the basis
of our unique portfolio that includes
many of the world’s finest family-owned
trade focusing on the New
wine estates. With over 150 years of
and the Australia Day tasting
importers, and proud to still offer our
in the Clare Valley will be
spirits trade.
World, with the New Zealand
history, Mentzendorff is one of the United
on the 26th, where Nathan
customers and partner suppliers true “full
tasting taking place on 21st
Kingdom’s longest-established wine
Waks from Kilikanoon
service” through all areas of the wine and
English winery Coates & Seely joins
Walker & Wodehouse
The highly acclaimed Coates & Seely Brut
Reserve and Rosé is now available to
Walker & Wodehouse customers.
Owned by Nicholas Coates and Christian
Seely, Coates & Seely is based on the
North Hampshire Downs near Winchester.
Champagne & Sparkling Wine World
similar to those found in the Champagne
Wine and Best NV Blanc de Blancs.
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier
vineyards are planted across chalk soils
region. The winemaking team is French
and consultants from Champagne help
create the wines. This union – of English
terroir and French craftsmanship – lies at
the heart of the Coates & Seely brand.
Coates & Seely wines have received
high praise from UK wine critics and this
year have won gold medals and trophies
at the Decanter World Wine Awards, for
Best English Sparkling Wine, and at the
50
Championships, where their trophies
included Best Value English Sparkling
Walker & Wodehouse Spring Tastings
The Walker & Wodehouse Spring
portfolio tastings will take place in
London on Monday 7th March and
Edinburgh on Tuesday 8th March. Keep
an eye out for details on venues and lineup, and expect great new and exclusive
wines and craft spirits and a preview of
the spring/summer promotions.
supplier bulletin
hallgarten druitt
and novum wineS
Dallow Road
Luton LU1 1UR
01582 722 538
[email protected]
www.hdnwines.co.uk
@HDNwines
Happy New Year From Hallgarten!
It’s not long now until our annual tastings
in London and Harrogate and we look
forward to welcoming you along.
The London event takes place in the
architectural splendour of the Grade
2-listed Royal Horticultural Halls in
Victoria on 8th and 9th February, and
Bertrand* (Gérard Bertrand), Samantha
O’Keefe (Lismore Estate), Marc
Hébrart* (Champagne Hébrart), Diana
Frescobaldi* (Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi)
and Yiannis Paraskevopoulos (Gaia).
Please contact [email protected]
for your invitation.
*London only
the Yorkshire leg on 10th February at the
prestigious Rudding Park, Harrogate.
At both events we will showcase a
selection of wines from our awardwinning portfolio, including new
additions from Swartland Winery and
Bloemendal in South Africa, Kayra in
Turkey and Majoros Birtok* in Hungary.
There will be a number of winemakers
and producers on hand to share
their expertise and stories, including
Matt Thomson (Saint Clair), Gérard
Samantha O’Keefe of Lismore Estate
hatch mansfield
New Bank House
1 Brockenhurst Road
Ascot
Berkshire SL5 9DL
01344 871800
[email protected]
www.hatchmansfield.com
@hatchmansfield
Say G’day to Robert Oatley Vineyards,
the newest addition to our portfolio.
Robert Oatley Vineyards is the latest venture of the
Oatley family winemaking dynasty. Created in 2006,
Robert Oatley Vineyards aims to embody the best
that Australia can produce, matching classic grape
varieties to the leading wine regions of Australia.
The Hatch Mansfield team will showcase a selection
of Robert Oatley wines at the Australia Day Tasting on
26th January in London (table no 47) and Edinburgh
(table no 12) on 28th January.
About us: UK specialists in premium wine made by independent, family-owned producers. Our
minimum order is 10 dozen mixed, unsplit cases but we can deliver less with a delivery surcharge and
can supply DPD, IBD and ex-cellar. We offer a variety of services and wines for independent customers
– contact us to find out what we can do for you.
Our portfolio: Champagne Taittinger · Louis Jadot, Burgundy · Joseph Mellot, Loire ·
Jean-Luc Colombo and Colombo & Fille, Rhône · C.V.N.E, Rioja · Viña Errazuriz and Caliterra,
Chile · Domaine Carneros, USA · Grant Burge Wines and Robert Oatley, Australia · Villa Maria
Estate, Vidal and Esk Valley, New Zealand · Kleine Zalze, South Africa.
51
supplier bulletin
EMPORIA BRANDS
The Church
172 London Road
Guildford GU1 1XR
01483 458700
[email protected]
www.emporiabrands.com
Emporia Brands is a UK spirits agency
Casco Viejo Tequila is produced by the
traditions of quality in both ingredients
highland region of Arandas creates 100%
which is relentless in seeking out, around
the world, distillers who respect artisan
and process.
St Lucia Distillers is one of the
Caribbean’s finest rum producers, with a
plethora of international awards, including
Rum Trophy at both the International
Spirits Challenge and International Wine
and Spirit Competition. Chairman’s
Reserve is a blend of double distilled pot
and column still rums.
Camarena brothers, whose privileged
access to agave from the premium
agave tequilas of exceptional quality:
Mexico City’s favourite tequila!
Gabriel Boudier: 100% fruit liqueurs
from a family owned company in Dijon,
the traditional home of liqueurs. Their
Crème de Cassis has won both the Liqueur
Trophy and Supreme Champion Spirit two
years in a row at the International Spirits
Challenge.
Rum: Chairman’s Reserve; St Lucia Distillers; Ron Prohibido. Vodka: Polugar; Staritsky
& Levitsky. Brandy: Carlos I Solera Gran Reserva Brandy de Jerez; Armagnac Comte
de Lauvia; Cognac & Pineau des Charentes Jules Gautret; Nardini Grappa. Calvados:
Père Magloire. Gin: Hoxton; Saffron. Tequila: Casco Viejo; La Cava de Don Agustin.
Liqueurs: Gabriel Boudier; Salvatore’s Liquore di Limone. Vermouths and Aperitifs:
Suze; Byrrh Grand Quinquina; Pastis Henri Bardouin; Absinthe Grande Absente; Riserva
Carlo Alberto. Whiskey: The Irishman. Sherry: Osborne VORS.
richmond wine
agencies
The Links, Popham Close
Hanworth
Middlesex TW13 6JE
020 8744 5550
[email protected]
@richmondwineag1
2016 RWA portfolio tasting
After the success of last year’s RWA portfolio tasting we invite you to join us and meet
40 of our producers and taste 250 wines.
Tuesday 2nd & Wednesday 3rd February
The Vintners Hall, 68 Upper Thames Street, London EC4V 3BG
RSVP – [email protected]
NEW wines
Four exciting new wines are now in stock:
• Whale Point Sauvignon Blanc 2015
• Whale Point Pinot Noir 2015
• Hamilton Heights Chardonnay 2015
• Hamilton Heights Shiraz 2015
Contact us for more details …
Attending SITT in February? Do pop by a see us in London & Manchester.
52
make a date
Wine Australia
Australia Days
Tastings
from the Ahr, Baden, Franken, Mosel, Pfalz,
Rheingau, Rheinhessen and Wüttembert.
Contact [email protected].
Tuesday, January 19
The Royal Air Force Club
Wine Australia is holding Australia Day
128 Piccadilly
Tastings on consecutive days in England,
London W1J 7PY
Ireland and Scotland for the first time.
Borsa Vini
Italiana 2016
Edinburgh has been added to itinerary –
the first Wine Australia event in Scotland
for seven years – while the Dublin leg will
be enter its third year. Both events will
This two-centre tasting represents an
feature in excess of 200 wines.
Wine Australia chairman Brian Walsh
will host masterclasses, with Australian
wine expert John McDonnell in Dublin
opportunity to meet several Italian
Kangaroo: possibly on the menu, but maybe not
and Nathan Waks of Clare Valley producer
premium Australian wine.
from 245 wineries across 80 tables and 63
to taste these exceptional wines and meet
Kilikanoon Wines in Edinburgh.
In London, there will be over 1,000 wines
exhibitors, in an attempt to highlight the
country’s diversity and regionality.
There will be will be a Master of Wine
versus Master Sommelier food and wine
matching challenge in London under the
name The Great Aussie Taste-Off.
Experts from each camp will be asked
to pair wines with dishes prepared by
chef Roger Jones of Michelin-starred
“We’re excited to extend this event to
give a greater audience the opportunity
many of the winemakers behind them,” she
says.
Contact emma.symington@
wineaustralia.com for London; camilla.
[email protected] for Dublin;
and [email protected] for
Edinburgh.
Tuesday, January 26
wine producers and a host of UK-based
importers.
There will be around 35 producers
present at the Manchester event and
around 70 at the London show. Some are
seeking UK representation for the first
time.
Peter McCombie MW will be leading
a masterclass on wines from some less
well known regions of the south: Calabria,
Puglia, Sicily and Campania.
For more information or to register
contact [email protected].
Tuesday, January 19
Lindley Hall
Town Hall
audience asked to decide the best matches
80 Vincent Square
Manchester M60 2LA
Clement Robert MS with modern British
and Xavier Rousset MS, and pairings for
Edinburgh EH8 9SU
The Harrow at Little Bedwyn, with the
at each of three sessions.
London SW1P 2QD
Thursday January 28
The Sheraton Park Lane Hotel
food. Pan Asian matches will be suggested
Assembly Roxy
Park Lane, London W1J 7BX
Natasha Hughes MW will take on
Thursday, January 21
by Justin Knock MW of Philglas & Swiggot
2 Roxburgh Place
for the MWs and Isa Bal for the sommeliers.
Entry is limited to one session per
The Wine Barn
Annual Tasting
and Europe, Laura Jewell MW, says the
Sixteen German winemakers will be
of the UK and Ireland trade to experience
elegant Pinot Noirs to luscious sweet wines
“the classics” will be chosen by Jo Ahearne
person.
Wine Australia’s head of market for UK
Australia Day Tastings provide the most
comprehensive opportunity for members
represented at this event. Expect to taste
everything from modern, dry Rieslings and
53
No southern Italian wines? Don’t be Sicily …
MAKE A DATE
The Magnificent
Severn
Region against the
London machine
The wine trade has always been a
London-centric environment, and
perhaps it always will be. This is a state
of affairs that was tolerated for a long
time, simply because there didn’t seem
to be any way of breaking the capital’s
stranglehold on tasting events.
There are occasional events in various
regional centres: Edinburgh, Leeds
and Manchester have all played host to
portfolio tastings, and ad-hoc get-togethers
I think I saw a couple of people from
“communicating and co-operating” about
don’t get the opportunity to go to any
we would want out of it,” says Volpi.
Hampshire and one from Bristol,” Volpi
says. “So all these West Country people
events.”
BRISTOL IS A city with a mixed track
record for trade tastings – a few years ago,
one supplier held an event there at which
literally nobody showed up. But Volpi is
hoping The Magnificent Severn will pull in
as many as 40 independents, from as far
west as Cornwall, up towards south Wales,
Worcestershire, Birmingham and down to
the Dorset coast.
“It’s only for independents and
wholesalers, so no on-trade,” he explains.
all other aspects of the event.
“We’ve all sat down and said what
“We’re all working together, there’s daily
communication between all of us. Although
we’re all competing for that pound that the
customer is going to spend, it just shows
you what a wonderful trade it is because
we’re all happy to help each other – and
that’s what we’re doing.”
Volpi does not rule out expanding the
A barman inwardly yearns
event if the first show,
at Bordeaux
Quay,ais
for a quieter
life running
shop
a success. “We’ve evenprovincial
discussedwine
whether
we do it twice a year – do one in September
– but at the moment the focus is purely on
seeing how it goes. Then we go from there
arranged by like-minded suppliers.
The Magnificent Severn, which takes
place in Bristol (where else?) next
month, takes the idea a stage further.
Seven importers will be represented at
this free-pour event which, if successful,
could establish a blueprint for similarly
ambitious regional tastings elsewhere in
the UK. Already there is talk of a northern
equivalent in March.
The Bristol show will feature Armit,
Alliance Wine, ABS, Fells, Hayward Bros,
Vintage Roots and New Generation Wines/
McKinley Vintners.
The project can trace its roots back to an
Exeter tasting in February 2015 arranged
by Richard Volpi, national accounts
manager at Armit Wines, and Jonathan
Piggott of Bottle Green.
“That worked really well for both of us,”
says Volpi. “A couple of weeks later I was
at SITT in London and just noticed the
absence of anybody from the West Country,
south Wales … and really anyone from
outside London.”
The idea of a Bristol tasting was mooted
with other suppliers and the decision to go
ahead was confirmed by a visit to SITT’s
autumn show. “Going back in September
Bristol event will bridge the gap between London tastings and regional independents
“That keeps it simple for us in terms of
and word will spread and undoubtedly
it’ll just be the local guys, so it will be nice
minded people.
price lists. There will be no producers and
no senior management from any company:
and informal.
“All the wines will be laid out on seven
tables, all numbered and corresponding
to the tasting sheet. The seven of us will
be there to make sure everything runs
smoothly and to answer any questions.
There won’t be any ‘selling’ going on.”
There will be a maximum of 50 wines
per exhibitor, and no prior discussion
between suppliers about which products
they will be showing. But the seven are
54
other companies will want to get involved.
If that’s the case they’ve got to be like-
“If we were to grow we wouldn’t get
more than seven exhibitors up there in
Bordeaux Quay – or we would have to pare
down the range of wines. But one step at a
time, I think.”
To register, call 07790 375687.
Monday, February 1
Bordeaux Quay
V-Shed, Canons Way
Bristol BS1 5UJ
Hampshire Hits
London
Indigo Wine
Portfolio Tasting
Vineyards of Hampshire, an informal
Indigo’s event will feature around 25
group of seven of the county’s top
producers from Spain, Portugal, France,
English wine producers, is holding its
Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and the
first ever tasting in London.
USA.
Cottonworth, Danebury, Exton Park,
Hambledon, Hattingley, Jenkyn Place and
Meonhill vineyards have joined forces to
promote Hampshire’s unique and prized
chalk terroir, and the quality of the wines
created there.
The focus will be on award-winning
sparkling wines produced from Pinot Noir,
Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay.
Monday, February 1
Villandry St James
12 Waterloo Place
London SW1Y 4AU
There are plenty of new names in the
portfolio this year who will be attending,
including Telmo Rodriguez from the iconic
Rioja winery, Remelluri; and Luis Anxo and
Fedellos do Couto from Galícia.
Other names to look out for are Rafael
Palacios (Valdeorras), Raul Perez (Bierzo),
Ataide Semedo (Bairrada) and Channing
Daughters from New York State.
Returning producers include Suertes
del Marques (Tenerife) and Envinate with
projects in Tenerife, Galícia, Almansa
and Extremadura; and Huré Fréres
(Champagne).
Wine
Australia
celebrates
the
diversity
of
Australian
Wine
Once again, this event will be held in
partnership with Biercraft. Attending
brewers include London craft producers
such as The Kernel, Beavertown and Five
Points as well as German brewery Mahrs
Brau.
Contact Julia Frischtak: Julia@
indigowine.com.
Tuesday, February 2
The Music Rooms
26 South Molton Lane
London W1K 5LF
Australia Day Tastings 2016
Taste exceptional Australian wines and
meet innovative winemakers at the most
comprehensive tasting of its kind in the UK
and Ireland.
London | 26 January | 10am – 5pm
Lindley Hall
Dublin | 27 January | 1pm – 6pm
Royal Hibernian Academy
Edinburgh | 28 January | 2pm – 5pm
Assembly Roxy
RSVP on our website: www.wineaustralia.com/uk
#ADTwine
55
@Wine_Australia
MAKE A DATE
Ellis Wines
Portfolio Tasting
Ehrmanns
Portfolio Tasting
More than 60 producers are expected
Ehrmanns will again be ring-fencing
to attend, including Ca Momi from
its range aimed at independents at this
California; Pauletts from Clare Valley;
year’s event.
Wairau from Marlborough; and Kaltern,
Other highlights include new organic and
Le Monde and Crociani from Italy.
sparkling wines and boutique Sherry from
Among the 300 wines on show are
Williams & Humbert. Ehrmanns will also
some stand-out sparklers from Bluebell
be introducing Willow Ridge, the family-
Vineyards, Champagne A R Lenoble and a
owned estate from Western Australia;
Prosecco from Cantine Bortolotti.
For an invitation contact lwishart@ellis-
wines.co.uk.
L’Olivella from the rich volcanic soils of
Change your view of Croatia with Bancroft
Tuesday, February 2
Wednesday, February 3
Vintners’ Hall
68 Upper Thames Street
London EC4V 3BG
Louis Latour
Agencies Portfolio
Tasting
Louis Latour’s new agencies –
Champagne Gosset, Cognac Frapin and
Morgenhof Estate – will be represented
at this year’s event.
Producers from Burgundy, Beaujolais,
Champagne, Cognac, the Rhône, Margaret
Hallgarten Druitt
& Novum Wines
Annual Tasting
Frascati; and new finds from France.
Contact: susannah.taylor@ehrmanns.
co.uk.
Tuesday, February 9
The Music Rooms
26 South Molton Lane
London W1K 5LF
Thursday, February 11
The Dorchester Hotel has been dropped
The Castlefield Rooms
in favour of the RHH for this year’s
18-20 Castle Street
Hallgarten London tasting.
Manchester M3 4LZ
The event will include new vintage
releases and some recent additions to
the range such as wines from Swartland
Winery and Bloemendal from South Africa,
Kayra from Turkey and Majoros Birtok
from Hungary.
In addition there will be wine trails
tailored to suit independent wine
Bancroft Wines
Annual Portfolio
Tasting
Producers in attendance at this year’s
merchants as well as point-of-sale
tastings include Champagne Pierre
co.uk
Cedre and Bodega Luigi Bosca.
noon.
Royal Horticultural Halls
and Marjan Simcic, examining Croatia’s
River, Clare Valley, Colchagua Valley and
Stellenbosch will also be present.
A masterclass and vertical tasting of
Côte-Rôtie La Chatillonne, Vidal-Fleury’s
historic Côte Blonde vineyard: 2004 to
2012 will take place between 11am and 12
For more information and to register
materials for some added inspiration.
Contact Chris Porter: info@hdnwines.
Tuesday, February 9
Elverton Street
Paillard, Domaine Billaud Simon,
Bodegas Remirez de Ganuza, Château du
The event also includes an 11am
masterclass hosted by Ivica Matosevic
potential as a premium wine producer.
contact [email protected]
London SW1P 2QW
Tuesday, February 9
The Hospital Club
Rudding Park
The Westbury Hotel
24 Endell Street
Harrogate
Bond Street
London WC2H 9HQ
North Yorkshire HG3 1JH
London W1S 2YF
56
Contact [email protected].
Wine Australia
Market Access
Tasting
Tuesday, February 23
The Balmoral
1 Princes Street
Edinburgh EH2 2EQ
Around 30 Aussie producers, each
Riverstation
showing up to four wines and looking to
Bristol BS1 4RB
make contact with potential importers,
will attend the event.
Regions covered include Hunter Valley,
Catalina Sounds in Marlborough.
To request an invitation email emma.
[email protected].
Joining him will be Thomas Shaw
from South Africa’s Perdeberg winery
– the experts in dry-grown bush vines.
Australia House
Boutinot will also be showcasing wines by
Strand
Yangarra Estate’s Peter Fraser (Australian
London WC2B 4LA
Winemaker of the Year 2016) and organic
specialists Emiliana (Chilean Winery of the
Liberty Wines
Portfolio Tasting
Year 2016).
There will be representatives from over
60 wineries at the two events in London
and Manchester, including Claudio and
Liberty’s annual portfolio tasting will
Carlo Manera, father and son winemakers
showcase over 650 wines, many of them
at Araldica in Piemonte. Also present
poured by the producers themselves.
show, including those from producers new
to its list, with Hush Heath (England), Burn
Boutinot Portfolio
Tasting
portfolio will be Peter Jackson from
McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills.
country. There will be over 250 wines on
London SW1P 3AA
the New World side of Boutinot’s
Geelong, Margaret River, Coonawarra,
selection of its portfolio around the
Among the winemakers representing
Great Southern, Mornington Peninsula,
Liberty Wines will be showcasing a
fells.co.uk.
One Great George Street
Monday, February 29
Following on from its London tasting,
Details from Michele Collingham: mc@
Treats in store at Great George Street
Fells Portfolio
Tasting
will be Eric Monnin, head of Boutinot’s
winemaking team.
To register and for more details contact
[email protected].
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre
Cottage (New Zealand), Spice Route, Tim
This will be the only opportunity in
– which includes famous names such as
highlights.
Hugel, Guigal, Symington, Tyrrell’s and
Lancashire County Cricket Ground
Jackson – under one roof.
Manchester M16 0PX
The Oval
producers will be present throughout the
Martin Wines and Gabriëlskloof (South
Africa) and Weininger (Austria) particular
Tuesday, January 19
Kennington
London SE11 5SS
Monday, February 22
The Bridgewater Hall
Manchester M2 3WS
London SW1P 3EE
2016 to taste the entire Fells portfolio
Winemakers and family members from
day and available for a chat over lunch.
Highlights include the launch of a new
prestige fortified wine sourced from a
single cask dating back to the late 18th
century and a new range of Blandy’s
Madeiras.
57
MAKE A DATE
Austrian Wine
Annual Tasting
French Oxo
Tasting
Austria continues its residency in
Take stock of what’s happening in
the splendid surroundings of the IoD
French wine with this new date in the
this year with a tasting at which 90
tasting calendar, which combines two
producers will be represented.
shows in one.
This year’s event includes a special
tasting of “whites off the beaten path”.
To register, contact london@
advantageaustria.org.
Monday, February 8
Institute of Directors
116 Pall Mall
London SW1Y 5ED
France Under One Roof and the French
Independent Winegrowers have joined
forces to exhibit in the art deco-style Oxo
Tower.
The event “will provide a unique
The show will include a mixture of
exhibitors who already sell their wine
in the UK via agency companies, and
others who are looking to ship direct to
merchants.
At the time of going to press the event
was still being described as the “French
Oxo Tasting” though its two constituent
brands are being retained.
To register and for more information,
visit bit.do/bB4Dx.
Tuesday, February 9
opportunity for the entire wine trade to
Oxo Tower Wharf
France,” the organisers promise.
London SE1 9PH
source wines available immediately and
to find wines from the diverse regions of
The Wachau: almost as pretty as Pall Mall
58
Bargehouse Street
South Bank
The only competition
for wines aimed
exclusively at
independent
merchants – and
judged by the
retailers themselves
Entry Deadline
March 15
Judging Day
April 5
Winning wines will be
showcased at the
London Wine Fair and
featured in a special
Wine Merchant supplement
For more information visit
winemerchanttop100.com
or contact Claire Harries on
01323 871836
Email:
[email protected]
ARMAGNAC VSOP FROM COMTE DE LAUVIA
6 BOTTLES FOR THE PRICE OF 5
Wholesale price £18.08 per 70cl. RRP £30.99
Offer valid from 15th January to 29th February 2016
Emporia’s standard terms and conditions apply. Minimum order just 60 bottles from across our range

the wine merchant. - Street Stream Blog

Transcription

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