In conversation...
Steve Danie
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‘Legend’ is not a term that should be used lightly but Steve Daniel is a legend in terms of the UK licensed retail wine sector. This is the man, who through Oddbins, broke the mould of wine buying and wine drinking in the UK. Your background
◆ Oddbins: 1987 to 2003 ◆ Novum Wines: 2003 to 2010 ◆ Hallgarten & Novum Wines: 2010 to present.
How did you become a wine buyer? I applied for a job as trainee buyer with Oddbins and the rest is history.
What style, type, country’s wine, do you personally enjoy? Wines that reflect their origin and the vineyard’s terroir. Predominantly Greek wines.
Company
Hallgarten & Novum Wines is one of the UK’s leading specialist wine merchants, with more than 89 years’ experience importing wines from producers around the world. Hallgarten were named both On-Trade Supporter of the Year by the International Wine Challenge and On-Trade Supplier of the Year by The Drinks Business in 2021, thanks to the focus on service and support for customers. Its experienced buying team includes some of the UK’s most respected palates in Steve Daniel, and master of wine Beverly Tabbron, who have together constructed a diverse and award-winning portfolio of over 1,000 wines, blending some of the world’s greatest producers from the classic wine growing regions together with innovative, up-andcoming wineries and winemakers from the emerging winemaking world.
What is the profile of your customers? We work closely with partners across the on and off trade, from premium restaurants, hotels and pub groups to independent wine merchants and high street retailers.
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Henry Jeffreys wrote on the Master of Malt blog: “Before Oddbins, wine was stuffy, class-ridden and largely French. Afterwards, wine became normal: it could be enjoyed in front of the telly, it might not be French, it might not even come in a bottle! The chain, still existing but now in a much diminished form, dates back to the 1960s but had its heyday in the 1980s and ‘90s. Steve Daniel, who joined the firm as a trainee buyer in 1987, was there for the glory years. By contrast, Oddbins shops were scruffy, unpretentious and stacked full of interesting
wine, especially from the New World. “It was a chance to bring in Australian wines in a big way for the first time,” Daniel said. Latterly Daniel championed Greek wines, hitherto unknown in the UK. Steve Daniel is now head of wine buying at Hallgarten & Novum Wines, one of the UK’s leading specialist wine merchants, with more than 89 years’ experience importing wines from producers around the world and supplying the premium on-trade and off-trade. Family-owned and renowned for supplying premium wines to the finest restaurants, hotels, pubs and bars throughout the country.
