COMINGS AND GOINGS

Second branch in Brighton station

Seven Cellars has opened a shop on the concourse at Brighton station.

The business is already well-established in the nearby Seven Dials area of the city and owner Louise Oliver is excited about this latest expansion.

“As soon as I opened six years ago, I was thinking about opening shop two, and it’s taken me quite a long time to find the perfect location,” Oliver explains.

“That tricky second shop – it’s such a burden because you get yourself a little business going, you get yourself established and you think, OK, it’s stable, I’m paying the bills – it’s working.

“Then you decide to take that leap to the second shop and the last thing you want is to jeopardise the business you have. But I’ve really worked at it, my team is absolutely fabulous, they work so hard and I couldn’t ask for more really, so I feel the timing is right.”

Seven Cellars’ original branch carries around 600 wines and 320 spirits as well as an impressive range of craft beers. Oliver says that selecting the products for the new shop was a real dilemma. “We had to pare down the range because it is really small premises. We’ve got space for around 100 wines and 180 spirits because it is quite tall inside and we’ve had these wonderful library ladders designed,” she says. “At Seven Dials we display by region and country but in the new shop we have organised it by colour and price.” Official figures estimate that 17.5 million commuters pass through Brighton station every year, and in addition there is regular tourist activity. Pride weekend, for example, guarantees an extra 15,000 people coming through the station every hour.

Oliver says that she thinks she is one

More than 17 million customers to aim at

100 wines and 180 spirits are available

of the first to benefit from the revised commercial thinking from Network Rail. “The guy responsible for putting businesses in stations has got an innovative approach concerning the south east,” she says. “They are changing their attitude towards small businesses and are saying that it would be lovely to have a flavour of the businesses of the towns in which the stations are in.”

The new shop will offer click-and-collect to allow commuters to order from work and pick up when they get to Brighton.

Oliver also thinks the location means there will be a lot of gifting. She adds: “I’ve had a few comments on Instagram with just the words ‘train beer!’, which I find quite funny. We will do a little bit of readyto-drink, but not too much – probably the Brighton Gin & Tonic in cans, and we might expand our range of half sizes.”

East London to Western Australia

Wine shop and deli To Be Consumed, in Leytonstone, is up for sale.

Owners Nick and Bianca Chapman are moving back to their native Australia but will be sorry to leave the vibrant east London neighbourhood behind.

The couple originally relocated to the UK to join Nick’s sister, but she also moved back earlier this year. Now with two very young children, Nick and Bianca are keen to rejoin her and the rest of their relatives in Perth. “We’ve been in London for 14 years now,” explains Nick, “but there’s nothing like a global pandemic to solidify what’s important.

“Leytonstone is a lovely place to live and work, with a lot of support for local businesses. There’s a lot of young blood coming in. It’s got that vibe of people looking for something family focused but with the opportunity to still go out and get quality food and bits and pieces.

“There are some great local restaurants and the Leytonstone Town Team, which is a collaboration between local businesses and the council, is really active in trying to push the area.

“There’s lots of exciting things going on and it’s getting better each year.”

New site means big range increase

The Wine Club in Rainhill, near St Helens in Merseyside, has taken on a second premises just a few doors away from the original shop.

This longed-for expansion will allow its owners, sisters Danielle Milnes and Rochelle Garbutt, to quadruple their wine range. “We did well in the first year that we opened [2018], with the cheese and charcuterie platters,” explains Garbutt. “But we decided that the only way we would build the business, especially during lunchtime midweek, was to try and expand the menu, so we had to think about a hot food option.”

Plans for a pizza oven were soon underway but first the business had to survive the pandemic. The sisters furloughed their staff and set about fulfilling hundreds of orders for wine and platters, eventually engaging the help of their family.

“It was insane,” reports Garbutt, “but it massively grew our online presence because people were getting the wine and the platters and sharing them on Instagram and Facebook. We went from about 1,000 followers to 5,000.”

By the time the Eat Out to Help Out initiative was in full swing, the pizza oven was fired up, and a Verre de Vin was installed. “Every single wine on our list is available by the glass, right up to Champagne,” says Garbutt. “Our team is really well trained and Danielle and I are there all the time so it’s really easy to talk to customers about the wines and get them to try new things.”

They also invested £18,000 on a huge weather-proof parasol which, complete with heating and lighting options, has doubled the capacity of the original shop. Garbutt says: “It’s already paying for itself because on Friday and Saturday nights we are completely full.

“The new shop will have the wine shop in the front with spirits and a gift box service and back of house will be the takeaway food service and delivery section. “The current Wine Club will be solely for in-house dining,” she continues. “The extra space means we will really be able to extend the wine range. I’ve always struggled with holding the variations of wine that people want and ask for.

“Now we’ve got much more scope and we can have a natural wine selection and an English wine selection and we’ll have a lot more space for mixed cases ready to go.”

A duvet day in Gosforth

California isn’t in a position to send its wine people to tastings in the UK at the moment. No problem – we can beam them into our stores via the miracle of Zoom.

But won’t the computer screen be rather too small for the paying public to crowd around? Again, no big deal – simply project the video on to a screen. No screen available? Well, this is where indies have to get really resourceful. Which is how Jody Bogle, of Bogle Family Vineyards, came to address customers of Carruthers & Kent in Gosforth recently from within the folds of the duvet cover belonging to owners Claire and Mo.

Threshers smells a rat

There are lots of interesting names to choose from if you’re starting an independent wine shop. The current vogue is to couple some winey terms that combine to sound vaguely like a business partnership: Tartrate & Bentonite, Punt & Dregs, that sort of thing.

But one indie in Shrewsbury hit on an idea they thought was even better. How about … Threshers? And why not use the same colour scheme and the same logo as the late lamented First Quench Retailing flagship chain?

The shop at least had the decency to add the words “all new” to its fascia, and traded happily for a number of years before catching the attention of the company which now legitimately uses the Threshers name for an online drinks business. The real Threshers was at pains to explain to the Shropshire Star that it has no association with the Shrewsbury pretender.

But an intellectual property dispute is the least of the shop’s current troubles. It’s been temporarily closed by the local council due to a serious rat infestation.

Vinological moves to new location

After three years trading inside Chester market, Vinological has set up shop elsewhere.

Simon Parkinson, who also owns Vin Santo, says he knew from day one there would be a time limit on the original premises as Chester council was building a new market to which he’d always intended to move.

But there were some “serious issues” with the terms being offered by the local authority. “There were some outrageous restrictions,” explains Parkinson. “We couldn’t agree on an acceptable proposal for the new market. We wouldn’t have been able to open on Sundays or bank holidays, and we wouldn’t have been allowed to sell beer or food. Ultimately we had to move for the good of our business.”

Luckily, Parkinson, and Vinological’s manager, Will Honeywell, had a chance conversation with an estate agent that led them to their ideal premises in Brook Street, located between the train station and the city centre itself.

“It’s an area we’ve always wanted to operate in,” says Parkinson. “It’s culturally diverse with some great shops and restaurants. It’s a road that people come to when they are looking for something out of the ordinary, so this location is absolutely perfect for us.” Honeywell adds: “We’ve been able to expand the range to include more of the natural, funky wines alongside the core range which is more acceptable to the regular wine drinker.”

• Tomoka Fine & Rare, founded by Jass Patel and recently partnered by Shane Cody, has opened new store at The Royal Exchange in London. It features a lined cask that will be filled with exclusive whisky, rum

Simon Parkinson (left) and Will Honeywell

or Cognac, from which customers can pour their own personalised bottle.

Just Plonk has plans for chain

Last month Just Plonk opened in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, and if everything goes according to plan, it’s the first of many shops to come from owner Nigel Ramsay.

The second shop is due to open before Christmas in Altrincham and Ramsay says he’s identified Lytham St Annes, Knowle and Solihull in the Midlands, and Essex as prime locations to grow his brand.

“I’ve already picked out those areas and I’ve done my research, it’s not something I’ve just jumped on,” he explains.

“I’m not new to the wine industry; I’ve been supplying wines to wholesalers for a number of years. My other side of the business is food but we decided to move into retail. And it’s all been so smooth and easy with the first shop that we decided to roll out into another one and then another.”

Ramsay says he hasn’t set out to compete with Corks Out or Laithwaites at Alderley Edge. His USP is the extensive range of spirits, including 200 tequilas and the focus on celebrity branded drinks: Snoop Dogg, Cara Delavigne, the Kardashians and Breaking Bad are all namechecked.

Barnes is back with bigger shop

Joseph Barnes Wines stepped away from bricks-and-mortar retailing in the spring when the company’s landlord imposed a 25% rent hike.

But owner Charles Hardcastle realised he missed seeing his customers face to face and is now preparing to open a bigger premises, near the original shop in Saffron Walden, Essex.

“A friend has got quite a big unit in the middle of the town and was prepared to offer it at quite a good rate,” he says.

“The online business is booming but at the same time, like a lot of indies we’ve taken the decision to offer a bit of food, probably just one and a half days a week.

“There are four rooms, and we’ll use two for retail and two for the food side. We’re installing a rudimentary kitchen.”

• The Vine Shop has opened in Stroud and owner David Almeida has taken early online trolling in his stride. In response to an unfriendly post attacking him for opening a shop in the area, he tweeted that a free bottle of l’Idiot Merlot was available if his critic (nom du plume Grannytickler) was brave enough to come forth to claim it.

Bush (pictured bottom right) was “looking for colours and ideas that were different”

Drinks marketer takes the plunge into wine retailing

October saw the opening of Must & Lees in Islington, a new wine shop and tasting room owned and run by Chris Cassell.

After a career in drinks marketing, which included a stint at the MDCV group (owners of UK vineyards Sedlescombe and Luddesdown) Cassell has settled down with his young family in London.

He says: “I wanted to do something on my own and although I’ve always worked in booze and mainly spirits, as they tend to spend a bit more on marketing, wine has always been my passion.

“This project was born a little from the idea of being more mindful of what we drink and getting more enjoyment out of it. “I’ve done my WSET educator course and I’ll be teaching levels 1 and 2, so the business is half events-based and half bottle shop.”

Must & Lees is working with suppliers including Liberty, Boutinot, Fredericks and The Modest Merchant. Cassell hopes to get his AWRS licence next year so he can direct import.

Chancellor’s duty plans will be ‘catastrophic’ for the wine trade

Merchants and importers are warned new system will be an admin nightmare and push up prices of most wines

The proposed overhaul of the alcohol duty system was given a cautious welcome by many in the independent trade. But as the detail is digested, there are warnings that the new regime could be “catastrophic” for wine importers and retailers.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has listened to industry calls to harmonise the tax on still and sparkling wines, and is planning to introduce a new framework in 2023 which taxes wine and other drinks according to their alcoholic strength in six duty bands. The proposals are subject to a consultation ending on January 31, 2022.

According to the Treasury’s consultation document, published on October 27, “wines with a strength between 8.5% and 22% abv will be taxed at a single flat rate per litre of pure alcohol”.

It adds: “This will be between existing still and sparkling rates and will be set at approximately the current rate per unit of an 11.5% abv still wine.”

But Daniel Lambert of Daniel Lambert Wines says the Treasury is being “incredibly devious” by dressing up an estimated £4.5bn increase in alcohol duty as a reduction in the trade’s tax burden.

Lambert says that, far from being the “single flat rate” that the Chancellor described, “the base level they’re using is 11.5% and then it increases: basically you’re then penalised for every 0.5% unit of alcohol in a wine, all the way up to 22%”.

He adds: “From a declarations point of view, I do not know how you could do a groupage pallet because with potentially 25 different rates to choose from across, say, 10 or 15 wines, you would literally be there hours trying to do the right coding.

“That in its own right isn’t going to work. It probably explains why CDS [the new Customs Declaration Service] has got 156 parameters when CHIEF [the system CDS replaces] had 66 parameters.”

Lambert warns that retailers will struggle to calculate margins and pricing under the proposed system. He also says that shippers will be bound to increase their fees to cover the extra admin involved in duty clearances.

The budget also includes a 50% temporary reduction in business rates and a 5% tax decrease on draught beers.

Almost all wines in the consumer’s basket will rise in price under the proposals

• Burning Question – page 29

HAVE YOUR SAY

The government has invited the trade to respond to its plans to overhaul the duty system. Submissions must arrive by the end of January.

Visit winemerchantmag. com to find the link to the consultation document and the address to which evidence should be sent.

GRAND TOKAJ ASZÚ: PERFECT FOR CHRISTMAS

The wine of kings has a long and noble heritage and comes into its own when paired with rich seasonal treats

Grand Tokaj is best known for its sweet Aszú wines, which continue to be made following the traditional techniques established in the early 17th century.

Aszú wines are ideally suited to the Christmas season. With a minimum sugar content of 120g per litre and bursting with warm fruity aromas, they pair perfectly with rich seasonal treats such as sweet puddings and blue cheese as well as most desserts.

Due to the popularity of these luxurious wines among European royalty, Tokaj came to be known as Vinum Regum, Rex Vinorum (wine of kings, king of wines). Royal devotees included Louis XIV of France and Emperor Franz Josef of Austria would send Queen Victoria 12 bottles of Tokaj Aszú every year for her birthday.

Grand Tokaj is one of the largest Tokaj producers still in Hungarian ownership with 70ha of vineyards in Tokaj-Hegyalja, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Having converted a series of 400-yearold rock mines, Grand Tokaj now has some of the largest cellars in Tokaj-Hegylja. Not only does this vast cellarage allow for a huge variety in stock, but also for the storage of some excellent vintages, some of which go back to the 1920s.

The conditions that need to be met in order to produce these wines means that Aszú wines are highly prized and often reserved for special occasions. Although the climate of the Tokaj region is ideally suited to the production of sweet

The vineyards are in a UNESCO World Heritage site

botrytised wine, it is still not uncommon that in some vintages some wineries are unable to make Aszú at all.

A base wine is made in September from healthy grapes and from mid-October, raisin-like, sugar-rich Aszú grapes are handpicked into “puttony” baskets and lightly crushed. These noble rot grapes are added to the base wine, which undergoes maceration and a second fermentation. The wine is then aged in small oak barrels for a minimum of four years and given a further nine months in bottle before release.

The company plays a key role in the continuation and protection of the region’s viticultural practices and views itself as a guardian of Tokaj winemaking traditions. Not only does it source grapes from over 1,400 small producers but it offers growers advice and resources to enable them to grow grapes of the highest quality.

Exclusive to the Pol Roger Portfolio are Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2013, with complex, exquisite aromas and notes of orange, quince, pear and apricot; Aszú 6 Puttonyos 2013, with aromas of spring chamomile blossoms, dried orange, tropical fruits and a hint of pink pepper; Aszú 6 Puttonyos Szarvas 2013, with flavours of pear compôte and quince jelly with a slightly smoky bouquet, and Eszencia 2013, which is defined by an amber-golden yellow hue and an oily, dense texture.

For more information visit www.polroger.co.uk or call 01432 262800 Twitter: @Pol_Roger