The Wine Merchant issue 105 (August 2021) by The Wine Merchant magazine

THE WINE MERCHANT. An independent magazine for independent retailers

Issue 105, August 2021

Dog of the Month: Jasper Ripponden Wine Company

Now we need a rethink on crazy organic import rules VI-1 win galavanises trade in fight against law that will require importers to be audited by organic licensing bodies

aving won the battle to scrap VI-1 import forms, the wine trade is

being urged to start campaigning

against plans that will make organic wine importing more problematic.

There are also calls to make the

government change course on regulations

that would make it illegal to bring in wines from the EU without importer details on

the back label – a requirement that did not apply when the UK was part of the single

market but which is mandatory for wines

who, along with David Gleave of Liberty

month when the government finally

Spirit Trade Association, had led the trade’s

from outside the EU.

There was widespread jubilation last

accepted the trade’s argument that VI-1

forms for EU wines would add about £330 per shipment because of compulsory lab tests, deterring many smaller producers

from dealing with UK importers, typically independent merchants.

Daniel Lambert of Daniel Lambert Wines,

Wines, Hal Wilson of Cambridge Wine

Merchants and Miles Beale of the Wine & fight against VI-1s, says the question

of organic wine imports was “the next pressing matter”.

From January next year, any importer

that brings in wines that are certified as

Continues page 2

John Jasilowicz (pictured right with his colleague, Gonzalo Ontiveros) has opened Cambridge Wine Rooms following stints at Oddbins, Planet of the Grapes and Vagabond – and two years in Brazil. Full story on page four.

NEWS

Inside this month 4 COMINGS AND GOINGS

Trade prepares for organic wine fight following victory over VI-1 forms From page one

Lots of indie action on the mean

organic will themselves need to be audited

streets of north London

and accredited by one of the seven UK

10 tried & TESTED Our pick of the wines that we’ve

authorities. In Lambert’s case, this will

cost £750 for a year, but the charges can be much higher.

sampled this month

He describes the situation as “a

14 wholesaling Despite the challenges, it’s big

nonsense” that “the government didn’t think through at all”.

He adds: “To get the licence you wouldn’t

business for many indies

believe what you have to go through. I had

24 just wiilliams Why wine tasting just isn’t the

to go through a full audit as if I was actually growing the grapes in my warehouse – it’s

same on your own

public, and the retailers themselves don’t

need to be certified as organic retailers. It

seems to me that this is a law that has been fudged all the way through.

“It’s in the secondary legislation, like

the VI-1s were, so it can be overturned

quite quickly, as we’ve seen. It’s something that nobody has shouted about because

obviously the VI-1 was more pressing until now.”

Hal Wilson at Cambridge Wine

Merchants (pictured) adds: “I can’t see

why you would want to penalise organic producers who have already paid a

lot to demonstrate

ridiculous.

26 wine freedom Pallets and plants set the scene at this Birmingham merchant

their environmental

“We have gone

credentials. The people

through the pain and

who import their wines

been through a two-and-

are heavily audited and

a-half-hour interview

38 champagne Looking back at a rollercoaster

46 make a date Trade tastings are back – here

49 supplier bulletin

an organic importer, all of

which I think is a complete and utter

year for the category

are some to think about

and paid the money to be

regulated.”

Wilson suggests that, while

the VI-1 battle had essentially

nonsense.

been a trade campaign, consumers could

they are still doing the checks that we are

approach to organics.

“We started this process in February and

we still haven’t got our certificate because going to store the wine correctly.

“None of it is relevant because we are

not customer-facing in terms of the general

potentially be brought on board to help

make the case for a more common sense The requirement of adding importer

details to back labels is expected to add about 9p a bottle to costs.

THE WINE MERCHANT MAGAZINE winemerchantmag.com 01323 871836 Twitter: @WineMerchantMag Editor and Publisher: Graham Holter graham@winemerchantmag.com Assistant Editor: Claire Harries claire@winemerchantmag.com Advertising: Sarah Hunnisett sarah@winemerchantmag.com Accounts: Naomi Young winemerchantinvoices@gmail.com The Wine Merchant is circulated to the owners of the UK’s 963 specialist independent wine shops. Printed in Sussex by East Print. © Graham Holter Ltd 2021 Registered in England: No 6441762 VAT 943 8771 82

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 2

Michelin-star list for indie start-up The Wine Rooms Cambridge opened at the beginning of June on Hills Road. General manager John Jaswilowicz, who

has spent almost 20 years in the wine

trade, starting at Oddbins before stints at Planet of The Grapes and Vagabond, says his new role is a perfect fit for him.

Following a two-year break in Brazil

with his partner, Jasilowicz relocated from London to Cambridge after the couple

realised the capital was no longer for them. “I was a sommelier at Hotel du Vin

before I met Marcus [Edwards], who has a fine wine broking business called Albany Vintners,” explains Jasilowicz.

“He said he was setting up a wine shop/

bar/restaurant with a relaxed vibe but high quality stuff. I thought that was right up my street and so it all fell into place.”

The Wine Rooms Cambridge has two

floors and accommodates 50 covers. The wine list reflects the food focus: “small

menu, high quality, seasonal and changing regularly”.

Wine Rooms Cambridge has 50 covers spread over two floors

Jasilowicz says they were lucky enough

to get the opening range of wines from a Michelin-starred restaurant that was selling off its cellar.

“We want to be unique in terms of

pick great things and put them on straight away with no cumbersome machinations to work through,” says Jasilowicz.

• Jesmond could soon have a specialist

our offering,” he says, “and it just meant

independent wine shop again. The Jesmond

really nice old vintages of things – things

and artisan wine and spirits” from a unit in

Moving forward the business will be

West Jesmond Metro station closed in 2020

we could have our shelves looking very

Wine Company, a local wholesale business,

you just can’t get your hands on these

Clayton Road in the Newcastle upon Tyne

supplied by Albany Vintners. “We can just

after five decades of trading.

different to everyone else. We opened with

has applied for a licence to sell “premium

days.”

suburb. Richard Granger’s wine shop in the

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 4

Bacchus Second site for Shop Cuvée Following the success of Shop Cuvée in Highbury, north London, Brodie Meah and Max Venning will open a second site in Bethnal Green this month. The pair founded Shop Cuvée last

Covid/transport storms blow over. “We are

super busy focusing on our retail, so I think it’s sensible to hold off on importing for now,” he adds.

Batch team go back to basics

summer when their respective hospitality

A craft beer shop in Warrington Market

provision for a wine bar and events space

continue to operate Batch Bottlestore in

floor will be

“We aren’t too proud to admit when

businesses had to close due to lockdown.

closed in July after just four months.

in the basement,

Altrincham, established in 2019.

The Bethnal Green store will have

while the ground

dedicated to retail. Meah (pictured)

says: “We never assumed retail

would be our main focus but we never

forget our roots in hospitality. Wine and food just go hand in hand.”

“We already distribute all over the UK,”

adds Meah, “but what this shop really

means for us is that we can take ownership of that delivery a bit more. We are very

Owners Will Brown and Chris Bardsley A statement on social media read:

something isn’t working for us. Sure, it’s

a bit of a kicker but we’ll chalk it down to some lessons learnt. We’ll regroup and

concentrate our energy in Altrincham for

the time being. Big thanks to everyone who shopped with us.”

Pub group finds permanent shop

keen on using our own bicycle couriers;

Vino Gusto is soon to open a new site in

6km radius around the Highbury store, and

comprising five pubs and a craft brewery,

they are freelance workers but very much

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Bethnal Green means we can extend our

Vino Gusto set up temporarily during

part of our team. At the moment we have a bicycle courier radius.

“That service is really important to us

because the delivery is door to door, in our own hands, rather than handing it off to a courier.”

He adds: “We’re not eco-warriors but I

think any good business these days has an

eye on its environmental impact, so we see it as a bit of a no-brainer really, especially in London. I do some bike deliveries

sometimes and I’m surprised that it’s not more popular.”

Meah says that the business has the

capacity to start importing direct, but

would rather wait until the current Brexit/

Owned by Gusto Pronto, a business

lockdown last summer in The One Bull, one of the company’s pubs.

Now the on-trade is fully operational

once more, Gusto Pronto wants to grow

its retail arm, which has proved a success

under the stewardship of Jake Bennett-Day.

Bennett-Day confirmed that the company

has secured the freehold of a building in the town in a high street location.

“Our expectation is that we’ll open in

October or November,” he says. “There’s a bit of work to do to the building. It’s

in good shape, but we’re opening up the lovely cellar to the public and creating a

tasting/training facility on the first floor.”

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 5

Trade calls out Hoggwash

The scrapping of VI-1 forms has put the UK wine trade in its cheeriest mood for some time. But the goodwill does not extend to allowing Jacob-Rees Mogg to proclaim the decision as “another benefit of Brexit”, resulting in “cheaper wine and less red tape”. The House of Commons leader was forcefully put in his place following his vainglorious tweet, which linked to a Telegraph article about VI-1s. This piece seemed to split wine professionals into two camps: those who thought it was dreadful, and those who thought it was drivel. Matt Wilkin of H2Vin, Daniel Lambert, Miles Beale of the WSTA and writer Giles MacDonogh were among the trade names to pop up in Rees-Mogg’s timeline, each pointing out, using a variety of idioms and metaphors, that the Rt Hon gentleman’s assessment of the VI-1 situation was misleading and disingenuous. Perhaps the most succinct and articulate response was offered by Shaftesbury Wines. “Not introducing something that makes wine more expensive is not the same as making it cheaper,” wrote owner David Perry. “Saying it is a benefit is like saying you saved a drowning man by taking your foot off his head. But thank God you finally listened to sense from the UK wine trade.”

Alex gives a shuck

There was intriguing update on the Park Vintners blog in late July in which co-owner Alex Roberts announced a holiday, “following a cry for help from the organisers of the Tokyo Olympics”. “Myself and a crack team of shuckers are being paid just over $1m to save the canoeing and rowing in Tokyo Bay. Our job is to remove all the oysters that have attached themselves to the floats positioned to protect the racing area from waves. So many oysters have attached themselves that the floats are starting to sink. So I’ve packed Muscadet and Chablis, a bit of Albariño, but I just need someone to help me carry the barrel of Guinness – any volunteers?”

Hector’s hopes to fit in naturally Hector’s has now fully opened in De Beauvoir, a residential neighbourhood that “fits snugly between Hackney and Islington,” according to owner Jimmy Stephenson. He initially planned to open the bottle

shop and the accompanying bar at

the same time. But when the lifting of

hospitality restrictions was delayed by a month, he went ahead with the shop launch in June and the bar element followed a few weeks later.

Stephenson, previously at upmarket

Hackney butcher and restaurant Hill &

Customers can choose any wine from the shelves to take away or drink in. Pic: Charlie McKay

Szrok, launched Hector’s with the backing Hill & Szrok’s owner Luca Mathiszig-Lee. He’ll be operating the business with the help of his wife Anna and her younger

brother Josh, who is currently studying for his WSET Level 2.

“The industry is really struggling at the

moment for staff,” reports Stephenson. “At Hill & Szrok we put people through the apprenticeship scheme. If you can find

youngish people who are happy to learn,

it’s a great way to employ and train people. “Hopefully they stick it out and really

enjoy it. The majority of them really go for it. I want to do a similar thing here with

Josh, but with wine, and hopefully he will fall in love with it.”

Stephenson is working with suppliers

including Vine Trail, Passione e Vino

and Tuto. He says: “My style of wine is

definitely influenced by a lot of natural and low-intervention winemaking but

not dogmatically so.

There’s definitely some more

conventional and

traditional

stuff in there.”

The shop opened with the previous signage still intact. Pic: Charlie McKay

Customers will be able to choose

“It’s nice to give people a list as a starting

anything from the shelves to drink in or

point, too, so they can see the prices and

every single bottle that we have in the

to push it further and ask if we’ve got

take away but there will also be a wine list. “It’s really nice to be able to talk through

shop but that can be time consuming and

overwhelming, so we do have a wine list for people to choose from when drinking in,” explains Stephenson.

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 6

maybe pick out an appellation they know

and we can take it from there. If they want anything special open, that’s great. We

want to make this place really special and

for it to be part of the community for a long time to come.”

Leading suppliers 2021 In our Wine Merchant Top 100 supplement, published with our July edition, there was a mistake in the leaderboard of the competition’s most successful suppliers of 2021. The corrected version appears here, including, in eighth spot, Daniel Lambert Wines, which we inadvertently omitted from the original graphic. Apologies to Daniel and his team and congratulations again to all suppliers who came away victorious in a recordbreaking year for entries. Methodology Three points were awarded for a Top 100 spot, and one point for each Highly Commended placing.

NOT YOU AGAIN!

customers we could do without

26. Vince Chisholm … don’t mind me, I’m just browsing ... that’s a big old pallet out there on the pavement … that little lot should keep you going till lunchtime I reckon, heh heh! As I say, don’t worry about me, you keep on unloading, I’ll keep well out of yer way …. bloomin’ hot day for it, don’t slip on that pool of water just by yer feet … you’re right, it could be sweat … what’s this Shiraz like, bit more expensive than the one I usually buy, nice label though … no, no, of course, you carry on, I’ve got all the time in the world and you’ve got all them boxes to worry about … you mind yer back, you don’t want a slipped disc … someone told me the other day that Shiraz and Chablis are the same grape, is that right? Oh, he’s back outside … here he comes … as I say, someone told me that Shiraz is the same grape as … some other one … what was it they was telling me … no, don’t let me interrupt you, you’ve got work to do, heh heh! Look at that silly so-and-so letting his dog piddle all over your boxes … oh, and here’s a traffic warden giving you a blinking ticket, right on bloomin’ cue … anyway, as I say, I was told the Shiraz grape is actually the same as …

Supplier of wine boxes and literature • 12 Bottle carrier box with dividers • 6 Bottle carrier box with dividers • 12 Bottle mailing box with dividers • 6 Bottle mailing box with dividers • 4 Bottle mailing box with dividers • 3 Bottle mailing box with dividers • 1 Bottle mailing box with dividers

01323 728338 • sales@eastprint.co.uk • www.eastprint.co.uk

Congratulations to the five Wine

Merchant reader survey respondents

whose names were drawn at random

AM ANAand TIaMCoravin, GRwho E courtesy of each win

partner Hatch Mansfield. Can you unscramble the our names of these celebrities with wine brands? If so, you win a harvest for the world. Peter Fawcett, Field & Fawcett, York

1. OK, Mini Eel Guy The Wine Centre, Anthony Borges, 2. Hangman Rotor Great Horkesley, Essex 3. Hippos Fled Chilli Zoran Ristanovic, 4. Obtain Ham City Wine Collection, 5. Cardiff Racoon's London Plop Daniel Grigg, Museum Wines, Dorset Riaz Syed, Stonewines, London

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 8

TRIED & TESTED

Tringario Ludopata Marselan 2020

Domaine des Tourelles Vieilles Vignes White 2020

Jose and Trini Gonzalez established their winery in

Not just old vines, but ancient varieties too. Merweh,

edition Colchagua Marselan, fermented in concrete

unevenly. Obeidi, grown at altitude on pergolas, sounds

which makes up half of the blend, is a hardy grape that

2015 with the aim of demonstrating “what Chile is

likes the wild living on Lebanon’s mountains but ripens

capable of when the shackles are off”. This limited-

marginally less problematic. Together they make an

eggs, is fresh, light and juicy, with appealing raspberry-

exotic, herbacious wine with lots of appley notes.

like fruit and a cranberryish tang. RRP: £17.99

RRP: £16

ABV: 14.5%

ABV: 11%

Boutinot (0161 908 1300)

Propeller Wine propeller.wine

boutinot.com

Enate Chardonnay 234 2020

Giant Steps Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2020

Chardonnay is probably excluded from the list of white varieties grown in Spain that we’re supposed to get

It wasn’t a vintage everyone in Australia recalls with

exotic fruits (and a touch of banana Angel Delight) for

smaller and tighter, and you can taste that here, though

excited about, but this is an example to win over any

doubters. Mountain freshness and minerality vie with supremacy in a delicious and affordable wine that’s proving to be a consistent performer. RRP: £15.99

ABV: 14.5%

Daniel Lambert Wines (01656 661010)

much fondness but the Yarra got off more lightly than

most. Yields were down and Chardonnay bunches were that acidity and edge of sourness is leavened by a hint of tropical fruit and a gentle leesy cushioning. RRP: £22

ABV: 13%

Liberty Wines (020 7720 5350)

daniellambert.wine

libertywines.co.uk

Balfour Winery Blanc de Noirs 2018

TerraNoble Gran Reserva Carignan 2018

Winemaker Fergus Elias sees this as a yin and yang

The alluvial terraces of this part of Maule can only be

and oyster shell characteristics so often found in our

concrete eggs and untoasted foudres before bottle

wine. “Traditional ripe Blanc de Noirs flavours of red

apple and blackcurrant combine with the linear citrus vintage wines,” he says. It’s firm and arresting on the palate, but with a creaminess to round things off. RRP: £35

ABV: 12%

Balfour Winery (01622 832794)

cultivated by horses, and picked by hand. After open-

top maceration and soft extraction, the juice splits into ageing. The natural freshness and greener edges

contrast with the inky depths and ripe-fruit aromas. RRP: £15

ABV: 13.5%

Vintage Cellars (0207 630 6254)

balfourwinery.com

vintagecellars.co.uk

Esk Valley Artisanal Collection Merlot/Cabernet/Malbec 2019

Carminucci Belato Offida Pecorino 2020

The winery’s first Malbec-led wine from Gimblett

Carminucci started out in 1928 and is still run by the

in oak barrels for 18 months. It’s as juicy and intense

natural honeydew sweetness of the once-forgotten but

Gravels starts with its constituent varietals being

fermented in open-top concrete vats and then aged

as you’d imagine, with a herbal undertow. A perfect partner for the hearty stews we require in, er, July. RRP: £19.25

ABV: 14%

Hatch Mansfield (01344 871800) hatchmansfield.com

founder’s son, Piero, who has earned a great deal of

acclaim in Italy for his organically-farmed wines. The

now beloved Pecorino grape makes this a real crowdpleaser, but there’s a lovely orchardy tartness too. RRP: £13.75

ABV: 13%

Hallgarten & Novum Wines (01582 722538) hnwines.co.uk

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 10

REPS REPORT BACK whippets!” But the wine trade has changed,

My role is to understand who my

much more inclusive and dynamic place

new portfolio so whatever my customers

the north has got some fantastic businesses

customer is and I am working really hard

now.

are after, I can help them. I started off as

James Mitchell On the Road

JAMES IS THE NEW ACCOUNTS MANAGER FOR NORTHERN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND AT ALLIANCE WINE. HIS NINE YEARS AS A REP HAVE INCLUDED ROLES AT TANNERS AND INVERARITY MORTON

I love the north of England; I’m from Manchester. Driving through the Pennines or the North York Moors on a day like

today, there’s nothing better. It’s a great

life being out and about and seeing people and I love that every day is different. I’ve got customers in Northumberland, so

I might be there and then down to the

centre of Manchester, and I am taking over

I worked in wine shops for 10 years and I know how hard it is. The hours

are long and you have to think about staff

issues, all the finances and a whole host of mundane but vital things. However, there

was nothing better than selling a bottle of

wine to a customer for them to come back

a week later to thank you and ask what else you recommend. It was a thrill. I get the

morning and then 5Live. I find commercial radio a bit too much. You can start singing the jingles and still be singing them when

you get home. The children look at me like I’m an idiot!

There’s plenty going on in the north. I

think in the past perhaps there could be a sniffy attitude from the south. In my 20s if I was at the London Wine Fair I would always feel that the thinking was, “oh,

here he comes with his flat cap and his

You become very good at understanding people, very quickly.

I’m always blown away by just how fantastic the shops are. They are full of

wines to recommend next time around. I’ve missed all the tastings that my

customers host. Seeing the end consumer and answering their questions is always

A chat with a rep can reassure you and help get a good idea of what is going on with other people, to keep everything in perspective

our customers on the day, but also

and sports. James O’Brien on LBC in the

a laugh with or wants to be left alone.

and there are always loads of different

meet everyone.

In my car, I listen to the radio – news

deciding if a table is one you could have

this diverse portfolio I can do the same,

a great chance to see how the wines are

different kinds of people. I can’t wait to

a waiter and that has set me up very well,

same feeling now I am a rep. Working with

Alliance’s Scottish customers too, so it’s

really exciting and so diverse with so many

on unearthing all the little gems in this

received by the people that drink them. It’s great insight and I enjoy helping

understanding their customers better. It’s

all about being supportive, and at those key times of the year when tastings can really make a difference to a business, boosting

the sales. It’s nice to know you’ve played a small part.

If you’ve been stuck in the shop over the last 18 months and you haven’t been to any tastings and had those normal connections with people in the wine

trade, I like to think a chat with a rep can reassure you and help get a good idea of

what is going on with other people, to keep everything in perspective.

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 11

enthusiastic staff who know their stuff,

they are always looking to innovate and try new things. There’s a whole new

generation of people coming through

who are much more interested in funky

wines, and labels, and they are looking for a story too. I am itching to get in front of

customers to show the array of wines I can

sell. We have so many cool labels that really leap out at you, and great stories for people to learn too. I know those wines will fly

off the shelves and make a real difference

to the bottom line and the end-customers’ satisfaction.

Feature sponsored by Alliance Wine For more information, visit alliancewine.com Call 01505 506060

selling great selections of wine and it is a

Life Outside Wine I was a child actor and I was in the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang film with Dick Van Dyke. I was one of the child slaves – I was in it for some months and my brothers were in it too. When they were filming the Battle of Britain scene I remember running up the bridge at Pinewood and we’d see the Spitfires flying over and they had explosives going off in the banks to look like they were bombing. It was a wonderful experience seeing the car going up in the air – kind of spoiled it when you realised it was on hydraulics.

When I was 45 I applied to a number of drama schools and I got into Bristol. They have 30,000 applications for about 80 places. I spent two years there and then it got quite serious with the RSC and the Old Vic. About seven years ago it went really quiet. I got a part-time job in a supermarket doing beer tasting. That progressed to doing events and eventually I got my shop in Glastonbury. I still subscribe to Spotlight, so if any acting work comes up I’ll be ready, but I’m not pushing for it. The job I enjoyed most was a production of Henry V. There were five of us doing an abridged version of the play in an hour and a half. I think I had 38 costume changes

An occasional series looking at the pastimes and sidelines of independent wine merchants This month: Acting with Mark Ross of The Green Room, Glastonbury

and played eight characters in that time – it was insane. We toured around the country and it was great fun. When I finished the season at the RSC I was offered another chance to tour Henry V but I was concerned that casting directors would wonder why I’d gone from the RSC to small-scale fringe and so I turned it down. That was a silly thing to think, in fact. I should have just enjoyed it and rocked on. Mark Rylance is wonderful to work for. I played a small role in his production of Much Ado About Nothing but I was also an understudy. About a day before we opened Mark called me and asked me how I felt about going on as someone was ill. He said, “I would never want an actor to go on stage if he didn’t feel ready,” and that he was prepared to go on with the book rather than me go on unprepared and get bad reviews. He was so considerate. It’s not wrong for a director to demand you go on – as an understudy that’s what you’re paid for and if I wasn’t ready that would be my failure. A couple of years ago I was put up as a judge in a crime drama. Unfortunately when you cover my grey hair with a wig, I

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 12

look about 10 years younger and too young to be a judge. When I was at Bristol people always said, “you’d be great for doctor, solicitor, accountant, policeman,” but it’s kind of crazy that I never got invited for any of those roles, even though The Bill, Holby City and Casualty were still going at the time. I was in a music video for Professor Green. I had no idea that he was a rap artist. During the audition I actually asked what sort of professor he was! Turning up for a music video was like turning up for a major feature film. The trucks and crew … it was huge. No expense spared. It was very sad because my big scene was meant to be where I break down as I react to Professor Green rapping, but on the third day of shooting when it was time for that scene, Steve [Manderson] got taken to hospital with an abscess so my scene got cut.

I think everyone in commerce should have some exposure to drama training. Just to make them a bit more extrovert and stretch their boundaries. It’s invaluable. I’m doing a tasting in September, and it doesn’t faze me; it will be a delight. I’d love to start a YouTube channel featuring cooking with wine, and food and wine pairing.

ANALYSIS

he return of the on-trade is bringing

a mini-boom in wholesaling for many

wine merchants – though the ongoing

uncertainties caused by the pandemic are making things anything but plain sailing.

After the delays caused by Brexit earlier

in the year, the summer Covid wave’s

impact on the haulage industry and staff shortages in hospitality have brought further headaches.

“The biggest issue since the on-trade

reopened has been trying to get enough

stock,” says Dafydd Morris at Cheers Wine Merchants in Swansea. Argentine Malbec and New Zealand Sauvignon have been hardest to keep flowing.

“We’re being told by suppliers they can’t

cap

get enough hauliers,” Morris adds. “I had a

delivery from a bond yesterday that turned up in two separate white vans that would normally come in a single lorry.

“It helps when the national press run

stories on haulier issues because accounts are willing to accept they won’t get

everything they want and that there are delays, and that it’s not just us fobbing

Restaurant-goers seem to be trading

them off.

“It’s been such an unusual time,” adds

Morris. “We thought Brexit and lockdown were bad enough but coming out of it has been just as mad.

“Our wholesale business is normal in

terms of volume and better in terms of value.

“House wines are normally a huge

percentage of wine list turnover but there’s definitely a move towards better quality.

“I think people have got used to drinking

On-trade’s back on t

Despite some challenges, many indies are seeing increasing business with their restaurant cli

slightly better wines through lockdown

also just a huge appetite for hospitality

months, let’s just go for it’.”

weeks and weeks.”

from shops and when they go out are thinking, ‘we haven’t been out for 18

holesale accounts for 85% of the business of Regency Wines in

Exeter. “Since June we’ve been

trading above 2019 levels,” says director April Marks. “We’re in the west country and everyone’s staycationing. There’s

and people have missed it. Some of our customers have been fully booked for

Marks says she feels recent decisions

by larger wholesalers, including Matthew

Clark and St Austell, to increase minimum order sizes have brought benefits.

“We’ve picked up new accounts,” she

says. “Some of the larger wholesalers

have increased their minimum orders

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 14

and people have come to us. Their service levels aren’t as sharp as they used to be, and I think we’ve gone the other way. “We’ve definitely seen an increase

in customers since lockdown without actively going out there and targeting

new business. They want to support local

businesses and they’re not being serviced properly by their larger suppliers they were using.”

While the changes to major wholesaler

executive John Colley said in the spring that

have gained efficiency. “When wholesale

in Cornwall, has also been courting new

“Once wholesale started up again we could

prospects in wholesale.

Charles Wharton, at Ellis Wharton Wines

accounts.

“We took on a sales rep for the first

time three months ago,” he says. “That

has helped us pick up quite a lot of new business.

“We’ve had a good handful of customers

approach us, but we’ve been actively

turning on a light switch and a question

of just making sure we had enough stock to push out the door and keep everyone happy.

“The last two weeks the pinging from

track and trace has affected us. I reckon

others may find competition intensifying on a localised basis.

Majestic is using some of its recent

bigger store openings as commercial

hubs to serve both retail and wholesale customers.

The company ramped up its commercial

sales team before the easing of this

year’s lockdown, securing over 100 new

commercial on-trade accounts, and chief

routes. It made that all more efficient.”

dward Wilson, at The Wine Press in

Stourbridge, says that “wholesale has come back with a vengeance”.

He adds: “We’ve found quite a few

that.

build-up to the summer season. It was like

T&Cs have aided some smaller operators,

tie in the on-trade with our retail delivery

running at 140%-150%. It’s gone from one

extreme to the other. There was no gradual

ients, reports Nigel Huddleston

we did home deliveries,” says Fitzpatrick.

venues utilised lockdown to refurbish and

been operating on 40%-50% of normal, or

he agenda

was shut and we were just doing retail

chasing business.

“For the last seven months we’ve either

up from house wines, reports Dafydd Morris at Cheers

On the upside, Old Chapel’s own logistics

he was “very optimistic” about the chain’s

we’re 20%-25% down on previous weeks. “A couple of accounts with staff

shortages have shut their doors for a week and others have gone from seven days to four or five days a week, which suddenly takes a third of your potential turnover away from that account.

“From the highs we’ve had, the heat’s

been taken out of it a little bit.”

ouisa Fitzpatrick at Old Chapel Cellars, down the road in Truro, says on-trade

business has recovered to 2019 levels.

“It felt like the year started again once the on-trade opened in May,” she says.

“Orders were really healthy and places

were busier than we expected. People

can’t travel abroad, so the holiday trade in Cornwall, even before the school holidays, was significantly increased.”

Staff shortages within hospitality have

caused some problems. “It’s been tricky when a restaurant that orders regularly

has to shut because of staff shortages,” she says. “There’s a bit of to-ing and fro-ing.”

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 15

start afresh, so we’ve managed to secure some good new on-trade accounts from

“The ones doing well are those with a

good outdoor area, because I think people are still quite cautious.

“It’s been more of a struggle with smaller

indoor restaurants. Before the restrictions lifted completely, they were a good 30% down.”

Morris at Cheers says his business

managed to hang on to all its regular ontrade clients from before lockdown.

“We kept in touch with them all the way

through lockdown and offered them any help we could give,” he explains.

“Some were doing takeaway to keep

ticking over, so we were able to help them with dribbles of wine.”

Morris is unaware of major players’

moves on drop sizes but adds: “We’ve

picked up some new accounts just because they were getting wind of how good our service was – and the fact that we’ve

actually got some stock, because I know some people haven’t got much at all.

“We’ve picked up a few small restaurant

chains in London. They’re paying upfront so I’m not really worried on that score.

“We supply two wedding venues locally,

and they just kept pushing back the dates,

which means one now has a wedding every day bar two for the next three months.

Between them they have 170 weddings in

that time, which is enough to keep anyone going.”

Rising Stars

Ernesto Angulo Bedales, Borough Market, London

‘Wine and emotion are tied very closely together’

t a time when hospitality staff are rather thin on the ground, Mario Sposito, wine director at Bedales, is happy to celebrate the excellence of his front of house team, in particular wine specialist Ernesto Angulo. “He came to us with some wine knowledge and a wealth of hospitality experience,” Mario explains. “Ernesto has a real passion for wine and I guess when you have someone who is already very interested in the subject, it is much easier to work with them to increase their knowledge.” Ernesto now hosts training for other members of staff and over lockdown he ran some of the Zoom tastings set up by Bedales for its customers. “He is probably our strongest wine person in the frontof-house team, not just in terms of knowledge but it’s the joy he has when he talks about wine – it’s infectious,” says Mario. “He always says to me, ‘I’m really happy when I can share what I learn with colleagues and guests. That is when I feel fulfilled.’ “You cannot train someone to have that connection with guests. He has a natural ability – he is amazing with customers.” Colombian-born Ernesto has been working in the hospitality industry for the past 13 years in London restaurants and private members’ clubs. “I was working in cocktails in Colombia, so I have always been orientated towards hospitality,” he says. “I developed my knowledge of wine because I think it plays such an important part in how people connect and enjoy themselves and create memories. “It is really important for me to understand the atmosphere at the table and what is going on. Are the guests in the mood for a heavy red or do they want something light? That is the fun for me. Wine and emotion are tied very closely together.” When asked to consider any long-term goals, Ernesto’s thoughts turn to the educational side of things. “I love historical and geographical facts about wine, and its social history,” he says. “I would love to do some research into the origin of winemaking and blends in Europe. “I would like to travel to Languedoc or eastern European countries, like Georgia, and create a documentary or a guide of some sort.

“I am very happy to continue my career in hospitality and at Bedales I have been given the chance to explore. From all the places I have worked, the variety and the menu choices at Bedales are very much an interpretation of my taste.”

Ernesto wins a bottle of Staglin Family Vineyard Estate Chardonnay 2017 If you’d like to nominate a Rising Star, email claire@winemerchantmag.com

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 16

ES OF

I TA

AT BR E R

W I N E S O F G R E AT B R I TA I N

TRADE & PRESS TASTING 2021

RHS Lindley Hall

Elverton Street London | SW1P 2PB

Tu e s d a y | 7 S e p t e m b e r 10.00am - 5.30pm

To Re g i s t e r : Visit WineGB.co.uk/trade

O P E N O N LY T O B O N A F I D E T R A D E & P R E S S S t r i c t

s a f e t y

m e a s u r e s

w i l l

b e

a p p l i e d

t h r o u g h o u t

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 17

INTERVIEW

. T H E D R AY M A N .

Beers that don’t need a label

ybrid ale must surely take the prize for the worst

imperial sour IPA. It’s a collaboration with the New Zealand

beer category description of all time. It was coined

Beer Collective, brewed with grape juice and New Zealand’s

because nobody could come up with anything better

Nelson hops, noted for their grape-like character.

to describe a glut of light tasting, creamy ales that came on the market in the mid-1990s, most notably Caffreys.

Its appealing tartness and fresh gooseberry aroma make it a beery version of half-decent New World Sauvignon Blanc.

In some ways it was the perfect category for the Britpop

Northern Monk’s OFS043 is an India pale lager that combines

era, a beer that looked to the past while promising a bright

the lime and coconut character of Citra and Sabro hops in a

new future. Like Britpop, it briefly looked like it could achieve

clean, refreshing, summery beer.

world domination before everyone realised it was dressed in the emperor’s new clothes. These beers – there were others, but the names have faded from the memory, the Menswears of hybrid beer, if you will – were intended to traverse the boundaries between ale and lager, drawing fans of the latter into the former, though as they were mainly made by producers of big lager brands anyway it seemed like a futile process. It’s hard it imagine the fuss this all caused back then, but those were different times, when beer drinkers were more firmly rooted in category tribes, and beer snobs – and they were often snobs – in particular saw ale as pure and righteous, and lager as the work of the devil, or Scottish Courage as s/he was otherwise known. You can still buy Caffrey’s today – it’s picked up an apostrophe along the way – but it’s marketed simply as premium Irish ale, any pretensions to crossover status consigned to history. Yet

the

process

blurring

boundaries between beer types is more prevalent than ever, with smaller

The process of blurring boundaries between beer types is more prevalent than ever, with enticing beers that meld elements of saisons, stouts, IPAs, fruit beers, sours and more

brewers experimenting with enticing beers that meld together elements of saisons, stouts, IPAs, fruit beers, sours and more.

What both these achieve is, like great winemaking, a harmonious balance between their disparate elements, rather

You’ve got to tread carefully. It

than a chaotic battle for domination; the smooth finish of a

doesn’t always work, with clashes of

master cabinet maker versus a set of shelves knocked together

style frequently leading to Masterchef-

by a novice DIY-er.

style “too many things on the plate”

They’re hybrids, but not so as you’d notice, and thankfully, in

moments. But when the brewer has the skill to pull it off the

these more tolerant beer drinking times, they don’t need a label

results can be sublime.

that draws attention to their difference. They are just good beers

Aberdeen’s Fierce Brewing’s Lots of Nelson is billed as an

in their own right, and that’s all that matters.

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 18

ight ideas 25: impactful window displays on a budget Rachel Heaton Tiny’s Tipple, Chorlton

In a nutshell … Put your best Blue Peter skills to the test to create a cardboard model of your own high street. It makes an excellent window display and when it’s time for a change, you can monetise it for charity. Tell us more. “The window needed changing so I thought I’d try something new. I wanted to recycle as I’m not keen on waste and there’s no shortage of boxes in the shop. I think it cost a tenner for the paint, and it took me about a month. I wasn’t doing it solidly and I needed something to do during lockdown.”

Is it really modelled on your own high street? “It’s more representative of the local area. It includes a replica of the public library and the local Wetherspoons. It’s been in the window for a while now and I’ve been able to alter it according to the seasons or just to reflect what’s going on in the area. So I’ve added different houses and when the Black Lives Matter movement was in full swing last year I added little BLM signs in the windows of all the houses. At Christmas I made it a snowy Chorlton and added Christmas trees and fairy lights to make it all dolled-up.” Do your customers like it? “People have asked me to make a model of their house to include, and people wanting to buy the models, so I thought it would make sense to sell them for a local charity. I’m suggesting donations of £10

The display was created with recycled wine boxes

for a house or £15 to £20 for one of the local landmarks. I’m really keen to support Reach Out to the Community – they are a charity who run a food bank and do various things to help people in the area.” Do you think any indie could do this? “It’s an easily replicable idea. I’ve not done anything arty since I was at school and if I make a mistake it’s not a big deal, I can just recycle the box. We are a small local business and we are in the heart of this

little suburb of Manchester. People come to us because they want to shop local and it’s nice to play on that locality.”

What’s up next for the window? “The next theme is football. Obviously we have two big teams in Manchester and my colleague Ed [Gillibrand, the owner] is a big City fan. It’s not going to be City v United but red v blue. I’ve made little players from corks, a burger van and I’ve built a stadium out of pallets.”

Rachel wins a WBC gift box containing some premium drinks and a box of chocolates. Tell us about a bright idea that’s worked for you and you too could win a prize. Email claire@winemerchantmag.com

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 19

BITS & BOBS

Favourite Things

The UK government has said it will axe some post-Brexit red tape on wine imports following warnings from the trade that it would cause lasting damage. The move to end requirements for

VI-1 import certificates, which ministers

Tuggy Meyer

Huntsworth Wine Co, London Favourite wine on my list

Not always on our list, because only the occasional case surfaces (and then sells), but Château L’Evangile 1994. It’s not the greatest vintage but the epitome of grace and perfect maturity.

said would save British consumers about

£130m a year, was welcomed by the sector. The red tape was an EU requirement

dating back to the 1970s, when it was

introduced to protect European wineproducing regions, such as Chablis or

Burgundy, from poor-quality new world imitations. FT, July 25

Favourite wine and food match

Calissons d’Aix en Provence and vintage Krug. Grand Cru white Burgundy and baked beans on toast. Vintage Champagne and tandoori chicken. Vega Sicilia Unico and ribeye on the bone.

Adeneuer was from another winery 15km away.

Weingut Sermann, in Altenahr, reported

“major economic damage” but also said it

was overwhelmed by messages of support. Local winegrowers have taken a degree

of comfort from the arrival of vineyard

workers from other wine regions – and

people from across Germany in general – to help with the relief effort. Decanter, July 21

US wine imports face tariff threat the US is implemented, a leading wine group has warned. According to Wine Drinkers UK, the

government is considering a 25% tariff on US wine imports as part of a trade conflict caused by Donald Trump imposing a 25% tariff on US steel imports in 2018.

Favourite wine trade person

Roberson was London’s best wine shop and it kept that accolade for many years. In truth, London is better served by great wine merchants and importers than shops. Despite certain criticisms in taste and cost one cannot deny the utter “kid in a candy store” feeling of Mayfair’s Hedonism. You go there to be seduced and entertained.

press. One barrel that washed up near JJ

if a 25% tariff on all wine imports from

This isn’t the best paid profession but we get to travel to the best places in the world. Bordeaux; Burgundy; South Africa; Piedmont … a wealth of different things make them special.

Favourite wine shop

barrels, bottles and even a winery’s

Pubs could be facing wine supply issues

Favourite wine trip

Luigi Fioretti. I first bought Yquem from him at Oddbins 30-35 years ago. Then at Berkmann he was so passionate about his native Italians. A larger-thanlife man with an enormous heart. I have only ever received two e-mails from Luigi in 30+ years. Forget technology, he is a man to look at, to listen to and simply to be in his bonhomie, bon vivant, bon viveur company.

Magpie

Trade welcomes scrapping of VI-1s

Wine from the US makes up around

one in 10 bottles sold in the UK market, The floods killed almost 200 people in Germany and Belgium

Counting the cost of flooding in Ahr Germany’s Wine Institute said it could take weeks to quantify reports of damage to Ahr Valley wineries, which

including some of the industry’s bestselling rosés, the group said.

“It is likely if the government introduces

this tariff, it will make these popular US wines unfeasible in the UK. Simply put,

they will disappear from supermarkets

shelves and pubs,” said WDUK supporter

Ed Baker, managing director at Kingsland Drinks.

The Morning Advertiser, July 28

have seen growing international acclaim

• A bottle of Penfolds Grange 1951 has

for excellent Pinot Noir wines in recent

become the most expensive Australian

years.

wine sold at auction, fetching A$142,131.

Surging flood waters carried away

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 20

Decanter, July 19

Top architects plan mega winery HQ

THE BURNING QUESTION

Are you insisting that customers and staff continue to wear masks?

�

Foster & Partners has designed a winery

We're pretty relaxed as regards unmasking, as we are lucky enough to have twin double doors on our shop, which remain open throughout the day. As well as providing good circulation of air, this also permits easy circulation of customers, who consequently don't need to get on top of one another. It’s good to see whole faces again!

for what will become the UK’s biggest single wine producer when its plantings mature. The design is for Vineyard Farms, the

English winemaking business backed by

Toby Webster H Champagne winner H Black Dog Wines, Epping, Essex

Mark Dixon of Château Berne in Provence, who made his fortune from serviced

office firm Regus, and who has stated

his intention to become the largest wine producer in the UK.

The winery will be located near the

village of Cuxton in Gravesham, Kent,

where around 160 hectares of vines are

being planted by Dixon on former organic

farmland, making it the largest single wine estate in the UK.

The Drinks Business, July 12

�

We’re wearing masks but we’re not being draconian about it. We have a big box of them at the counter and people can help themselves. I’d say nine out of 10 people are wearing masks, which is amazing for Seven Dials in Brighton as we have all the anti-vaxxers. I think we have to be very careful about not stigmatising people who have those opinions. We’re still cleaning down everything and we’ve got wipes. We’re continuing to be very fastidious.

”

Louise Oliver Seven Cellars, Brighton

Amphorae found on Roman wreck

�

We’re leaving it up to customers to decide. I love to see people’s faces and see people smile again. We wore plastic visors in the shop rather than masks and, from the point of view that there is no mandatory need to wear one, we don’t wear them now. My view is that we are trying to make a positive step rather than going backwards in fear – that is my personal view. But clearly, many people are apprehensive and I respect that.

An ancient Roman vessel dating back to the second century BC has been discovered in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Palermo.

”

The ship lies 92 metres (302ft) deep in

the ocean, near Isola delle Femmine, and

from the first images taken by a submarine robot it was carrying a copious cargo of wine amphorae.

The Guardian, July 28

• The cost of topping up the government’s wine cellar in 2019-20 rose from £46,906 to £73,000. The average price was £17.25 a bottle, and 73% of the wine bought was English or Welsh. Purchases included 1,440

Kevin Durrant BeerGinVino, Haddenham, Bucks

�

Everyone who works in the shop wears a mask. We are no longer insistent that our customers do, but we encourage it. We also restrict the numbers of customers in the store at any one time. We’ve been doing that since the start of Covid and customers are very patient and understand the rules. I think it has benefitted the business – it has encouraged people to come to the store because it is a safe environment.

”

Martha Rudd Ake & Humphris, Harrogate

bottles of Chapel Down Bacchus. In total, 4,045 bottles of wine and spirits were drunk on government business in 2018-19, and 3,336 in 2019-20.

”

Champagne Gosset The oldest wine house in Champagne: Äy 1584

The Guardian, July 15

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 21

ANALYSIS

Winebuyers reboot raises questions After collapsing in April with debts of £1.6m, Winebuyers was bought from liquidators for just £145,000. The new business features a familiar name, and some familiar problems, as Nigel Huddleston reports

worthwhile because the profit from the

who would have been heavily dependent

profile. For a monthly flat subscription fee,

on it, so let’s treat is as a marketing

ploy, piggyback on their SEO and get the

them,” it said.

n the face of it, the chance to sell

wine through the Winebuyers online platform seemed to be a low-risk

opportunity to generate extra revenue and

suppliers and retailers could list an agreed quantity of wines on the site.

Winebuyers would provide a marketing

medium for their wines, capture the orders and pass on the revenue, leaving the

importer or store to fulfil the orders.

This model was designed to keep costs

down and offer consumers competitive prices.

“We were involved with them pretty

much from the beginning,” says Daniel Grigg, managing director of Museum Wines in Blandford Forum.

“We always wondered whether it was

subscription fee just about wiped its face. “We decided we weren’t losing money

Museum Wines name out there a bit more.” For a while, things went well, but last

year the wheels started to come off, as

payments from Winebuyers to Museum

Wines, and other companies who placed their wines on the site, began to dry up.

The Argentine wine company Alpasión

outlined details of its dealings with

Winebuyers in an online post and said Winebuyers founder Ben Revell had

admitted that the company hadn’t been paid for “several months”.

So too did the bag-in-box specialist More

Wine. “We are another supplier who has not been paid,” it said. “We are owed for

goods supplied to Winebuyers’ customers dating back to September 20 [2020].

“Have sent numerous emails and letters

all to no avail. Recommend avoiding this company either as a customer or as a supplier,” the post continued.

Master of Malt said payments from

Winebuyers were behind as early as 2019. It eventually suspended trading with the company in mid-2020. Winebuyers founder Ben Revell

“This was a critical time for many

businesses – particularly the smaller

producers which Winebuyers worked with,

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 22

on the online sales, including those they thought Winebuyers was generating for

Things came to a head in April this year

when the company – full name Winebuyers Ltd – was placed into liquidation. A

liquidator’s report detailed £1.6m of debts, including £1.3m to trade creditors.

Among the bigger creditor claims

were H&H Fine Wines (owed £120,018);

Enotria&Coe (£96,643); Great Wines Direct (£64,863); Spanish online wine retailer Decántalo (£70,591); and Atom, owner

of Master of Malt (£35,725). A company

called Urban Massage was owed £2,282.80.

he company handling the liquidation, BM Advisory, says none of them are likely ever to see that money again.

But some of those owed money are

angered that the site is trading and that

Winebuyers Ltd’s founder and principal shareholder Ben Revell continues to

be involved. Winebuyers Group Ltd, a

company set up by a consortium of bigger Winebuyers Ltd shareholders, excluding Revell, bought the assets, including the website, for £145,000, to carry on the business of Winebuyers.

Despite assurances to the liquidator

from the new company that Revell would

Grigg says Winebuyers also agreed to

pay revenue from transactions upfront,

before Museum dispatched any wines, but that the old payment issues resurfaced under the new arrangement.

“It was the same problems,” he adds.

“Sometimes they were a week late, sometimes a month.

“Ben’s excuse initially was that there

was a technical glitch on the payment

system. That was resolved but then all the other payments after that were late. He

blamed that on one order that was lost by a courier. I don’t really understand how one order being lost means you can’t get paid for the ones that haven’t been.

“It’s not fair and doesn’t make sense.

I’ve never heard anything like that and it sounds like another excuse and dodging the reason why they haven’t paid.”

n all, 14 county court judgments

Many customers have been exasperated by Winebuyers’ service and left scathing reviews

be neither a shareholder nor director of

When the payment problems began,

the new company, he was signing emails

some suppliers asked for wines to be

Wine Merchant his role was to “assist the

continued to receive orders.

to suppliers as late as mid-July as CEO of

Winebuyers Group. BM Advisory told The [new] management with the transition”.

rigg at Museum Wines says: “I

wouldn’t have harsh feelings if it

had been legitimately taken on by a

consortium of shareholders and was under new management, but from what we’ve experienced so far it is not.

“The only person in a senior position I’ve

had contact with is Ben Revell who signs his emails as CEO, so it does very much

feel like he’s wiped out £1.6m of debt, put

two fingers up to the creditors and is now

carrying on as before, just with a different limited name.”

taken off the site, only to realise that their requests had been ignored when they

“There’s a danger of guilty by association

when people don’t fully understand that

Museum Wines weren’t being paid and that was the only reason they weren’t getting their orders,” says Grigg.

“We had people contacting us, obviously

being fobbed off by Winebuyers. They were saying suppliers had stock issues, or this

and that, and putting the onus on innocent suppliers who just wanted to be paid.”

Museum finally came off the Winebuyers

website last month having initially

agreed a deal for the new company to

continue listing wines, while waiving the subscription fee to offset against the old company’s debt.

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 23

against Winebuyers have been made

since December 31, as suppliers seek

recompense.

Grigg points out that similar payment

problems aren’t experienced through other marketplace-style sites.

“We are on Vivino and everything is done

through Stripe,” he says. “The money goes into our Stripe account and then into our bank account a couple of days later, and

then we pay Vivino a commission based on net sales at the end of the month.”

Negative reviews continue to stack up

and the company is still inviting suppliers to sign up with the promise of “no

commission charged on sale, no mark-up on prices, no hidden fees”. Grigg warns others against taking up the offer.

“We’re off the platform and thankfully no

longer affiliated with them whatsoever.

“It was never really worthwhile being

on there – even when they were paying on time.”

• Ben Revell was approached via various media for comment, but did not respond.

JUST WILLIAMS

Back to the old routine An enforced break from trade tastings has given us all time to reflect on what’s good and bad about these industry rituals. Does that mean the future is digital? Not entirely, says David Williams

he emotional consequences of

returning to a relatively normal daily life after 18 months

of restrictions and existential dread

are, I think we’d all agree, somewhat unpredictable.

I can’t say I enjoyed my first ride on a

packed London tube (freaked out might be a better way of putting it), but, to my

surprise, I barely noticed the first time I

was served by a mask-less shop assistant

(my wife pointed it out after we’d left the

shop), and my first visits to the local library and gallery felt immediately like I’d never been away.

Clearly, it’s going to take time, and

patience, plus plentiful supplies of mutual tolerance and respect, to get the hang of

post-pandemic life (even using that term with something resembling confidence makes me feel a little dizzy and glib). No doubt, we’ll all have different

responses at different times. Some of us will swing back into our pre-pandemic

lives with barely a second thought. Others may well wonder if there aren’t some

aspects of the past year and a half that

might be worth conserving or that, at the

very least, pose a few questions about our previous assumptions and priorities.

This is, of course, true of the specific

ways we go about our business in the

wine trade as much as any other part of our lives. Many of the things we used to

take for granted have been proved to be

rather less indispensible than we thought. Some of the temporary solutions found,

in extremis, during Covid, have proved to be more efficient, if not necessarily more enjoyable, than the things they replaced.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in

the field of the large-scale trade tasting.

Like many readers of this magazine, I used to devote an enormous amount of time

to attending these events: whole days – whole weeks in the spring and autumn tasting high season – spent navigating

interchangeable circuits of white tableclothtopped trestle tables, waist-high communal spittoons, and winemaker sales spiels.

I did it because I thought it was the best

way to discover new wines and vintages

and to assess the current state of play in a region, country, supplier or retailer, while picking up news and gossip and – let’s be

honest here – meeting up with friends and acquaintances.

But the abrupt cessation of pretty much

all public tasting activity in spring 2020 gave me plenty of time to consider the

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 24

value of these events: a cold-eyed, cold-

turkey assessment of their place in the (or

at least, my) wine world that can be boiled down to the simple question: do we really need them?

t’s a question brought into sharp relief by a quick scan of the WSTA Trade Diary for September and October,

which is in full back-to-school mode, with two, three or four events each day.

And I’m sure I’m not the only wine

professional to admit to mixed feelings as

I imagine the effects that those weeks will have on my life: all the trains and tubes

taken, all the hours of “real paying work” lost (at the desk in my case, in the shop

for many readers), all the queasiness at

however many expectorations-per-minute in a room filled with 100 or more tasters. Beyond such personal concerns,

however, there’s debate about the merits

of doing your tasting in public versus the

Covid-era necessity of doing it at home or in the shop.

On the positive side of the ledger: for

sheer range of choice, and number of

wines tasted, the old trade tasting model

wins hands down. There are thousands of

Whole weeks can be devoted to navigating the trade tasting high season

samples to choose from at the larger trade

tastings. Multiply that by, say, two a day for four days and you’re looking at a logistical impossibility to replicate at home or in even the largest shop.

On the other hand, most of us just taste

better – more attentively, but also more naturally – when we’re away from the

bustle and distraction of a busy tasting.

Certainly, my own experience of tasting

during the past 18 months has been of a

narrower pool of wines, but a much deeper engagement with the wines in that pool. I may only taste on average 25 wines a day

at home, rather than the 100+ that I would

“in the field”. But I would really get to know those wines, spending time with them,

and even drinking the best examples with dinner.

his way of tasting is much closer to the experience that people

outside the trade (ie 99.999% of

all wine consumers) have of wine – it gives a much “truer” picture of a wine’s merits

For so many winemakers, it’s so much more efficient to host an event online than take a trip to the other side of the world than the snapshot judgement of the mass tasting.

As for the social element, well, I’ve

probably spent more time listening to

winemakers chatting over Zoom in the

past year than I would have done at trade

tastings. More than merely plugging a gap,

they’ve offered a lifeline for journalists like me looking for stories, or for producers in

need of something resembling face-to-face contact.

Indeed, it seems certain that at least

some tastings will remain online even as

international travel properly resumes. For so many small winemakers, particularly those in the southern hemisphere, it’s

so much more efficient to host an event

online than take an expensive and tiring

trip to the other side of the world. And for retailers who simply can’t find the time

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 25

to leave their shops for a day, “meeting” a producer or supplier online is a very effective, efficient alternative.

But for all that online tastings can

compete with IRL tastings for sheer

volume of human interactions, they just

can’t compete on quality. As an experience, they’ll never match the real human thing. And of course, it is this “real human

thing” that, more than anything, will be

driving me and others back to tastings this autumn.

We’ll go with a new sense of perspective,

fully aware that they represent an

imperfect way of going about our business. And no doubt we’ll be a little wary at first. But we’ll also go with the understanding, sharpened to a fine point during months

of isolation, that wine without people just isn’t the same.

MERCHANT PROFILE

here’s an inner-city grittiness

to Digbeth, with its factory and

warehouse buildings in varying

states of disrepair, renovation or graffiti

adornment. But it’s only a short hop from

the main shopping district of Birmingham, a city whose self-confidence has boomed

in direct proportion to the investment that has poured in over recent years.

Wine Freedom’s unit dates from the very

early 20th century. “It was part of the Bird’s Custard factory estate,” says owner Sam

Olive. “Our landlords own about 17 acres worth of Digbeth including pretty much

the whole of the old custard factory estate, which equates to about 25% of those 17

acres. We’ve taken on an old building built by a local engineer called William J Wild

and we have his name above the shutter.

“There’s not much to it and it costs quite

a bit of money to keep it warm in winter.

Alan Irvine, Milngavie, May 2021

But it means we can have people in the building comfortably.

“We were open about seven weeks

between both [2020] lockdowns and it

was an opportunity to show people what

it was like. We had fantastic feedback from customers saying they felt safe.

“We have a nice big airy interesting

Wine Freedom had been going for four years when Sam Olive took the plunge with its first premises, a century-old warehouse in an industrial suburb of Birmingham, once owned by Bird’s Custard. Covid threatened to derail the company’s ambitions, but as life slowly returns to normal,

venue and we are selling online to the

trade and retail, as well as doing tastings and we have a bar set-up. So it’s a multichannel business.”

Wine Freedom started out six years ago,

after Olive finished a five-year stint with Bibendum.

“Initially it was a B2C business starting

the venue’s future looks bright

with the wine club because we had some

fairly solid contacts and a small customer

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 26

base,” he says.

WINE FREEDOM

Custard dreams “I started to try and raise the profile of

customers had closed, and a new venue

customers I was working with previously

consumer contacts we had, which were

the business predominantly online and on social media, and a lot of the trade

started to come out of the woodwork. “I realised there was a bit of an

opportunity in focusing on good quality handmade organic and natural wines,

as that was a USP in Birmingham, or the

whole of the Midlands really. There wasn’t really anyone else focusing on that side of the industry.”

What prompted you to take the business into its current orbit?

which would be very difficult to get out of,

so we just had to pedal pretty hard. All the friends and family, we approached and said, can you buy some wine, please?

The website only had a holding page, so

we had to fast-track that and we launched online at the end of May last year, which was a godsend really. It wasn’t the best

website but it meant we could launch our brand and get something presentable out there.

Like a lot of indies, deliveries became

I’ve got quite a creative background

an important revenue stream for you.

with creative elements is something which

and other customers. I’d had this idea of

and I understand that connecting wine

We had a lot of wine in keg because we

is really beneficial to consumers. So the

“house wine” kicking around for a couple

education, which is a real passion of mine, idea was to create a platform, hence this

new venue, where we could do wine events and wine education.

had prospective business with the NEC

of years. I put it all together and thought.

we could bottle this stuff and have a kind of a milkman service and deliver it all around Birmingham.

We set up a subscription service just

before Christmas and it worked really well. We created a new sub-brand called House

Wine and it’s still going even though we’ve come out of lockdown. We still have about 60 subscribers and the feedback has been fantastic.

It’s been an opportunity to do more

video content as well. The idea was, rather than loads of wine notes and photos of the

winemaker, the customer would get a video of me doing an introduction for the four

wines. It keeps things nice and personal as well as us being able to introduce the context of our venue.

Continues page 28

We took on the lease about two years

ago. I was a little bit reticent – worried,

actually – about taking on a load of new

overheads, rent and new members of staff

until we were fairly sure we could carve an avenue out of lockdown.

What was the initial effect on the business after the Covid outbreak? In February-March last year it looked very rosy for the B2B side of the business. We

had lots of new trade customers coming on and a big amount of growth planned, and then lockdown hit.

We were faced with the very tricky

situation where we had a lot more stock,

nowhere for it to go because all our trade

Customers appreciate the spacious and airy nature of the venue

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 27

MERCHANT PROFILE

From page 27

Talk us through the aesthetics of the venue. You’ve gone big on pallets. We were working with an architect and a friend of ours is a great joiner and he

came up with some pretty cool ideas. The

set-up fee would have been about £70,000£90,000 and I just wasn’t prepared to do that – it was too much of an expense. We had to be resourceful. I did an

interior architecture degree so I know a bit about spatial planning. I thought, how do we create a space that feels comfortable and has some intimacy to it as well, but do it on the cheap? How do we create

something that is flexible so that when

we do start adding bits to it, we can move things around?

So we started looking at ideas with

pallets. The plants are a natural green

backdrop and help to give it a more natural setting. There’s an element of value to

of encouraging more footfall from the

city centre. But there are some big plans. The estate which owns our building has been given planning permission for a

regeneration project so there will be some

upheaval in the next seven years or so, but there is more residential planned.

There is HS2, which is on the Digbeth

side of the city. The construction for that

station started a couple of years ago. A lot of the commerce and new construction

for the city is going to be geared towards

the south east end as opposed to the north west end. Digbeth will be the place to be

in the next 10 years or so and we thought,

It’s 65% trade and 35% what I would call

comfortable.

idea is to keep that split over the next two

backdrop of the warehouse, we have some

clean lines and a fresh white palette which sets off the more rustic elements.

When customers come in it’s a relaxed

aesthetic but we have a team who

have been trained in Michelin-starred

restaurants so you get a really nice glass

and an interaction and conversation that is proper hospitality.

Digbeth is surprisingly close to the city centre. Does it feel that way? The estate has a long way to go in terms

at the moment, he has had many, many job

offers on the table. Luckily he really enjoys working with us, so he wanted to stay.

I think because we have such a diversity

of roles within the business it’s a great place to be if you want to learn rapidly

about how a business works from both the front and back end.

What’s the shareholding structure? myself. The venue is a limited company

and we have another limited company for

‘Digbeth will be the place to be in the next 10 years or so’

area, and work on dividing the space

have pallets and there’s the fairly gritty

because of the dearth of hospitality staff

the online and the events side of things,

Digbeth is a destination spot. You have to

trade, retail, and so on?

things are presented, so even though we

We’ve got a great GM, Dan Bennett, and

have a specific reason to be there.

reasonably priced.

much-reduced budget, to create a retail

I’m a bit fastidious with the way

to work quite well.

Most of it has been investment from

How do your sales break down between

up. We wanted the customers to feel

casual … we have four full-timers. It seems

let’s build a brand now in a unit that’s

having greenery in the space.

We did engage our joiner friend, on a

a team of 12. The majority of those are

B2C, so online, retail and in the venue. The

and a limited company for the trade side of things. It means the different streams

can be protected as we grow and allow for future investment.

When we are in a position to take on

years or so.

further investment for online it makes

Off the back of the pandemic, we see a lot

works quite well.

There are a lot of new restaurants and

new business venues now in Birmingham. of businesses closing, but it’s a lot of the

things cleaner and more simple. So we’ve

carved it up into limited companies and it

national and multinational businesses

It’s about time we talked about wine.

city. We work with the independents who

the crap and do proper wine that is made

that are going to struggle with the big

Everyone wants an authentic experience

operate in the more satellite areas around

sensitively and farmed from good quality

heavy rents they have in the middle of the the city centre.

How big is your team? It’s really just me heading up the trade

side of things at the moment and Taylor

[Meanwell] looks after the venue. We have

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 28

when they open a bottle of wine. We cut vineyards.

We educate in a language that our

customers understand which helps us connect them to the taste of the grape

Continues page 30

MERCHANT PROFILE

comfortable putting them in front of our

From page 28

customers then we don’t have them.

A lot of people don’t like those crazy,

in the vineyard. It means our customers

weird and funky flavours. Some do, but the

become more wine savvy.

majority don’t. So it’s up to us to choose

wines that our customers will like. We have

Does it matter if the wines aren’t

had to send some wines back; they ended

officially certified as organic?

up being a bit mousey. You can’t serve them

No. The terminology behind natural wine

to a customer.

is quite a difficult subject and it’s a bit

I went to the first natural wine fair that

of a minefield for the industry so for the

Doug [Wregg] and Isabelle [Legeron] put

consumer it’s even more complicated.

on about 10 years ago before it split off

The majority of consumers don’t

understand what organic is, and if you

don’t understand that, you can’t talk from

the perspective of organic. You’d be really surprised but lots of people don’t know what sustainable means either. Using the word natural as an

operative term is a lot more useful and

understandable for most consumers. You have to put the language in consumer

terms. We use the word natural perhaps a bit more freely than other merchants and

wholesalers because it makes more sense to our customers.

Once you have them in an educational

environment, whether it’s a tasting or

an event, you can start to pick apart the

differences between how different wines

are made and how they are classified. The majority aren’t classified. It’s up to us as a business to try and choose the wines we

feel represent the best of a grape variety and a region.

Which suppliers do you work with?

Les Caves de Pyrene, Indigo, Swig,

Basket Press and Carte Blanche, amongst others. We have a wide range of different

winemakers. We will, in the next 12 months, start importing our own wines as well. How will you find those wines?

into Raw and the Real Wine Fair. Quite a lot of the wines were faulty and I was really sad about it.

The penny dropped that something

wasn’t quite right even though the

intentions were good and the philosophy was there.

Do you think the quality of natural

I’m very confident with the quality of wines

wines has improved since then?

want to work with.

their wines and they’ve got better.

from certain winemakers, so I already have a shortlist of makers and consultants we I have a friend who has been shipping

wine for a few years and he is particularly good at sourcing really good quality, accessible, natural wines that aren’t

too expensive. If you’re going to start

importing you need some products that

are good on price but still deliver on the quality and values we need.

Do you worry about inconsistencies between bottles of natural wine? We don’t like wines like that. If we’re not

‘A lot of people don’t like those crazy, weird and funky flavours. We have had to send some wines back; they ended up being a bit mousey’ THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 30

Over the last 10 years or so I have followed many different winemakers and tasted

Some of them have started to understand

that some of their wines don’t taste as good in the UK as they do in the winery. So how do we bridge that gap? Les Caves as an

importer has looked at this very seriously and tried to make sure their wines are

temperature controlled and that variation from source to consumer is more stable.

There are problems once the wine has

been bottled. How does the retailer keep it and for how long? How aggressive was the journey from A, B, C and D? What temperature is it kept at?

Even if it’s mass-produced, wine is a

sensitive product – and natural wine is

even more sensitive. One wine we get from Carte Blanche is one of my favourites.

Fabien Jouves makes wine in Cahors and every year you can tell they get slightly

better, slightly fresher. He’ll come to the UK and he’ll taste his wines in situ and he’ll take feedback and learn from it.

WINE FREEDOM

Tell us about your keg wines. I really see the value of KeyKeg, especially with natural wine, because it’s a very

stable environment and it cuts out a lot of

the potential issues and problems you have with shipping wine in bottle.

There are some problems that might

occur but, because it’s a much more

reductive, stable environment, when

it comes out the tap it’s much fresher. It’s cheaper and much better for the environment, so it’s a real win-win.

We’ve got eight KeyKegs and will likely

increase that to another four to six over the next year or so.

Every month we have four new wines

we present to our House Wine subscribers. The guys in the bar have their favourites

now so we want to keep a few of those on. There are a few venues around town

that do wine from keg, some of whom we

supply, like the guys at Grace & James. We

work with Rupert [Taylor] and the guys at

Uncharted and we act as a kind of regional wholesaler for them.

Is there anywhere in the world you find particularly exciting for winemaking? Where would you like to visit? I would love to go to Georgia, purely from a

historical winemaking perspective. I nearly jumped on a trip a couple of years ago.

I think Greece as a country with all of its

islands is fairly untapped and there’s more potential there. There is still more quality stuff to come from Spain.

I’d like to go back to New Zealand. I was

there with my wife about 15 years ago. I’d like to see how the industry has evolved

and changed there. The natural wine side of things is starting to take off.

What’s next for the business? It’s education – that’s going to be the core driver for us. It will be how we build the

business for the future. You get business off the back of educating people. With

Pallets were a lower-cost alternative than the first design, but still required a joiner’s expertise

trade, you speak to chefs and say, if you’re

the wine parties soon because we are

We have a customer base that is really

educational things online. We want to

bothered about what goes on the plate, you should care what is going in the glass.

thirsty to learn more. The venue will allow us to put on various different educational experiences; tastings or big wine parties for 150 people. We’re not going to do

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 31

conscious we need to keep things safe.

We need to get better at building the

build products in Birmingham that are

interesting, compelling and scalable that we can put out to the wider national market.

all wrong and, frankly, interior all wrong.

n the land before Wine, in the cold

Top comes somewhat predictably Waitrose

bleach smell of Cheesetime, I had

(generous Grana Padano use) equal with

a serious sandwich habit. The

the progenitor of Caesar wraps: Tesco’s,

daily sandwich was a “Clatty Pat”, the

the daily wrap from the summer of ’99

affectionate nickname of the niteclub across the road, Cleopatra’s, the Last

Resort, which had a giant ballet mirror and barre and no clientele except on

doctors and nurses night, meaning that

post-Cheese, post-pints-with-fags-indoors (lest we forget), we would leap our not

inconsiderable monger-heft through the disco lights and dry ice. The amazing

restorative next-day sandwich was toasted

10. SANDWICH Phoebe Weller of Valhalla’s Goat in Glasgow recalls her sandwich years and the pre-salad days that turned out to actually be her salad days.

when I was counter-intuitively filling my

sixth-form sketchbooks with the thoughts which (hadn’t) gone into making my

Sound and Fury graffito triptych. Tomato tortilla, generous garlic mayo splurge, some kind of white fibrous chicken

breast approximation with a couple of

Marlboro Lights chaser on the Castle Sands (cigarettes also taste like turnips now, go

figure, another occasional pleasure ripped

ciabatta, smoked melted cheese, ham,

from my crooked, ageing hands). Laurie

coleslaw (plus kiwi-lime Snapple). Now

had one of these yesterday (the wrap,

that coleslaw has been infected by the

not the tabs) and attests to its continued

Turnip Spectre I can no longer have it.

excellence.

That and Cappuccino’s – that mecca of

There was The Big Piece, of course – a

the sandwich; the Dan’s Choice, the

daily 2x1 metre sandwich that you got a

Champion, the Mega Melt – has itself

“piece” of, with “piece” also, in the Glasgow

melted into some shitty sitty roasty

vernacular, meaning sandwich, dig? –

avocadoey place. Everything is in a

cooked up from the brain of that coked-up

constant state of flux, aye, sure. But not Cappuccino’s, surely. Is nothing sacred?

genius in Partick. The filling changed daily with what was going out of date from

No, I am not a sandwicher now but I

the deli-counter but was at its best when

really put in the legwork in my hungover

the open textured bread soaked up the

20s. And early 30s, OK, you got me.

fantastically cost-inefficient fresh pesto or

The “Shredder” from Rottencake:

eye-wateringly expensive Brie de Meaux.

sourdough baguette (topped with

I remember there once being a

Razordough fins), Milano salami,

lobster mayo Big Piece, but that

grated Comte, tarragon mayo. There

whole time’s a bit of a blur, tbh.

were joyous times when Rottencake

Well, OK. I make one annual

have brought us bags full of end-of-day

sandwich now. The coup de grace.

sandwiches, which are surprisingly good

The sandwich to end all sandwiches.

resurrected by microwave on the third day,

Scooped out sourdough. Whole packet of

when all the fat comes pooling out, easing

St Agur coating interior, top and bottom.

the effect of the Razordough.

Mayonnaise, obvs. Rocket, mandolined

In my pre-salad days, which, confusingly,

red onion, tomato and balsamic salad.

were my salad days, many Amazing

Minute steak. Fried garlic mushrooms.

Lunches were Amazing Caesar Wraps.

Completely unwieldy. Amazing. Best

Here I offer my ranking. Bottom, service

served with Riesling.

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 32

Authentically Venetian: Canella’s Prosecco story Meet a family that can claim to be true pioneers of the Prosecco category – and are proud to stay faithful to their ideas

Explore the Canella range Prosecco Extra DryJohan (20cl/75cl) Kirsten,DOC left,Spumante with co-founder du Toit Made from 100% Glera grapes produced in the high Marca Trevigiana. Fresh, aromatic and fruity, the wine contains 17g/l of residual sugar which is balanced perfectly with its natural acidity. Ideal as an aperitif, but also with light first courses, fish, white meat and fresh cheese. Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Spumante DOCG Extra Dry Millesimato (20cl/75cl/magnum) A vintage wine made from the year’s highest quality Glera grapes in the hilly area of Valdobbiadene. The classic style of Prosecco Canella, excellent as an aperitif or with delicate fish dishes. Lido Prosecco Rosé DOC (20cl/75cl) New to the range, this blend of 85% Glera and 15% Pinot Noir was inspired by the famous Lido di Venezia. With aromas of cherry, wild berries and delicate flowers, Lido is very food-flexible, and goes particularly well with starters, seafood or white meat. Rosé Spumante Brut Martinotti (20cl/75cl) 100% Pinot Nero from Alto Adige. A Martinotti method sparkling wine in which the yeasts remain in contact with the wine for more than six months. With a residual sugar of just 8g/l, the wine is characterised by a pale pink colour and a classic bouquet.

Feature sponsored by UK importer Marcato Direct For more information visit marcatodirect.co.uk, telephone 07900 115372. Visit the Canella website: bellinicanella.com

rosecco’s success story in the UK feels like a relatively modern phenomenon. But for the Canella family, the glory years began in the early 1960s. As far back as 1947, Luciano Canella was helping his mother Giovanna at their famous country osteria near Venice when he started crafting a light, fruity sparkling wine that quickly became a hit with patrons. Soon word had spread, a proper winery was built, and Canella wines became known far beyond their native region. Various styles were produced, but Prosecco was undoubtedly the star of the show. Canella has remained a family business ever since, and continues to work with many of its original growers in the famed Valdobbiadene area of the Veneto. Luciano’s grandson, Tommaso Canella, knows the history very well. He says that the Prosecco grape – now renamed Glera – was “almost unknown” to winemakers when his grandfather encountered it. “He was really one of the first to focus on it, and to think of this wine as a great opportunity for the future,” he says. Prosecco styles can, of course, differ markedly but Canella has stuck to its guns from the beginning,

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 33

always preferring a drier style. “Our Prosecco is made the same way we used to make it back in the 60s,” Tommaso explains. “Our extra dry DOCG Prosecco is our main wine because, according to our philosophy, that’s the best style of Prosecco.” Some producers have stripped their wines right back to brut nature levels. But Tommaso does not want to go down the same path. “In Glera we are talking about a grape that is not as rich as a Chardonnay or Pinot Noir, so chemically, when you are losing all the residual sugar, you are losing a lot of flavour,” he says. “We don’t want to lose all that taste – the flowers and the apples and so on.” Canella is also fastidious about the quality of its bubbles, preferring to keep the fizz at a level that allows easy drinking. No doubt the wines have their place in celebratory occasions, but, like his grandparents before him, Tommaso is keen to produce wines that have everyday appeal and authentic Venetian heritage. Many of its wines are also available in 20cl bottles, all with faux mushroom stoppers. As well as encouraging impulse purchases in retail settings, these smaller bottles have been a hit in wine bars and restaurants. The launch of a DOC rosé Prosecco has added another string to Canella’s bow, but this is not a company that believes in innovation for the sake of it. With Prosecco facing commoditisation in some areas of the market, Tommaso believes the long-term future of the business will be secured by focusing on what it always did best in the past: making authentic and consistent Prosecco wines that remain faithful to their original aim of simply giving pleasure.

life’s a peach

If you want an authentic Bellini with a true taste of Venice, anywhere in the world at any time, the Canella family have bottled the secret

he Bellini is the classic cocktail of Venice: a blend of sparkling wine

and white peaches that is simple to

describe, but hard to get right.

Luciano Canella, who was one of the

pioneers of Prosecco back in the 1950s, set about solving two problems. “The

Bellini was only available in Venice, and

only during the months of July and August, due to the life of the peaches being really short,” explains his grandson Tommaso Canella. “My grandfather’s idea was for

people to drink a Bellini from the bottle all year round, and wherever they like.”

The family started to organise its own

local peach production, ensuring that it was never short of a reliable supply of

healthy, ripe fruit, which was blended with Prosecco and bottled under the brand name Bellini.

The peaches need to be far riper than

would be feasible for retail sale. But it’s this soft, sweet juiciness that ensures

that Canella’s Bellini requires none of the sweeteners that might be found in other versions of the cocktail.

“The raspberries found in Bellini have

Tommaso recognises that, for some,

had the aroma taken out of them, so it’s

Bellini has a retro kind of appeal. “The

mix just the Prosecco and the peach purée,

idea of 1960s Italy, a great period for our

just the colour matter that goes into the

product,” explains Tommaso. “When you you have a cappuccino colour, so adding the raspberry creates a beautiful pink.

Bellini is the name of a painter who used to paint with this kind of pink.”

Canella’s iconic bottled Bellini has

become an international success. It’s sold

in 20cl bottles as well as the standard 75cl

format, making it a good option for impulse sales as well as by-the-glass service.

At just 5% abv, it also chimes in well with

growing consumer demand for drinks that

don’t pack a big alcoholic punch, especially for occasions like picnics or al fresco lunches.

Feature sponsored by UK importer Marcato Direct

For more information visit marcatodirect.co.uk, telephone 07900 115372. Visit the Canella website: bellinicanella.com

The only other ingredient is raspberry.

product comes from the imagery of la dolce vita Italiana,” he says. “We’re selling the country.”

But as a 26-year-old himself, he’s

confident that Bellini’s cool branding and

authentic flavour credentials resonate with his own peer group, many of whom are fascinated by cocktail culture.

Tommaso says he would “shake the

hand” of anyone with access to ingredients as good as his own who could create their own interpretation of a Bellini. But very few consumers are in such a privileged position.

Bellini made its debut in the UK six years

ago, when the trade response was cautious. Importer Marcato Direct has brought the

product back to market because merchants have been demanding it.

“Worldwide, the consumption of

cocktails is growing,” says Tommaso. “We are ready for this because in the little

world of premixed products we are by far the better quality one.”

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 34

Baron Yukiwa Cocktail Shaker Get your Tom Cruise on and mix like a pro with this cocktail shaker from Japanese brand Baron Yukiwa. Made from polished steel with distinctive gold coloured bands, this three-piece shaker will be a boost to any mixologist’s credentials. urbanbar.com, £55

Sup Insulated wine bottle and tumbler Keep drinks at the required temperature while on the go. Pictured is the newly launched colourway, Peacock Galaxy, which has a tinted soft-touch rubber finish. This stylish set will keep wine cold and fresh for up to 24 hours. Made from double-walled insulated stainless

The Moscow Mule was created in the 1940s to kick-start the career of the vodka behemoth Smirnoff, but don’t let that put you off. It’s a superb, refreshing cocktail for late summer evenings, with a bit of zest, sparkle, sweetness and bite. This twist provides an opportunity to enjoy seasonal fruit alongside other fresh plant ingredients.

steel, the bottles can be used to carry hot drinks too. supdrinkware.com, £39.99 for the set

Advent calendars What could be better than a chocolate behind each advent door? Alcohol – obviously. These can be ready-filled or customers can select their own cans and bottles to fill the calendar.

6cl good quality vodka (doesn’t have to be Smirnoff) 1.5cl fresh lime juice A dozen-ish raspberries Fresh ginger Ginger beer Fresh basil

The larger 24-bottle advent calendar is designed to take a selection of halfbottles of wine, piccolo bottles and 33cl and 50cl beer bottles, as long as they don’t exceed

Muddle the raspberries in a shaker. Add lots of ice, the vodka and lime juice, and shake like a mad thing. Strain into a copper mug for original recipe authenticity, or a Highball or Collins glass for a more practical solution. Garnish with fresh basil and thin shavings of peeled ginger.

73mm in diameter and 245mm in height. The 24-can advent calendar houses 33cl and 40cl cans (max 73mm x 150mm). It also works great with smaller bottles of spirits and pre-mixed cocktails. wbc.co.uk, RRP £13.15 and £12.32 per unit ex VAT respectively. Available from September

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 35

Catching up with Charline Drappier

One of the eighth generation now running the famous family Champagne house, Charline discusses Wine Merchant Top 100 victories for Carte d’Or and Clarevallis, the role of still wines in the range, and why green issues are so important

Congratulations on your success in The Wine Merchant Top 100 this year. Why do you think Carte d’Or Brut was such a hit with our judges?

the UK trade and what are the challenges of making still wines in your region? The Coteaux Champenois Trop m’en Faut (100%

Carte d’Or has a very singular style and expresses the identity of our house. It combines both the vinosity of the Pinot Noir with the minerality from the Chardonnay, in a very refreshing Champagne. It’s the Champagne my grandparents created, and is still very reflective of our family style, but also has a strong personality because of its high proportion of Pinot Noir. Being quite low in dosage for a brut, it still leaves you with a refreshing finale.

Fromenteau, aka Pinot Gris) is one of our three new Coteaux Champenois. It has always been a tradition where we are in Urville. We used to make red wine, then “grey wine” (vin gris), long before Champagne as a sparkling wine ever existed. I believe that when picked with the appropriate ripeness, and vinified with precision, Coteaux Champenois can tell a lot about our region, and can provide the curious buyers with an interesting interpretation of our terroir. However, never forgetting our bubbles, we have also released a Trop m’en Faut as a Champagne.

Clarevallis was also a winner. Again, what makes this cuvée special, and has it been doing well in the independent trade? We are so happy about this win too. It’s a new cuvée, and as such it’s the reflection of the new generation’s taste: my brothers Antoine, Hugo and I. It is quite peculiar because though it’s based on Pinot Noir, it’s a very vibrant and energetic style. It is also made 100% of organic grapes. A process my brother Hugo has been very much involved in. Tell us something about Trop m’en Faut. What hopes do you have for Coteaux Champenois in

Drappier is famously a family business. Why do you think successive generations have retained their expertise and enthusiasm – and kept the house’s reputation so intact? Not all family businesses are so lucky! We are very lucky! However, we (the eighth generation) do not feel we have acquired expertise yet; we consider ourselves very lucky to have our grandfather André and our father Michel to guide us through our family journey. We are very united along our core values, with which we were raised: hard work, long-term vision, always trying to do new things,

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 36

not forgetting where we belong, and reflecting where and who we are. But we still have a lot to do for the future generations! Tell us more about your efforts to move to more sustainable practices and organic viticulture. Do you think it makes a difference to what we taste in the bottle or is this more a question of simply trying to be responsible as a business? I think both, in different ways. There are two aspects in our commitments, that do not impact the quality of wine equally. First, we are carbon neutral, meaning that since 2015, our company has a net zero carbon footprint. We produce 80% of our energy consumption through our photovoltaic panels, and we make every effort possible not to use fossil energy. This holistic approach does not impact the quality of the wine, but will eventually (hopefully) impact climate change. Second, our organic practices and “soft vinification”: this does impact the taste in many ways, from how the soil and plant is being cared for, the lower yields and the absence of filtration in the vinification, to the low use of sulphite. How difficult has it been for Drappier to engage with the UK market since Covid arrived and how have you managed to keep the lines of communication open with the independent trade? We have been surprised to see that Champagne has been enjoyed, with customers engaging

even more with their knowledge of Champagne. We have been able to engage with remote tastings both for the trade, and also for retailers’ customers, through private tastings. Comfortably sat in our “salons”, we go through the history and the wines, which have been sold in a pack in advance, having also recommending some food pairings. It was a wonderful way to chat with British clients. What do you hope to achieve in the foreseeable future – any new developments in the winery or vineyards or perhaps new cuvées? We will keep working on new cuvées, and new variations. For instance, we will release another expression of our Brut Nature Rosé, coming exclusively from Les Riceys terroir. Positioned at the same price, it will give the consumer the choice to choose between one expression or another. On the long run, we wish to stay strong as a family, and pass onto the next generation a house where they can flourish (and have fun!) as much as we do.

Feature sponsored by Champagne Drappier, imported in the UK by Berkmann Wine Cellars For more information visit champagne-drappier.com or berkmann.co.uk

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 37

CATEGORY FOCUS

his year marks the 80th birthday of one of wine’s most successful generic marketing groups.

The Comité Interprofessional du Vin de

Champagne (known these days as Comité Champagne) was formed in one of the darkest moments of the 20th century, helping to hold the industry together

throughout the Nazi occupation of France. Since then, it’s helped Champagne

producers weather numerous further

crises, most of them economic in nature. From the oil crisis of 1973, to the Great Recession of 2008, sales of fizz have

plummeted during stormy periods in the global financial system.

But, as that 80th birthday approached,

the organisation had to draw on all of its famed diplomatic ingenuity to weather

what is unquestionably the biggest crisis Champagne has faced since the end of WWII.

In terms of sales, 2020 was, as the

Comité’s director general Charles

Goemaere puts it delicately in his

Context and optimism

Champagne.

is rather open to question, however.

introduction to the body’s annual report, a “particularly challenging” year for

Total sales were down by 17.9% to 244

million bottles in volume for the full year versus 2019, while value dropped by

16.7%, shedding some €845m to leave the total standing at €4.2bn.

The going was especially rough in

Champagne’s four main markets. France, which as the report says, has been in long-term decline, suffered its 10th

consecutive drop in 2020, a 19.9% fall

that consolidated the eclipse of domestic

sales by exports: the French now account for 46.4% of all Champagne sales, versus 47.5% in 2019.

Meanwhile, the largest market by

volume, the UK, lost 21.7% of its volume sales, while the US, the largest by value, was down 18.8% in volume, and Japan

shed 24.5% of its imports compared to the previous year.

How much these bald figures tell us about the real health of the Champagne sector Certainly, the Comité can muster plenty of evidence to suggest these figures are the result of a one-off shock – a drop in

sales that is almost entirely attributable to the unprecedented event of the

world’s bars and restaurants closing for weeks or months at a time, more or less simultaneously.

As the Comité’s annual report points

out: “The closure of bars and restaurants, restrictions on celebrations and the cancellation of numerous events

have curtailed Champagne sales and

consumption, often drastically.” But this is by no means the only story. “The year has

been a roller coaster,” the report continues, “with very sharp falls (April -68%, May

-56%) and equally sharp rises (+50 points between April and June), demonstrating the circumstantial nature of the drop in sales.”

Other indicators point to a deep

resilience in the Champagne market.

The most striking is the performance of Australia, where Champagne imports

soared by a remarkable 11.2%, sparking

reports of a shortage in the country. New Zealand, too, bucked the trend, with no drop in imports versus the previous

year. As the report says, this is largely

attributable to the two countries’ “effective handling of the pandemic”. In other words, in markets where life is somewhere closer to the old “normal”, Champagne thrives. Champagne in the UK

Gosset has opened a dedicated space for visitors at its premises in Epernay including a boutique bar and park. The bar was conceived and designed by Champagne architect Giovanni Pace. Pace has created a relaxing oasis where the house’s wines, from the emblematic Grande Reserve to the prestigious Celebris, can be enjoyed.

Much of the bigger global picture in

the Champagne market can be found in microcosm in the UK.

The 21.7% drop in volume meant

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 38

Champagne’s rollercoaster year

It’s no big surprise that the global lockdown had a disastrous effect on Champagne sales. But the category has been bouncing back as restrictions lift, and even Brexit doesn’t seem to have derailed progress in the UK. By David Williams

the UK imported 21.3 million bottles

reporting a spike in online Champagne

slump in sales in 2020, with non-vintage,

Meanwhile turnover fell by 21.9% to

much-feared by the Champenois, has, at

worst losses.

of Champagne in 2020, and it still has

some 16% of total Champagne exports.

€338.2m, putting it just behind the US with 12.9% of total Champagne export turnover. As the report points out, however, the

UK was at the forefront of trends that have seen Champagne sales rebound since the first lockdown in spring 2020: a switch

to drinking Champagne at home, which

sales.

Meanwhile, the completion of Brexit,

least according to the Comité, had relatively little effect on Champagne imports, with

the EU-UK Trade & Cooperation Agreement “guaranteeing exemption from custom duties”.

A vintage year in the cellar

was very much a part of a premiumisation

One particularly intriguing detail amid the

supermarkets and merchants saw a rise

performance of the vintage brut category

of take-home drinking in the absence

of the on-trade and public events. Both in Champagne sales during 2020, with

supermarket sales increasing by 6.1% to

9.8 million bottles, and with many retailers

blizzard of numbers and data offered by the Comité’s annual report is the strong in the UK.

According to the Comité, almost all

Champagne styles suffered a “major”

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 39

the runaway market leader with a share of more than 80%, inevitably enduring the Vintage brut was the single exception,

with sales rebounding to a remarkable degree: the style actually returned to

growth in 2020, up 18.1% to 0.3 million

bottles after what the Comité calls “three years of sustained decline”.

It’s a surge that is in part attributable

to the presence of wines from some of Champagne’s finest recent vintages in

the market, including 2008 and 2012, but

which also reflects a renewed interest from producers large and small.

Also on the up is rosé Champagne, at

least in terms of market share: sales of

CHAMPAGNE FOCUS

pink styles fared better in the UK than Champagne as a whole, falling 12.8%

in volume, but the style’s 10.7% slice of the market is its highest ever in the UK. A vintage year in the vineyard

Other reasons for optimism in Champagne can be found in the vineyard. Although harvesting conditions were scarcely

ideal – many growers remarked on the

extra expense and inefficiency caused by

harvesting in a Covid-19-safe fashion – the consensus in the region is that 2020 is

another excellent vintage, the third of a

trilogy of fine, warmer vintages to match

the legendary trio of 1988, 1989 and 1990. With growers learning how to deal with

ever-earlier harvests – 2020 was one of

Bollinger RD: one of a flurry of premium Champagne launches in the past year

the earliest on record, starting a full two

weeks before the 10-year average – there

is a sense that 2020 may even be the finest of the trio.

It will also be the smallest. After a series

of high-stakes meetings over the spring and summer of 2020, the tricky act of

balancing the interests of the region’s two big power blocs – the growers and the

houses – against a backdrop of large stocks of unsold wine, resulted in tight limits

on production: a maximum of 8,000kg

per hectare, or a total production of 230 million litres.

And still they came Covid-19 hasn’t stopped the Champagne houses making their usual flurry of

prestige cuvée and vintage releases.

Highlights of the past year or so have

included such stunning 2008s as Krug, Charles Heidsieck Rosé and Rare, and

Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Rosé; the intriguing 2007 Bollinger RD;

impressive 2013s from the likes of Cristal, Moët and Perrier-Jouët Belle-Epoque;

and outstanding 2012s in the shape of Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill and

Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame.

Alliance Riceys – representing

the Meunier grape variety was also

sales of Champagne in the UK with 86% of

The increasing respect with which

growers

Champagne producers now treat

Although the houses continue to dominate

wines from Billecart-Salmon, Les Rendez-

to develop, along with a burgeoning sense

acknowledged in the first of a new series of Vous de Billecart-Salmon. Conceived as

one-off, “pop-up” releases, No 1 is a 100% Meunier Extra Brut, all sourced from the Marne Valley.

The ever-warmer weather experienced

in the Champagne region is also leading an increasing number of producers to dabble in still wine. The most high profile – if

minuscule in quantity – releases so far

are from Louis Roederer, which launched a Pinot Noir red and a Chardonnay white

under the Hommage à Camille label earlier

this year. The inaugural 2018 vintages have attracted plenty of plaudits from the press, with the inevitable Burgundy comparisons only helped by the prices (€160 for the

red; €140 for the white) and the scale of

the production (1,600 bottles of red; 2,900 of white).

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 40

the total, the grower movement continues of sub-regional identity.

Both trends can be seen in the formation

of the Alliance Riceys, a new body formed

to represent the interests of five récoltantmanipulant producers (Batisse-Lancelot, Pascal Manchin, Pehu Guiardel, Arnaud

Tabourin and Phlipaux Père et Fils) in Les Riceys, a Pinot-dominated commune in

the Côte des Bar in southern Champagne,

which, as the Alliance points out, is closer to Chablis than Reims.

The group has already put together

an online tasting for the UK trade in late June. Growers in other sub-regions of

Champagne will no doubt be watching

with interest as Champagne continues to

develop in ways that the early founders of the Comité could only have dreamed of in the dark days of 1941.

ready

to go Nigel Huddleston puts some leading pre-mixed cocktails to the taste test – and finds that the category has come a long way since the bad old days of alcopops

he ready-to-drink spirits market has grown up, with a plethora of new entrants bringing more authentic and better quality takes to the market than the alcopops of yore. It’s a fragmented category, with products ranging from small-can, 4%-ish abv spritz-style drinks that compete with sparkling wine and cider for picnics and barbecues, to near-perfect recreations of bartender-level skill at high abvs for at-home cocktail hour. Rob Wallis entered the sector with Buveur, which came in an unusual 92.5cl glass bottle, but he’s reconfigured the brand as Moth – shorthand for mix of total happiness – in dinkysized cans, a format that manages to hit a more accessible price point.

“Buveur was very high-end – Selfridges, Harrods, the Ritz, those sort of places,” says Wallis. “We knew that by going into cans we could make it as easy to have a great cocktail as it is to have a beer or a glass of wine. “We’re three or four times the strength of pretty much anything else in-can and definitely at the premium end. You can compare us with the thing you had at a cocktail bar last week rather than something else out of a can.” Like Wallis, Chris Caruso, founder of Vacay canned cocktails, says the base spirit is important in stepping up the RTD cocktail offering. “Our cocktails are mixed using award-winning craft spirits as a base,” he says. “They were created for a more sophisticated palate, a nice

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 42

contrast to overly sweet traditional RTDs.” William Grant has produced a series of 50cl, multi-serve cocktails under the name Batch & Bottle, each featuring one of its premium spirits: Monkey Shoulder Lazy Old-Fashioned, Hendrick’s Gin Martini, Reyka Rhubarb Cosmopolitan and Glenfiddich Scotch Manhattan. Hendrick’s gin global ambassador, Ally Martin, says the Martini has been made by master distiller Lesley Gracie with input from a number of world-renowned bars including Maybe Sammy in Sydney and Brujas in Mexico City. “We’re bringing the expertise of bartenders into the home in a convenient format,” he adds. Here, we put 10 of the new entrants through their paces to gauge just how far RTDs have moved on.

READY TO DRINK COCKTAILS

Bottle Bar & Shop Negroni

Bellini

Moth Old Fashioned

Pack: 20cl bottle

Pack: 20cl or 75cl bottle

Pack: 10cl can

ABV: 20%

ABV: 5%

ABV: 20%

Mixologist Xhulio Sina (pictured above) handmakes

This Venetian classic is so fruity and fresh that you’d

Some RTD cocktail makers stretch their recipes into

a range of bottled cocktails running well into double

swear it must be doing you some medical good. Just

long-drink serves, losing something in the process.

figures, which he sells at his shop in south London

one sip and you’re transported to the Lido, with the

Moth, however, goes for bar-size portions for its range

and to other independents. Both this and his Remedy

unsweetened peach pureé and Canella Prosecco

which also includes Espresso Martini, Negroni and

cocktail have won Great Taste Awards. The Negroni –

blending in a cocktail that tastes like it’s just been

Margarita, each of which have their contents writ

made with Rock Rose gin, Campari, vermouth, bitters

prepared for you before your very eyes. Stylish

large on the front of the can, and the source of the

and orange pink grapefruit zest – is bang-on mission,

simplicity at a daytime-friendly ABV.

spirits. In this case, it’s English Whisky Co and Bob’s

with a sweet, fragrant approach and a big bitter finish

Marcato Direct 07900 115372

Bitters that combine with sugar for a rich, authentic

that creeps up slowly.

Marcatodirect.co.uk

and unashamedly boozy tipple.

Bottle Bar & Shop

Moth Drinks 0203 538 8115

bottlebarandshop.com

mothdrinks.com

Bottle & Batch Hendrick’s Martini Pack: 50cl

Bloody Classic

ABV: 35%

Pack: 25cl can At proper Martini strength, this is serious liquor

ABV: 6.3%

with all the decadent unctuousness you’d hope for. It’s often the texture that lets RTDs down, but this

The issue may be how to chill it down fast enough.

Bloody Mary recreation comes with the gloopy,

Shaking with ice kind of defeats the object and

luscious body you’d expect from the real thing. It

putting ice in the drink dilutes the drink and sacrifices

combines a boozy, vodka/sherry

authenticity. We recommend keeping it in the fridge,

base with sweet ripe tomato,

with a 10-minute freezer turbocharge before serving,

a savoury soy edge and a

if you can wait that long for a drink. Anyhow, it is a

satisfying Worcester Sauce

lovely drop, as you’d expect from a product where

kick. Classic by name, classic

four of the world’s top cocktail bars appear on the

by nature.

credits.

Mangrove UK 0203 409 6565

William Grant & Sons 020 8332 1188

mangroveuk.com

batchandbottlecocktails.com

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 43

READY TO DRINK COCKTAILS

Empirical Can No 1

Taylor’s Chip Dry & Tonic

Pack: 33cl can

Pack: 25cl

ABV: 10%

ABV: 5.5%

Copenhagen-based Empirical takes inspiration from

The Fladgate Partnership has embraced one of those

experimental cuisine for its flavour explorations,

numerous wine trade best-kept-secrets, white port

which initially resulted in hard-to-pin-down

and tonic, and put it in a picnic-friendly can. Or two

spirits with arch names like The Plum, I Suppose.

cans to be precise, as there’s also a version made with

Its ready-to-serve cans opt for a more simple

its Croft Pink port. The Taylor’s take just gets the nod,

numerical sequencing – up to No 3 so far – and

a refreshing, floral and fruity affair where elderflower,

No 1 contains Oolong tea, toasted birch shavings,

green apple and pink grapefruit are all going on,

Douglas fir needles and green gooseberries. The

before a clean, crisp, dry finish.

base of “vacuum-distilled pilsner malt and Belgian

Mentzendorff 020 7840 3600

saison yeast spirit” plants it in an intriguing grey area

mentzendorff.co.uk

between cocktails and sour beer. Like avant garde

Strongman’s Tipple Apricot Americano

music, modern art and highbrow literature, it won’t be everyone’s cup of Oolong, but it’s good to know

Pack: 20cl bottle

there’s someone doing it.

ABV: 8.3%

Mangrove UK 0203 409 6565 mangroveuk.com

This twist on the Aperol-led Italian aperitif trend starts off like a sweet stonefruit Negroni before that cocktail’s bitter finish comes on strong just before the

Vacay Paloma

finishing line. Part of a quirky range that also includes

Pack: 33cl can

a passionfruit and fizz mix called Adult Movie Star

ABV: 5.7%

and the pisco-laced Lima Sour.

Strongman’s Tipple 07725 973893

Vacay has chosen its cocktail recipes carefully,

strongmanstipple.com

aiming for drinks that fit the bill for longer-serve refreshment for a festival/barbecue vibe, with the Tom Collins and the Moscow Mule joining the Paloma in the line-up. It’s another that wears its ingredients on its sleeve, in this case tequila, pink grapefruit, lime too-sweet take on an under-rated classic.

Miami Cocktail Co Margarita Spritz

Vacay Drinks

Pack: 25cl can

sales@haveavacay.com

ABV: 4%

juice and lengthening soda water, for a tangy, not-

Miami Cocktail’s organic, light-touch take on tequila’s most popular cocktail is at the crowd-pleasing end of the ready-to-drink spectrum. The tartness of the lime juice and the zesty orange of the triple sec you’d find in the classic recipe both come through in a juicy, pétillant drink that’s eminently drinkable and high on the refreshment scale.

Miami Cocktail Co miamicocktail.com

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 44

the original in bottle since 1988 classic recipe with real ripe peaches available in the uk via marcato direct Contact sales@marcatodirect.co.uk marcatodirect.co.uk

10% OFF

all Bellini ord er throughout s September

MAKE A DATE

Enotria&Coe Annual Tasting

WineGB Tasting Since the last GB tasting in 2019, a

E&C promises to “set the drinks agenda

number of new names have entered the

for the post-pandemic world” with this

field and WineGB is welcoming them as

long-awaited portfolio tasting.

they exhibit alongside more established

A range of over 800 wines and spirits

will be showcased accompanied, where possible, by many of the producers and people behind the brands on the day. Contact ej.bailey@enotriacoe.com.

Monday, September 6 The Brewery 52 Chiswell Street London EC1Y 4SD

Bordeaux Day An opportunity to discover new gems from Bordeaux at this event held in London and Manchester. In addition to a tasting of the 2021

Bordeaux Hot 50, a collection of wines

priced between £6 and £25, visitors can

sample a selection of wines from producers seeking representation in the UK under the banner Bordeaux Undiscovered.

The newest wines from leading UK

agents will be available to taste at

BDXchange, and in London a selection of

organic, biodynamic and vegan wines will

highlight Bordeaux’s sustainability drive at the Green Bordeaux Bar.

For more details or to register, email

teambordeaux@cubecom.co.uk. Wednesday, September 8 Camden House Chalk Farm Road London NW1 8AB Thursday, September 9

producers from England and Wales. There will be regional association stands

to enable some producers to showcase

their wines as a group. The seven regions are South East, Wessex (Hampshire/ Dorset/Wiltshire); West, Thames &

Chilterns, East Anglia, Midlands and North Wales.

Focus tables featuring themed wine

styles will replace the free-pour tables of previous years, staffed by pourers in the interests of Covid safety.

Spotlighted themes include classic

method sparkling whites aged 36 months

or more on lees; classic method sparkling

Languedoc Roussillon Sud de France/Sud Ouest Top 100 Discovery Tasting

rosé; Bacchus; and still reds.

A panel of experts chaired by Tim Atkin

canned wines.

available to taste at this event.

There will also be an “innovation station”

which will feature charmat, pet nat and

A focus table will showcase the trophy

and regional winners from the WineGB awards 2021.

Julia Trustram Eve of WineGB says:

“We and the venue will be exercising due diligence throughout. This will include

timed visiting slots; temperature taken

on arrival; a free flow around the tasting

room; hand-held spittoons for all visitors

and safe disposal; and wines will be poured by staff to avoid multiple handling of bottles.

“As a result we will not be holding

any briefings – other than the industry

breakfast briefing hosted by Simon Thorpe MW – as we are giving this space to some of the focus tasting tables.” Tuesday, September 7

MW has selected the top 100 best wines from Occitanie and all of them will be It’s an opportunity for importers and

buyers wanting to discover new wines for their portfolio as 60% of the wines

showcased are seeking UK distribution. These are the top picks from the

459 wines entered by producers from the Occitanie region, stretching from

Languedoc, Roussillon and the south west of France through to the Rhône Valley. Tim Atkin MW will host two

masterclasses. The first at 12pm will focus on the great white wines from Occitanie and the second at 2pm will feature a

broader range of wine styles with Atkin’s top 100.

Contact Sébastien du Boullay or Isabelle

Kanaan: contactuk@suddefrance-dvpt. com.

Oglesby Atrium

RHS Lindley Hall

Chetham’s, Hunts Bank

Elverton Street

One Great George Street

Manchester M3 1DA

London SW1P 2PB

London SW1P 3AA

THE WINE MERCHANT august 2021 46

Thursday, September 9

Imbibe Live The event focuses on the entire world of drinks – from wines, beers and spirits to cocktails, soft drinks, mixers, tea, coffee,

Hallgarten & Novum Wines Autumn Tasting

La Mimosa 3 Thompsons Lane Cambridge CB5 8AQ Wednesday, September 22 Escape to Freight Island

no and low abv drinks, waters and other

Hallgarten is hitting the road, taking its

11 Baring Street

associated products and technology.

portfolio tasting to four cities.

Manchester M1 2PZ

Due to venue capacity visitors are

encouraged to register as early as possible

and will be asked to select which of the two days they wish to attend.

Registration is essential at live.imbibe.

com.

Monday & Tuesday, September 13 & 14 Olympia

Over 100 wines will be available,

including award winners and a host of favourites from around the world.

Over the past 18 months there have been

many new discoveries that the team has

brought to the UK, and a selection of these will also be there on the day. Each table of wines will be paired with key consumer

Alliance Wine Autumn Portfolio Tasting Alliance is heading for London and

trends to identify wines that have proved

Edinburgh with two tastings this

The Wine Merchant issue 105 (August 2021)

Articles inside

make a date

just wiilliams

wine freedom

champagne

COMINGS AND GOINGS

tried & TESTED