Rising Stars

Being born into a family synonymous with the wine trade doesn’t automatically guarantee you a job. There are skills to be learned, knowledge gained and there has to be that essential spark that hard graft cannot extinguish: a genuine love of wine.

Dillon Moreno graduated from the University of Leeds six years ago just as his mum, Abbi, was in the process of selling the family business to Boutinot. “He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do and it was Boutinot that suggested he start working in the shop,” recalls Abbi. “It was supposed to be a bit of a stopgap for him, but they sent him on a couple of WSET courses and he’s just gone from strength to strength.

“When we sold Moreno Wines, we retained the shop because my father owns the building. I decided, rather than having just a wine shop, to add cheese and charcuterie; a wine and cocktail bar. Dillon runs it now and sources new wines and spirits for us. He has done an amazing job. In the last five years he’s just blossomed. He has brought a lot of new customers, lots of them who have said they’d love it if he did a podcast – so I think we might start one.”

She adds: “A lot of people feel intimidated by the wine industry. So having that atmosphere where people feel that they can put their hand up and ask a question without feeling silly is really important. And that’s something I’m really proud that Dillon has achieved. As a 26-year-old Londoner, he has a diverse group of friends both culturally and class-wise as well. He’s really incorporated that into our shop and he makes people feel comfortable talking about wine.”

Dillon admits that although wine was inevitably discussed and enjoyed in his family, it wasn’t until he started working with Abbi that he became interested. “It was something I grew up around,” he says, “but like all 15-year-olds, I wasn’t sitting around talking about Bordeaux, I was more into heavy metal music and going out on the weekends. During the 18 months I worked at Boutinot, I just became more invested in it. Then working directly with my mum really opened my eyes. Seeing lines from the 1960s that my great-grandfather would have purchased is quite humbling and something I really, really enjoy, and I try not to take that connection for granted.”

Dillon Moreno

Flora Fine Wines

Maida Vale, London

Thanks to Brexit-related issues, Abbi has put a stop to direct importing for now, but Dillon hopes they will be able to resume in the future. “Going out and meeting wineries and importing their product, that is so very important,” he says. “It’s what my family has always done, it’s where we come from, so absolutely without question I would love to be doing that again.”

For now Dillon is content to grow the business by adding lines he can source from within the UK. He’s been busy expanding the spirits range and his love of whisky has led to a deal with Master of Malt and some in-store whisky tastings.

“While I do feel very confident in my wine knowledge, particularly Spanish wines, my mum has so much experience and I trust her opinions on a lot of those matters,” says Dillon. “But when it comes to whiskies and gins, I’ve sort of taken over that side of things. I think me and my mum have a very unique dynamic, we’re very open with each other. As I always say, at the end of the day we do we do sell booze for a living, and this trade is just great fun.”

Dillon wins a bottle of Esk Valley The Hillside Malbec/Cabernet Franc/Merlot

If you’d like to nominate a Rising Star, email claire@winemerchantmag.com

40: Fantastical story telling Alix Chidley-Uttley Tanners, Shrewsbury

In a nutshell: Under the banner Tanners Talks, Alix and the team run a variety of wine events that lean into a love of local folklore and superstitions. From spooky to unashamedly kooky, there are tours, talks, visiting historians and actors, Halloween frights, Christmas carols and Dickensian tableaux. Depending on the event, tickets range from £18 to £32.

How did this all start?

“We had been doing the tours of the building, sort of unofficially, for quite a long time, so I asked James [Tanner] if we could make it more formal and efficient by ticketing them.

“One of the main things I’m always asked is ‘how old is the building?’ And then the second question is ‘have you got any ghosts?’ The Tanners building is fantastic and the history of the area so rich, so I thought there must be scope there to do a talk. We did the first one last January, which was a history of hauntings, and then we did a few similar ones and they’ve been so popular.

“Wine and storytelling have a natural synergy and Shropshire is a place that still has an interest in the many local legends and folklore.”

Tell us more about your most recent talk: Myths, Magic & Concealed Cats with historian Brian Hoggard.

“Brian is fascinating. His talk was an insight into what our ancestors did to protect themselves and their homes from otherworldly mishaps. Brian is everything you’d expect from someone who makes a living talking about ghosts. He is very articulate, very softly spoken and looks like he should be on Time Team. The ticket included a glass of fizz on arrival, a buffet supper and a glass of wine. Brian’s presentation was about an hour long and then there was a Q&A.”

How scary is the Halloween event?

“Our building was at one time an old coaching inn so I thought it would be fun to have that as our setting. We dimmed all the lights and played old music. We had all these costumes and we took the customers around to different parts of the building in character. We’d set up the boardroom with fake candles and it looked really spooky. We had a murderous clerk, a bit of a Scrooge-type character, and we did a take on a scene from Woman in Black with someone in a rocking chair. When I led them out of the room, I asked them to wait while I went down the stairs a little way and left them to discover one of the girls hiding around the corner dressed as a Victorian child sitting in the dark recounting nursery rhymes. People were jumping out of their skins and they just loved it.”

Do these tours and talks attract completely different customers from your more traditional guided wine tastings?

“It’s always a completely mixed bag. We have a customer who always comes to our en-primeur tastings and Bordeaux and brandy masterclasses, and it really surprised me when he bought 15 tickets for our Christmas carol evening. I genuinely didn’t think it would be his kind of thing. I’d say we have a lot of customers who attend our more serious tastings and often come to the more obscure things too. Whether that’s part of the eccentricity of Shropshire or just people in general, I don’t know.

“I think that variety is key and people don’t know what they enjoy until they go to it. Likewise, we always say that about our masterclasses; don’t think because you don’t know much about Burgundy that you can’t come. That’s the whole point: come and learn something.”

Alix 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