The Wine Merchant issue 124

Top 100 winners reveal depth of indie trade’s offer

Across-country panel of independent wine merchant judges has put together another outstanding selection of winning wines for The Wine Merchant Top 100 2023.

Top performers range from an £8.99 South African white to a £110 Champagne. Representatives from Moldova and Turkey also take their places alongside the best of the big guns in Australia, France and Italy.

The 11th edition of the competition, which is devoted exclusively to wines in the independent trade and judged entirely by specialist independent wine retailers, saw a record number of entries, with more than 1,020 wines submitted and put to the test by a team of 36 judges across the UK in the final two weeks of April.

As well as selecting the Top 100 and Highly Commended winners, the judges picked out 10 Trophy-winning wines, the crème de la crème of the competition. The 2023 competition also sees the introduction of a new category specifically for wines with a retail price of £15 or below.

The Trophy winners will be available to taste at The Wine Merchant stand at the London Wine Fair on Tuesday, May 16, ahead of the publication of the full results in a special supplement to The Wine Merchant in July.

“This was the strongest year yet for the

competition, both in terms of the number of entrants and the quality of the winners,” says competition director David Williams.

He adds: “We’ve noticed an inevitable upwards drift in the average price of the competition winners this year.

“The independent market is much less price-sensitive than other parts of the trade, but many retailers are looking for wines at lower price points, so we’re particularly pleased to see the quality of

wines in our new under-£15 category.

“The traditional heavyweight wine regions put in a strong performance, but the results reflect the rise in quality winemaking all over the world, and it’s interesting to see trends such as orange or skin-contact wine coming through,” Williams adds.

• See the run-down of this year’s Trophy winners on page two.

An independent magazine for independent retailers Issue 124, May 2023

Dog of the month: Kimchi Kimchi’s Wine Shop, London

This year’s list proves that there’s excellence available in independent shops whether you’re spending £8.99 or £110

This year’s competition will also list the highest scoring wines under £15

Inside this month

4 duncan Mclean

Changes to the DRS are welcome, but there’s still a lot to worry about

5 comings & Goings

Saltpeter Wines is pausing for thought in Woodbridge, Suffolk

24 chain reaction

What’s left of Oddbins and the other multiple specialists?

30 the surrey wine cellar

Paul Pavli wants his retail trade to bounce back after an online boom

40 edinburgh round table

Northern indies discuss all things green. Do consumers care?

48 loyalty schemes

How three indies keep their customers coming back for more

52 focus on portugal

David Williams looks at why sales are still motoring in the UK

62 supplier bulletin

Essential news from leading wine importers who work with indies

71 Q&A with Steve daniel

Hallgarten’s chief buyer explains why he wants to be a beach bum

OUR 2023 TROPHY WINNERS

Congratulations to this year’s winners, who achieved the highest scores in their categories from our panel of independent judges. Taste them all on day two of the LWF

Sparkling Trophy

Champagne Germar Breton Millésime, Champagne, France 2014 (£54, Vindependents)

White Trophy

CVNE Virgen del Galir Regueirón Godello, Valdeorras, Galicia, Spain 2021 (£31.50, Hatch Mansfield)

Red Trophy

Carpineto Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy 2017 (£52.50, Hallgarten & Novum Wines)

Rosé Trophy

Feudi di San Gregorio Irpinia Rosato, Visione, Campania, Italy 2021 (£22.25, Hallgarten & Novum Wines)

Fortified Trophy

Valdespino VOS & VORS Collection

Oloroso Don Gonzalo Sherry, Jerez, Spain NV (£46.99, Liberty Wines)

Best Value Sparkling Trophy

Global Wines Portugal Cabriz

Espumante Brut, Dão, Portugal 2017 (£16.50, Marta Vine)

Best Value White Trophy

Wildeberg Wild House Chenin Blanc, Western Cape, South Africa 2022 (£8.99, Boutinot)

Best Value Red Trophy

Zuccardi Los Olivos Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina 2020 (£12.90, Hatch Mansfield)

Best Value Rosé Trophy

Helfrich Family La Baume Rosé, IGP Languedoc, France (£12.99, Les Grands Chais de France)

Best Value Fortified Trophy

Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve Port, Douro, Portugal NV (£15, Fells)

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 naomi@winemerchantmag.com

The Wine Merchant is circulated to the owners of the UK’s 1,027 specialist independent wine shops.

I’m writing this on April 23, Shakespeare’s birthday. Maybe that’s why a line from Hamlet keeps running through my mind as I read the latest news from the Scottish parliament. Could it be, as Polonius says of a troupe of strolling players, that our MSPs are “the best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral-comical, historicalpastoral, tragical-historical, or tragicalcomical-historical-pastoral”?

I’m not referring to the police investigation of senior members of the SNP. Only time will tell whether that scandal is a tragedy or just a footnote in history. Whichever way, it won’t impinge greatly on our little world of whisky, cheese and wine. Rather, I’m talking about the tragicalcomical train-wreck that is Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). The subject has been covered in these pages before, but recent weeks have seen some significant developments.

First, our new first minister, Humza Yousaf, announced that the launch of the scheme would be put off till March 2024. Sighs of relief were heard in every brewery, wine shop, craft distillery and licensed premises across the country. DRS was meant to go live in August this year, but with just three months to go, crucial details of its operation were still to be worked out. That’s why five major supermarkets, as well as almost every small and mediumsized producer and retailer, had been

calling for a rethink. When I say calling, I really mean lobbying for a pause in every way we could imagine.

Two days later, the minister responsible for the scheme, Lorna Slater of the Scottish Greens, announced several significant changes. These were:

• Simplifying the application process for exemption from accepting returns

• The exclusion from the scheme of small bottles such as whisky miniatures

• The removal of the need for hospitality premises to accept returned bottles for any occasional off-sales

• A special exemption for any product made or imported in quantities of less than 5,000 bottles per year.

This last concession will be helpful

for us, as it means we can once again import directly from small wineries in Châteauneuf du Pape and the Loire. We’d been worried that DRS would make it uneconomical for us to source these wines, as the volumes involved were too small to justify the extra expense required. So, another sigh of relief.

But this doesn’t mean that all the problems associated with DRS have been resolved. Far from it. The Scottish scheme’s failure to align with similar plans for the rest of the UK – due to go live in 2025 – is still a major concern. Answers to questions in important areas like VAT remain absent, or confusing. Communication of how the scheme works is poor, leading to widespread public misunderstanding. (For instance, DRS is nothing like the old “rinse and reuse” bottle schemes that many of us remember from the 1970s and earlier. But it’s far more complicated and expensive than that, for both businesses and consumers.)

Worst of all, even when announcing the few welcome changes, Lorna Slater was unwilling to show a trace of humility and admit any fault on her or the Scottish government’s part. Instead, she blamed the UK government for failing to allow DRS to bypass laws which ensure a level playing field for businesses across all four nations. The UK government hasn’t said it will block DRS, it just hasn’t said it won’t. Maybe if Lorna Slater had submitted her application in a timely fashion, rather than doing so belatedly, last month, then we might have had an answer from Westminster by now.

Our local MSP, Liam McArthur, who has spoken up clearly about Orkney businesses’ DRS concerns, said in Holyrood: “The minister’s statement was a remarkable exercise in blame shifting that was both ill-advised and lacking in selfawareness.”

To put it another way, and in the words of Mr Shakespeare: “The empty vessel makes the greatest sound.” And I don’t mean an empty wine bottle clattering into a recycling bin.

Not all the problems associated with DRS have been resolved. Far from it

Duncan McLean is proprietor of Kirkness & Gorie, Kirkwall

For merchants, the recycling plans have been a comedy of errors

Suffolk indie plans to return

Saltpeter Wines in Woodbridge, Suffolk, has closed – “finally beaten by the costof-living crisis”, according to its owners.

Madeleine Bryett and David Jiminez set up the shop in late 2020, specialising in natural wines. Last year the premises was adapted to become a tapas bar from Thursday to Saturday.

“We are taking a break,” says Bryett. “We’re still doing events, as we are part of Woodbridge Festival, and those are working well. But rent got a bit pricey for the market as it stands, retail is down, and we had an unhelpful landlord.

“We haven’t folded, we have just wound the shop down and expect a return at some point.”

The couple have teamed up with The Boathouse Kitchen & Bar in the town, taking up residency in one of its spaces for a regular series of ticketed DJ nights under the banner Re:Wined. They will be serving “wines with soul” as well as craft beers and nibbles.

Riding down to the Kent coast

Jesal Thakker and Vikram Mertia have closed The Riding Wine Company in Ealing, which opened in 2019, and started a new venture in Margate.

Their new, bigger venue, Streets, combines “Indian street food, amazing wine, beer and music”.

The online shop, selling wines that the business imports direct, remains open, offering nationwide delivery.

• Cairns & Hickey, the specialist wine shop in Bramhope, Leeds, has ceased trading.

Owner Peter Cairns told customers: “After 56 years of trading, we have closed our doors for the last time. We thank all of our customers that have kept us open for so long. After 44 years, Peter has retired and looks forward to seeing more of his three granddaughters.”

• The M wine shop in Victoria, London, has closed, along with the restaurant of the same name in which it was situated.

Running from 0% wine

Rob Hoult, arguably one of the top arch-based wine merchants in the Huddersfield area, was on the wagon for a month before his participation in this year’s London Marathon (finish time 3 hours 44 minutes 45 seconds).

It mostly involved “swirling an Orangina round and round in my glass, trying to imagine that its bouquet is reminiscent of a summer’s morning in Provence”. But he also explored some alcohol-free wines.

“De Bortoli make terrific wines and produce a couple of 0% ones called The Very Cautious One, so I thought they were the ones to try,” he says.

The white was “OK in an elderflower pressé kind of way”. The Shiraz wasn’t so well received.

“It smelt and tasted like liquid furniture polish and I managed about a thimble-full before I clicked the kettle on and made a brew – bloody dreadful stuff,” was the verdict. Rob was left with five bottles that he was happy to give away in return for donations to Parkinson’s UK, for which his run has raised more than £4,000. “I can’t bring myself to sell them properly. I’m just not that sort of shopkeeper,” he says.

The monotony of Monopoly

Pip Gale, of Gales of Llangollen, advises customers that he is morally opposed to Monopoly. But why?

“My stance may seem extreme, but I have my reasons,” he tells us. It is, he argues, “a terrible game” intended to illustrate the flaws of capitalism.

“People do not play the game according to its correct rules, such as failing to hold auctions or adding house rules like putting money on Free Parking. This can make the game even more frustrating and unenjoyable, as these rules extend the game and make it a mockery of what it should be.

“I take my games seriously and appreciate playing them with others who are similarly invested. However, many people seem to play Monopoly just to wind me up or to gang up against me to ensure I don’t win.”

Pip is proudly “24 years clean from the game, and not the person of rage I once was”.

Jesal Thakker and Vikram Mertia

Harrow & Fearn taps into the draught wine market

Matthew Harrowven firmly believes that alternative formats are the future of the wine industry. For the past five years he’s been focused on wine on tap, first launching Tap & Tipple, his mobile bar and refill station back in 2018, followed by the opening of Harrow & Fearn in March.

Located in the small market town of Attleborough in Norfolk, Harrow & Fearn offers a refillable wine service alongside a range of local produce including freshly baked bread and buns and small-batch coffee.

Harrowven initially trained as a sommelier before gaining a wine business degree at Plumpton and then working at various agency companies including Bibendum and Hallgarten.

It was while working as a buyer that he began to take an active interest in wine on tap. He says: “At the time the most common questions I’d be asked would be regarding improving efficiencies and making more margin.

“Questions were being raised about savings on bottle weight, reduced packaging, how to make efficiencies in the actual shipping and logistics of it without impacting on the quality of the product.”

Attracted by the sustainability angle, buoyed by the quality of the wines available in KeyKeg and a conviction that consumer habits were changing, he converted a horsebox and launched Tap & Tipple.

“I actually thought wine on tap would be a bit of a flash in the pan at first,” he admits.

“But then considering the way the world was talking about things, people wanted to find a way to reduce their carbon footprint, even in a small manner.

“Sustainable Wine Solutions [Borough Wines] were doing it in London, and I tried some of their wine in the Spar stores and I thought ‘that’s brilliant’, but nobody was

doing it regionally.

“I started Tap & Tipple as a sort of concept unit of wine on tap, really with the idea to help independents, be they wine merchants or delis, farm shops or cafés.

“There was an educational mindset, to try and help other independents and say, that this is what’s happening in the world and the wine trade: can we educate you?”

Rather than selling the concept to other retailers, Harrowven quickly discovered that going direct to the end consumer had more impact.

“We did these farmers’ markets and foodie events all over the east of England,” he says, “and as a result we just naturally picked up direct-to-consumer refilling because customers kept seeing us pop up in the same places.

“Off the back of that we launched what we call Friday wine night. It’s a bit like a milk service: customers order online and then they place the bottles out on their doorstep of an evening and we deliver fresh wines.

“We consolidate all the orders into one day, so we’re not using huge amounts of carbon footprint in terms of delivery. Our whole ethos is based around sustainability and minimum waste.

“We did encourage customers to bring their own bottles to us and we still do now that we have a new site. Customers can bring their own vessel, whatever they want, like you get in Europe. You can fill up by the litre and we charge by the litre.”

‘The wine has a great shelf life to it. It’s as fresh as it can be every time you pour a glass and there’s no waste’

Matthew Harrowven

Matthew Harrowven found an eager market for his mobile wine on tap unit, and now he’s found a permanent base for his business, as he explains to Claire Harries

For now, the horsebox is retired as the taps have been removed and repurposed in the new site. “We’ve got six wines on tap at the moment and space for another two,” says Harrowven.

“We’ve also got five or six bottled wines. These are selected on the basis that I have a connection with them. So Flint is an obvious choice as they are just around the corner from us and Ben [Witchell] and I knew each other at Plumpton. We’ve picked their Bacchus Fumé as it’s a slightly more esoteric product than their Bacchus.”

As for the practicalities of wine on tap, there’s a lot to unpack, but one of the main benefits is the minimal impact on the wine itself.

“It tastes phenomenal,” says Harrowven. “With my sommelier hat on, I’ve always been a fan of big-format bottles anyway, because the quality of the juice will be far better because it’s had far less exposure to that small cork at the top.

“In keg there’s no disruption to the product. It doesn’t come to any plastic contact. It doesn’t get any additional oxygen pickup. It doesn’t get any damage during shipping because it’s in its own aluminium-lined bag while it gets moved, so it’s protected in that sense.

“It’s got great shelf life to it. It’s as fresh as it can be every time you pour a glass.

“There’s no waste. If you put a cork in the top of the bottle, put it in a fridge and come back three days later to give a customer a taster of it, you will probably have to check it yourself as it might be a bit questionable.

“Lindr is one of the easiest tap systems to get on with and I use the KeyKeg system through OneCircle.

“KeyKegs are made of high-grade plastic and it’s highly valuable and easily recyclable.

“KeyKeg themselves are now taking back more and more of them to turn them back into new KeyKegs.

“We store empty ones up until we reach a critical mass, then we have a run to Adnams who we partner up with to recycle.”

Harrowven says he’s not ready to direct import just yet. “We don’t bring in anything ourselves because we’re too small, and Brexit hasn’t helped things,” he says.

“We are set up as a wholesaler, so we could sell it wholesale but we would be the third party in the middle.

“Now that we’ve got an actual site, I would still like to encourage other retailers in the region if they want to see how wine on tap works. If other independents can take some inspiration from what we’re doing, that would be brilliant. We’d like to connect with everyone because I think the way in which it works, from a sustainability perspective, is key. I don’t think glass bottles are the future for the wine industry.”

Customers can order wines to be delivered to their door, or buy them on draught in store

The new shop in Attleborough

DAVID PERRY

Irregular Thoughts

Why are so many rosé drinkers scared to venture beyond the pale?

As the climate gets increasingly unpredictable so too does the timing for rosé. We have been known to sell pink wine at Christmas but the real season is summer. Nowadays it starts well before the lawnmower comes out of the shed and goes on into October.

Last year we went directly from stacks of pale Provence to Christmas claret without the normal no-man’s land. This has meant that we have a fair stock tucked away in the back. So now the challenge is to persuade people that rosé ages well and should really be drunk two, even three, years old and not straight away. I remember talking to a producer who told me he always drank his rosé at three years old. But that was from Sancerre, not Provence.

In years gone by there has been an opportunity to clear suppliers’ previous vintages at a good price when the new season’s stock is sitting on the dock looking for warehouse space. Not so much anymore. The chances are that the new, fresh stock is still waiting to be collected, stuck somewhere in Belgium or looking for the correct paperwork. The supplier is relying on last year’s excess to have anything to offer.

We are in the same boat. I bought quite a lot of our poshest Provence towards the end of the season on the understanding that no more would be shipped until the height of summer 2023. It’s mainly from 2021 but I’m pretty sure there is a fair drop lurking about from 2020 too. I can maybe get away by blaming that on the

poor harvest in 2021. We will have to clear the older vintages before we get stuck into 2022 anyway, when and if that finally arrives. Will customers mind? Probably not.

What they are concerned about is that it is painfully pale. We are lucky to have a shelving unit across the front of the shop where daylight (but not sunshine) shows through. It is great for showing off the various hues from “onion skin” to barely there. I have noticed that if a bottle stands on its own it will be picked up before the same one standing in a queue next to it. This is because it looks so much paler. It has become a faux pas to present a wine at a garden party which has anything more than the slightest hint of colour in its cheeks.

It’s a shame really because no one is interested anymore in Tavel. What used to be the pinnacle of smart pink is now a pariah purely because of the colour of its skin. I should say that almost no one is interested in Tavel. There is a gent around the corner who likes to present himself as an old curmudgeon but is really quite charming. He likes his rosé

dark and doesn’t care who knows it. He describes himself as “nearly-stocracy” (his brother got the title). With that comes sophistication and confidence but without the bank balance. Tavel is sadly now outside of his budget so he settles for the darkest Rioja rosé.

Our rosé range grows with the length of the day. Towards the equinox we have quite a few. A pretty, slightly petillant, German Pinot Noir; Lebanese Cinsault from Massaya (courtesy of Thorman Hunt); a few Provençals, covering price points from reasonable to outrageous, and a few from not-quite-Provence.

We also sell a lot of bulbous, weapon-like magnums even though they will almost certainly not fit in the fridge. All of them as pale as they can get away with – just a passing acquaintance with a grape skin and away again. Plus the darker one for Mr-not-quite-Sir and an apparently-tooyoung Sancerre.

What we don’t stock is Zinfandel Blush or big-brand Provence rosé. The millionbottle brands pretend to still come from the vineyard that could not hope to make that much and are a silly price for a massproduced wine. A posh lady once asked for one by insulting me.

“I don’t expect you are a smart enough shop to stock Whispering Angel, are you?”

Forfeiting any hope of a sale, I replied: “No, because you can get it bloody everywhere!”

“I know”, she said. “We have it at our yacht club in the Cayman Islands.”

Blush was an American marketing idea invented when some bright spark thought they could get rid of unwanted Zinfandel by making a blanc de noir, only to be confounded by the red-veined pulp. It turned out a washed-out pinky colour despite having no skin contact. It wasn’t a rosé but neither did it have a blanc look.

They called it blush, pumped it full of sugar and are still knocking it out today even though the swimming pools of unwanted and unloved Zinfandel have longsince been returned to their previous use.

We don’t sell it because it is dreadful

David Perry is the owner of Shaftesbury Wines in Dorset

LWF

Robert Kukla Spedition UK kukla.uk@kukla-spedition.com kbl.kukla-spedition.com

NOT YOU AGAIN!

customers we could do without

I’ll explain exactly what happened … we placed an order on the Tuesday for your Springtime for Tipplers mixed case and duly paid our £180 … then we remembered we’d be in Fuerteventura the following week so we called you at 10 o’clock on the evening of the Thursday to cancel … when we just got your answerphone we thought the safest thing to do was to contact the bank and void the payment … yes … well, we did say we were worried that our money had been taken under false pretences as we’d never dealt with you before … and yes they did refund us in full … well I’m sorry, but perhaps it’s worth investing in full-time staff to deal with these queries … anyway, water under the bridge, you’ll be delighted to know that we’re now back in the country and would like to order the same case again … the dimwit courier delivered it to next door so we gave them a bottle for their troubles … incidentally, one of the Sancerres was definitely faulty, would you kindly apply a discount?

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ANAGRAM TIME

Can you unscramble these Portuguese grape varieties? If so, you win two tickets for Jancis Sings Songs from the Shows.

1. Faeries Porn

2. A Richer Fool

3. Croatian Brat

4. Nicaragua Lotion

5. Herd Love

47. Christina Brownwithanee

For many small businesses right now, the cost of energy may be the difference between keeping the lights on (literally) or throwing in the towel.

Times are especially tough now that the government has ended the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. Firms trapped in fixed energy contracts may see bills increase three- or four-fold as prices revert back to the high rates they signed up to last year. And at the same time as we’re watching the price of our bills go up and up, we’re also watching the profits of the energy companies (and the CEO’s bonuses) go through the roof.

Our business found itself in a situation recently where we came up against the might of the energy companies. It was such a protracted and painful affair that I wanted to find out more about what action business owners should take if an energy bill threatens to throw a spanner in the works. Talking to other retailers, it turns out there are many of us who’ve found ourselves in similar situations.

The government’s official advice is to reduce energy costs, by turning off lights and unnecessary appliances, adjusting heating levels and

JEN FERGUSON

Rising energy costs

reviewing energy tariffs. But let’s be honest: most of us undertook these actions months ago when the energy crisis first took hold. And as a retailer, there are things you just can’t switch off. Warm wine and beer from fridges on standby, anyone?

The government also recommends installing a smart meter. But what do you do when a smart meter doesn’t work? This is the situation we found ourselves in when we realised that the device installed in our basement had not been sending readings through to our supplier, Ecotricity.

To rectify this, we sent through a manual reading – and promptly received an

enormous bill. As this was unexpected and unbudgeted, we asked the Ecotricity team if we could spread the load and split the bill across two months. They agreed to this, but only on the proviso that we agreed to also pay a new “estimated monthly usage” amount that was nearly four times higher than any bill we’ve ever received in eight years of trading.

Despite all evidence pointing to the contrary, the team refused to budge, so in the end we just paid the bill in order to draw a line under the sorry affair.

Other businesses may not be in a position to do this, however. Fellow

We asked to pay our bill in instalments. Then our direct debit went up fourfold

Rising energy bills

taken

their suppliers as soon as possible and, if necessary, issue a formal complaint.”

If both parties are unable to reach an agreement, businesses can take their case to the Energy Ombudsman eight weeks after first making a complaint.

What if businesses have a direct debit with their supplier? Should they cancel this to avoid payments being taken while bills are still in dispute?

Be careful, Martin says. “When your bills are in dispute, it’s important to seek clarity from your energy suppliers on how your direct debit will work out. Cancelling a direct debit without discussing it with your supplier risks being disconnected. This comes with a disconnection fee as well as charges to be reconnected in future.

“Currently, small firms can be disconnected if bills are not settled after 30 days. However, we have written to energy suppliers and urged them to pledge not to disconnect any small business customers struggling with bills.”

retailers tell of payment plans being denied outright by their energy suppliers, or of enormous (and often erroneous) totals being taken by direct debit while still in dispute, throwing carefully controlled budgets into disarray.

So what should businesses do if they believe their bill is unreasonably high, or if they simply can’t afford to pay? I asked Martin McTague, national chair of the Federation of Small Businesses.

Martin says: “Small firms unable to afford their energy bills should talk to their suppliers as soon as possible and discuss a payment plan. They can also seek advice from Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline or Business Debtline.” (I can attest to the amazing service from Citizens Advice, which has provided advice on a range

of issues affecting our business over the years, from dealing with dodgy suppliers to energy bills; the online chat service is especially helpful if you don’t have time to sit on hold on the phone.)

He adds: “Businesses who think they have been overcharged should contact

Martin and the FSB are also lobbying energy suppliers to introduce “time to pay” arrangements for businesses, but any results here may not come in time to help businesses that are affected now. If you’re really struggling to pay your energy bill and need short-term financial help, consider approaching your bank for a loan or overdraft, or applying for a credit scheme such as Funding Circle’s Flexipay. It offers a line of credit to cover purchases, bills and other costs, and then allows businesses to spread the repayment over several months.

The bottom line is, high energy bills aren’t going away anytime soon, alas, so reach out. Talk to your suppliers. Seek advice and support. And if all else fails, make yourself feel a little bit better by firing off an exasperated tweet or two. Hey, it worked for me.

Jen Ferguson is co-owner of Hop Burns & Black in south London

Retailers report huge sums being

while still in dispute with suppliers

Cancelling a direct debit without discussing it with your supplier risks being disconnected. This comes with a disconnection fee as well as charges to be reconnected in future

Martin McTague of the FSB says businesses should talk to energy suppliers as soon as possible

Rising Stars

Manager Leo Bruton-Simmonds has clearly enjoyed watching James Percy’s career flourish over the past year. “Seeing someone develop their practical and tasting knowledge and all that sort of stuff is cool,” he says.

“What’s interesting about James was that although this was his first job in the trade, he’d already done his wine exams at home, at a young age. He obviously had a real interest, but it was all kind of technical – he hadn’t put it into practice.”

Leo is delighted that James is hosting tastings in the shop and taking on some buying responsibility as well as building up the beer range. “It’s definitely a testament to the fact that I trust him to do things in a methodical, organised way. You can’t do that unless you’re interested in the thing you’re buying, and you’re excited about what you can bring into the shop. I’ve been doing all the buying for years now, so it’s always great when you give someone else these tasks.

“We generally try and spread tastings out among the team. James has been to quite a few recently, and he’s someone whose opinion I trust on what’s good and what he thinks might work in the shop. There have been a few wines that have been his choices which have appeared on the shelves, which is really nice,” Leo adds.

James says that until 2020 he was “going down the drama and acting route” before he embarked on his WSETs during lockdown. “I was sort of sat twiddling my thumbs, and I thought I’d love to learn a bit more about wine and get some qualifications and use this time productively. That got the ball rolling for me, and then I fell further and deeper in love with wine.”

After completing WSET Level 3, James worked a vintage in Ventoux. “That was an epiphany moment, really,” he says.

Now he is wholeheartedly throwing himself into his retail career. He says: “I’m slowly gaining new responsibilities and it’s really lovely to have that trust from Leo.

“I really get a buzz from seeing the positive reactions the customers have to wines or beers that I have helped choose for the shop. We have customers of all ages coming in and, to use a cliché, it does keep you on your

James Percy

The Salusbury Winestore Queens Park, London

toes a bit, because you never know who’s going to walk through the door.

“You can go from selling a really robust red to a really light white within the space of five minutes. You’ve got to switch your brain up quickly to then make these recommendations for people. And I love it.”

There’s no doubt that James feels at home in his new career, perhaps because he grew up around wine: his father worked in sales for a wine wholesaler. “He’s never pushed me to go down a certain route in my life, but he is proud now that I’m in the wine industry because he knows how wonderful the trade is,” he says. “I’m just glad I got into it at a fairly young age, so I can maximise my time in it.”

Would James return to acting if, say, Barbara Broccoli came calling? Would he swap wine for a shaken-notstirred martini?

“A tough decision! But I do feel like I’ve kind of found the trade that I really love, and I do see myself being in it for a long time. It’s something that I do feel incredibly comfortable in.”

James wins a bottle of Herdade do Esporão

Private Selection Red 2016

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

Esporão is one of the largest and most respected winemakers in Portugal, making wines in three of the most iconic regions; Alentejo, the Douro and Vinho Verde.

The family-owned company is also a leading advocate for environmental sustainability. Its efforts have been recognised by the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto (IVDP), which presented its Quinta dos Murças with the 2020 Environment & Sustainability Award.

Esporão was established in 1973 by José Roquette and Joaquim Bandeira.

UK market manager Pedro Vieira says: “This project was strictly aimed at producing quality wines. At the time, Alentejo wasn’t known for that, so it was a huge challenge. Now, with the second generation [José’s son, João Roquette, is at the helm], our goal is still to produce the best possible wine but in a sustainable way. When João started in 2006, we converted to organics.”

Both the Alentejo and Douro properties are certified organic and the team are still working towards achieving certification at the Lima estate in Vinho Verde.

“Producing organic fruit is one of the many measures of being sustainable,” says Vieira. “Organic farming makes a lot of sense because organic fruit is healthier fruit and it will produce better wine.

ESPORÃO EXCELS IN SUSTAINABILITY

The family-owned Portuguese producer has always been on a mission to make quality wines. These days, it cares just as much about the environment

Sponsored feature

“We also believe in the balance between farming and wildlife. For example, on our southern property we have 2,000 hectares and two thirds of it we have left untouched to protect the wildlife. This is a huge part of our sustainable approach.”

This policy has led to a healthy population of birds and bats, both of which keep the insects under control. “One of the many roles of our biologists is to analyse the bats’ excrement,” explains Vieira, “just to check what the bats are eating, to make sure the balance is all there.”

Water preservation is also vital. Vieira says: “We calculated that for every litre of wine, we were wasting roughly five litres of water, and we have now gone to roughly 1.3 litres of water per litre of wine.”

He adds: “Global warming is definitely affecting us. Twenty years ago we would be starting harvest in the first week of September, but now we start the first week of August. That is a clear indicator that it’s getting hotter and drier, and the maturation cycle is slightly shorter. If you have the indigenous varieties that are adapted to the heat then you are able to continue to produce fantastic fruit.”

Esporão has 10 hectares of vineyard planted with 189 varieties. “This gives us a lot of data, and it’s because of this information that we are able to focus on the varieties that give us most assurance.”

1 Esporão Reserva Organic Red

Probably the most important wine for the company, because it was the first wine that we produced in 1985. The blend is mostly focused on Aragonez and Trincadeira, which together make up 60% of the blend. They complement each other. Alicante Bouschet is only a small percentage of the wine but it delivers a lot of black fruit, cherries and, with ageing, some cassis and liquorice. Cabernet Sauvignon lends a lovely peppery spicy note. This flagship blend is fermented and aged in American oak barrels.

2 Ameal Loureiro

This wine is from our Quinta do Ameal in the sub-region of Lima, the birthplace of Loureiro. Citrus-driven, fresh and with good intensity, it can age for a long time and can be compared to old Rieslings. We only grow Loureiro at this property and we produce three wines, using three different vessels (including concrete eggs and barrels). This is the purest version because we use stainless steel, so there’s hardly any interference versus the other two.

3 Quinta dos Murças Minas

In the Douro we have separated our property into four terroirs. Minas is heavily influenced by five springs that help cool the area. This vineyard is south-facing, reaching 350m and vertically planted, so all the grapes are hand-harvested. We foot-tread in lagares; it is the optimum way to extract colour and flavour. Minas is all about freshness. It’s a really clean, crisp wine with vibrant red fruits. We want people to understand its elegant style in its youth but with a tremendous ageing potential.

Jose Luis Moreira da Silva

Champagne Louis Roederer Collection 243 NV

The Collection series relies on a “perpetual reserve” that’s enriched every year with wines from the latest harvest “to create a template of infinite complexity, freshness and energy”. This one is based largely on 2018, and it’s a gorgeous, multi-layered delight for all the senses, with a salty minerality on the finish.

RRP: £60 ABV: 12%

Maisons Marques et Domaines (020 8812 3380) mmdltd.com

Gecaj Estate Owner’s Choice Vranc 2017

Fine Wines Direct believes that its import deal with Stone Castle Vineyards represents the first UK agency agreement with a Kosovan winery. Vranc is a Balkan variety, and it’s far smoother and more easygoing than the recent history of that region, with gentle forest fruit notes and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

RRP: £47.99 ABV: 13.5%

Fine Wines Direct UK (029 2078 7500) finewinesdirectuk.com

Les Argelières Viognier 2021

Languedoc winemaker Marilyn Lasserre’s brief is to bring out the true character of the varieties she works with, and she’s ticked all the boxes with this peachy, apricot-tinged Viognier. We’ve all tasted Viognier that plays these cards rather too enthusiastically, but Lasserre has maintained elegance (the vineyards are on hilly sites) as well as fruit concentration.

RRP: £9.49 ABV: 13%

Cachet Wine (01482 638877) cachetwine.co.uk

De Bortoli Regional Reserve Pinot Noir 2021

Most of us are on a mission to find affordable Pinot Noir that tastes of ... well, Pinot Noir. This Yarra Valley example, from the sure-footed De Bortoli, hits the mark with its soft plum and cherry fruit and subtle spice. We’d have forgiven it a few rough edges – they might even add to the fun – but it’s polished and professional.

RRP: £13.49 ABV: 13.5%

North South Wines (020 3871 9210 ) northsouthwines.co.uk

Here & There Malbec 2022

South Africa famously produces wines that are great value for money, and Boutinot’s own Cape range seems crazily inexpensive, even by those standards. This one, from Swartland, is the definitive crowd pleaser, with its bright, juicy red berry fruit and spicy seasoning. There’s depth and complexity for those that take the time to look for it, but really this is all about pleasure.

RRP: £8.99 ABV: 14%

Boutinot (0161 908 1300) boutinot.com

Zuccardi Concreto Malbec 2019

Made with 50% whole-cluster fermentation in concrete vats, without epoxy, using native yeasts, the wine also ages in concrete. Maybe one day they’ll bottle it in concrete too. Unsurprisingly, the wine has a robust character that will appeal to the brutalist fringe of the Malbec community, with a deep-rooted fruitiness reflecting an exceptional Uco vintage.

RRP: £38.70 ABV: 14%

Hatch Mansfield (01344 871800) hatchmansfield.com

Seaglass Wine Co Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

From California’s Central Coast, and an unpretentious producer that prides itself on true varietal expression from its (relatively) cool-climate vineyards. This is a world away from Napa’s big-boned interpretation of the variety, and perhaps better for it, with silky blackcurrant and liquorice notes, and a fresh finish.

RRP: £24 ABV: 14%

Vintrigue Wines (01207 521234 ) vintriguewines.com

Living Roots Rizz Fizz Riesling Pet Nat 2021

True or false: this producer is based in the Adelaide Hills and the Finger Lakes of New York? One of the owners is the great-great-great-grandson of Thomas Hardy? Both statements are apparently correct. This zippy, fragrant fizz is no less improbable, yet it’s the real deal, with stone-fruit notes and exotic herbs.

RRP: £27.95 ABV: 12%

Propeller Wine (01935 315539) propeller.wine

affordable, accessible bourgogne

The region’s Régionale and Village appellations are producing exciting wines at prices that don’t break the bank

Bourgogne’s history is centuries old; its reputation as home to some of the world’s finest wines secure.

Yet the winemakers of Bourgogne are not standing still. Today there is a host of young, talented, and dynamic producers who are drawing attention to the Régionale and Village appellations with great wines from great quality terroirs.

Championing these lesser-known areas is a passion for those who work these vineyards, and an increasing number of Bourgogne wine lovers are discovering exceptional wines at palatable prices.

Take, for instance, the village of Coulanges-la-Vineuse. This geographical denomination of the Bourgogne AOC, just south of Auxerre, covers 136 hectares of vineyards. The subsoils here are made up of Kimmeridgian limestone, clay and marl, just like those of Chablis and Irancy. Already identified as a “Bourgogne Plus” denomination –meaning stricter regulations than straight Bourgogne wines – this village is ripe for a classification upgrade.

Valentin Vernin (above) from Domaine Houblin-Vernin is a winemaker in Coulanges determined to help secure Village status for the appellation. “For the last 10 years we [the 23 winegrowers here] have been working towards making our application for AOC Village classification,” he says.

“We’ve been working on the

quality of the wines – red, white, and rosé – and expanding our ranges with new cuvées, focusing on individual Climats in the area. We have a very old wine-growing history: Coulanges has been identified as one of the oldest vineyards in France, thanks to the discovery of a bas-relief representing a scene of the Caesar grape harvest dating from the 2nd century.”

Marsannay has long been on the radar for quality Bourgogne bargain hunters and is currently the only AOC Bourgogne Village that produces white, rosé, and red wine. It is perhaps surprising that there are currently no Premier Cru classified

“Marsannay has all the criteria to have some vineyards awarded Premier Cru status,” says Romain Derey (below) of Domaine Derey Frères. He adds: “Speak to geologists and they will tell you about the quality of our soils. In Les Champs Perdrix we have clay-limestone soils with Ostrea marl and sickle; small gravel stones

“To the north of the village, Au Champ Salomon is notable for its reddishbrown, pebbly soils. Here the grapes ripen particularly well. Les Genelières is

Derey concludes: “Marsannay has a dynamic generation of winemakers. Many are farming organically, and we are aligned in delivering haute couture wines.”

Aurélie Cheveau (right) is the president of the Pouilly-Fuissé ODG, which successfully had 22 Climats in the appellation classified as Premier Cru in 2020. This decade-long project has resulted in regulations that include stricter yields, longer ageing times and an increase in the minimum sugar content allowed. Chemical herbicides are banned.

Cheveau says: “The ranking of the 22 Premier Crus has given the appellation the missing link to be among the great wines of Bourgogne. Our region is well-known all over the world and people want to know our magnificent Climats better. The new specifications boost quality and allow us to demonstrate the typicity of the PouillyFuissé terroirs. We are just at the start of a very exciting adventure.”

Bourgogne is a wine region that is forever on the move and, while rich in history, the winemakers of today have their sights set firmly on the region’s reputation in the future.

Explore the hidden gems of Bourgogne’s Régionale and Village appellations and you will find wines that capture the dynamism and skill of a host of winemakers who already know that the thrill of Bourgogne drinking is accessible to all.

Picture credits Main picture: © BIVB/Aurelien Ibanez; Romain Derey: © Bénédicte Maniere; Aurélie Cheveau: © BIVB/armellephotographe.com

Favourite Things

Waitrose tries ditching capsules

Waitrose will become the first UK supermarket to remove plastic and foil capsules from wine bottles in a bid to cut down on unnecessary packaging.

The project begins with three Italian wines – Zibibbo and Mascalese from Sicily, and Lacrima from Marche – along with Waitrose’s Trincadeira from Alentejo.

The trial will be extended to the 10-strong range of Loved & Found wines by the end of the year.

Favourite wine on my list

My current favourite red is Viña Alberdi Rioja Reserva 2018. Bursting with cherries and strawberries on the nose and hints of toffee and brioche on the palate from the oak ageing. The acidity helps balance out the alcohol and the tannins are soft and rounded for a delicious finish. Pairs fabulously with grilled or barbecued meats and pasta (which I eat a lot of).

Favourite wine and food match Albariño is a must-have for seafood dishes. I find it’s a style I always home into in restaurants as it’s generally a crowd pleaser. Fantastic paired with mussels or a seafood risotto, especially if you’re on your holidays.

Favourite wine trip

I won a competition to go on a trip to Rioja with the Consejo Regulador. It was absolutely fantastic and grew my love for barrel-fermented whites.

Favourite wine trade person

Glen from Robb Brothers has been a great mentor in the trade for me. He is always willing to answer any of my many questions and offer advice from his years in the trade.

Favourite wine shop

JN Wine, partly because it is just around the corner but also for its fantastic range and knowledgeable staff. It’s a business I really look up to. Jim is a force to be reckoned with and I only hope I grow up to be like him.

Magpie

the result of elevated shipments over the past two years due to pre-Brexit demand and Covid-induced changes in consumer preferences,” the report said.

The retailer estimates the move will save half a tonne of unnecessary packaging annually.

“The bottles look quite different as the neck appears naked, so it will be interesting to see how our customers react to us removing these familiar sleeves,” said sourcing manager Barry Dick MW. “I for one am looking forward to not having to wrestle with the packaging.”

Decanter, April 24

The value of exports to the UK fell by 20% to $359m, with volumes also down by 16% to 208m litres. The UK is Australia’s top market by volume, representing a third of its total exports, and its second largest market by value at 19% of shipments. The Drinks Business, April 27

Crushing blow for ‘Champagne’ beer

Belgian customs have crushed more than 2,000 cans of Miller High Life bearing the slogan “The Champagne of Beers”.

The Comité Champagne requested the destruction of the shipment of 2,352 cans on the grounds that the century-old motto used by the American brewery infringes the protected DO.

A spokesperson for Molson Coors Beverage Co said: “With its elegant, clearglass bottle and crisp taste, Miller High Life has proudly worn the nickname ‘The Champagne of Beers’ for almost 120 years.” CTV News, April 12

“Half a tonne” of packaging may be avoided

Australian wine exports dive in UK

The value of Australian wine exports fell by 7% in the last year to $1.9bn, and by 20% in the UK, according to Wine Australia’s latest Export Report.

“The UK is still experiencing the decline that we’ve previously reported, which is

• Six new Peruvian wine grape varieties have been identified by researchers in the desert province of Caravelí in the Arequipa region in the country’s south. DNA tests have confirmed the identity of six new grape varieties: Jaen, Cantarilla, Ceniza (also known locally as Mulata), Negra de Caravelí, Loca and Moscatel Negra Rubío. Each of these grape varieties is as yet unregistered with the Vitis International Variety Catalogue.

Rosalyn Magee Magee’s Wine Lodge, Co Down

End looks in sight for Aussie Prosecco

The European Union is demanding that Australian winemakers stop using the term “Prosecco” to label their sparkling wine.

A free-trade deal between the EU and the Australian government has been under negotiation for years but may soon finally come to fruition.

If passed – and the EU gets its way –Prosecco would join a list of protected foods and drinks considered geographical indications, and names like parmesan and feta could also be on the chopping block.

Grape & Wine Australia boss Lee McLean said the Prosecco/Glera variety had skyrocketed in popularity, growing from a $60m industry in 2007 to $205m now. News.com.au, April 27

Convent harvest is second to nun

A Dutch convent is celebrating a bumper harvest by selling cases of its wine.

Sister Maria Magdalena from SintCatharinadal in Oosterhout said: “We had a lovely summer last year and it promises to be an excellent harvest of more than 60,000 bottles.”

The convent started its vineyard in 2014 to generate income for the maintenance of its buildings, recruiting about 130 volunteers. “We didn’t find beer in a convent so appropriate,” explained the sister. “Wine fits better, it is biblical and it points to Jesus.”

Local farmers’ groups have helped the nuns with their retail endeavours and cases of their 2022 white blend of Auxerrois, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris, or a Pinot Noir/Gamay rosé can be bought online or in person at £12.80 a bottle. The Guardian, April 20

? THE BURNING QUESTION

What’s the best trade tasting you’ve been to recently?

�Boutinot's Manchester tasting is a standout for me. It’s held in a great venue with lots of space and a fantastic selection of wines laid out in a user-friendly manner. They also make sure that they stick to a sensible amount of people for the space. The overall winning factor for me is that there are plenty of people behind the wines to talk about them.”

�Being a one-man-band I don’t get out to as many trade tastings as I should but there is one that I never miss: Vinexus’s anteprima tasting of the new vintages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Brunello. It is a walk-around tasting with 100+ wines to taste, with many serious buyers who are personally invited, so always small numbers. It’s a good opportunity for me to catch up with the guys from Vinexus, but also other people who are there.”

�I like going to the Modal tastings where you can talk through the wines and move on to the next table without too much elbow sharpening. The last Indigo tasting I went to was very good and a great chance to really talk to the producers behind the wines. Taking the team was a real bonus. We are involved with a local vineyard and help with the picking, so they get to see every part of the winemaking process and the trade tastings at the end of it.”

�The most enjoyable and informative tasting was a Burgundy whites tasting with Charles Taylor Wines. It was organised as a semi-private tasting with each attendee booking a scheduled time to arrive. I had the opportunity to focus on 29 Burgundy whites over an hour and a half in the company of Tom Hare with no distractions. This was a very effective way for us to pinpoint some new additions to our Burgundy range and subsequently all these new wines have become good sellers in our shop.”

The oldest wine house in Champagne: Äy 1584

Philip Amps Amps Wine Merchants, Oundle

Richard Ballantyne MW Noble Grape, Vale of Glamorgan

Robin Nugent H Champagne winner H Iron & Rose, Shrewsbury

Jonathan Regan Banstead Vintners, Surrey

Champagne Gosset

44:

Call My Quaff

Simon Taylor

The Stroud Wine Co, Gloucestershire

In a nutshell: A wine-themed take on the beloved Call My Bluff TV show, in which punters have to decide which of two expert hosts is giving the correct information about the wine in their glasses.

Tell us more.

“Laura Holloway [the shop’s co-owner] and I have hosted a few of these events at our tasting room. It’s relatively easy to set up and a lot of fun for our customers to play.”

What are the rules?

“The game requires two hosts and it’s best if people play as teams of two to six. Teams taste six wines blind. For each wine, they will receive two descriptions, one from each host. One is correct, one is a lie.

“After each wine they mark who they think is telling the truth on a score sheet. You can award a bonus point for each wine by suggesting two bottle prices. Again, one is a complete lie. So, for six wines there is a total of 12 points on offer.”

What wines do you feature?

“We normally start with a fizz. Friendly banter between hosts is encouraged:

‘This is Champagne’. ‘No, no, no! This is Prosecco!’ and so on. The fizz is followed by two whites then two reds, and we finish with a fortified. The more varied the price and styles, the better.”

How do you choose the wines?

“We like to choose wines with an

interesting story. We’ll sometimes choose new wines we would like our customers to get excited about and that we know will be unfamiliar; sometimes wines we love but are overlooked, and deserve a push.

“We like to mix traditional classics followed by wildcard unusual varieties and countries. Often the more obscure the grape variety, coupled with an interesting back story about the vineyard and winemakers, the more it sounds like a lie and it comes as a great surprise when they find out it’s true.

“Sometimes descriptions can be poles apart. Trying to convince people they are tasting a Spatburgunder when they are in fact tasting a Bordeaux can be fun – ‘This is a rare example of an unoaked Bordeaux by a maverick winemaker’ etc.”

That’s the tasting over with. How do you organise the scoring?

“We find that going through all the wines first, and then taking a short break before going through the results, works best.

“Teams should mark their own score cards as it makes for more fun for the players to see how they are doing.

“We print out a large TRUE and FALSE card for each host and hold them up at exactly the same moment when revealing each wine. This guarantees a cheer of delight or anguish.”

Is there a nice prize for the winners?

“Winning teams receive a bottle of something from the shop. We then reveal the bottles and quickly sum up the wines again. We write the order numbers on the bottles in chalk pen so it makes it easier for the customer to buy the wines.”

Can wine novices join in?

“This is a fun game, lasting around 90 minutes, that requires no knowledge of wine at all for players – in fact, the more people know about wine, the more difficult they find it – and it’s very informal. It’s also a game that you can run as often as you like. as you simply change the wines.”

Do you get sales off the back of it?

“Sales of the wines after the quiz are usually strong. The quiz sheet doubles as an order form. And we very often get a customer or two coming into the shop a few weeks later, asking for ‘half a dozen of wine number four’.”

Simon and the team win 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 original, non-alcoholic version

Sud de France ad supplied separately

Stars of Setúbal

1. Old-vine Castelão

Castelão is the king of the red varieties in the Setúbal Península of Portugal. It thrives here like nowhere else and so it’s understandably become a hallmark of the region. It’s an enigmatic variety, capable of a range of styles, from simple and rustic to deep and powerful. Red fruit flavours tend to dominate, and acidity is often modest. For many winemakers, Castelão is at its best when it takes the lead in a blend.

But old-vine Castelão can be a very different beast. The examples we sampled in our taste test were so diverse that we often wondered if the wines were made from the same grape. We chose four favourites, which illustrate not just the deftness of the winemaking but the malleability of a grape which deserves a growing fan base among inquisitive wine lovers.

Sociedade Vinícola Palmela

Serra Mãe Reserva Tinto 2020

Old vines: 28 years

Raymond Reynolds

RRP: £16.99

This wine is a collaboration between Setúbal Peninsula winemaker Filipe Cardoso and Raymond Reynolds, both of whom have a deep-rooted affection for Castelão. They’ve gone out of their way to allow the variety to express itself, favouring natural yeasts and a long, slow maceration before the wine settles in its concrete vat. There’s no fining or filtration.

What emerges is a version of Castelão with its own wild energy, and flashes of sage, thyme and lavender as well as red cherries and blackberries.

Quinta do Piloto Reserva 2018

Old vines: 89 years

Venâncio da Costa Lima Palmela

DOC Reserva 2018

Gauntleys of Nottingham

RRP: £19.15

Although we normally associate Castelão with red fruit flavours, we’re definitely on the darker end of the spectrum here. In fact it’s a much deeper and denser example of the varietal style than some people might have encountered, with generous, ripe plum characters, and it’s bolstered by some judicious French oak ageing which has added some spicy notes.

The winemakers have also been keen to retain a bracing crunch to the wine, and a slight earthiness, both of which only add to its appeal.

Raymond Reynolds RRP: £29.99

Another wine that shows what a shape-shifting variety Castelão can be. The nose is quite different from anything else in our line-up; it’s faintly medicinal, with a distinct accent of cloves. On the palate, the wine is complex, but not complicated: this family-owned producer clearly knows what it’s trying to achieve, and it’s all about refinement and luxury. Indeed it tastes like a wine at twice this price.

The layers gradually reveal themselves and we discover Mediterranean herbs, forest fruits and some more savoury elements. An elegant wine to contemplate, and perhaps to lay down.

Herdade do Cebolal Clarete 2019

Old vines: 50-60 years

Portuguese Story RRP: £28

Some Setúbal producers think of Castelão as their answer to Pinot Noir, and this wine makes a convincing case. The must has only two or three days of contact with the skins, followed by stainless steel fermentation and extended period on its lees. The result is a pale, brick-red wine that even has some of the slightly agricultural aromas you might find in a top Burgundy.

It’s a delightfully unforced and subtle iteration of Castelão, with delicate red fruit and a faint sprinkle of black pepper, and a satisfying mineral seam.

In association with Setúbal Peninsula Wines

Partners in Wine

Bancroft wines AND Quinta da Pedra Alta

Quinta da Pedra Alta sits above the Pinhão River, high up in the Cima Corgo sub region of the Douro. Here, winemaker João Pires is crafting modern wines that are gaining a big fanbase in UK independents

“Quinta da Pedra Alta stands out for its fresh, modern twist on classic Douro reds and whites, along with its ageworthy ports. These are wines that are bright, pure, and balanced throughout the range, and capture the imagination of our customers.”

Nick Mason, senior buyer, Bancroft Wines

We have been working with Quinta da Pedra Alta for just over a year now, and we have noticed a real uptake and interest in their wines.

Though only the second Portuguese producer in our roster, it has set a high benchmark for quality, style and relevance across the board. Our strength is to seek out and follow talent, rather than follow a regional or national template.

If you are a Portuguese specialist, Quinta da Pedra Alta should be on your list, not just for the enjoyment factor, but for its contemporary Douro identity: approachable and engaging wines with a strong connection to the terroir, highlighting the diversity of Portuguese indigenous varieties.

If you are simply looking to add “forever smitten” bottles to your line-up, Quinta da Pedra Alta is a great part of Bancroft’s arsenal. We are working on market visits with winemaker João Pires.

“We are very happy to be part of the Bancroft family. They have a fantastic team with great coverage across the country. We are working with them to support customers and broaden distribution of the Quinta da Pedra Alta brand.”

Andy Brown, commercial director, Pedra Alta

It has been an exciting three years since we launched the new Pedra Alta wines. We have built into this a core range of 11 wines and ports. We want to establish these wines and our name in the UK market, and use customer feedback to develop new vintages. We are excited by some of the new releases, including the 2021 Reserva Branco, which will released later this year, and the 2020 vintages of our single-site reds, Rio and Alto, and top red, Melhor, that will be released late 2023/early 2024.

The white wines have received a lot of interest, with Pedra a Pedra Branco being our best seller; people are surprised by the freshness that you can discover from the Douro. The Reserva Tinto is an important wine to us as it really shows what the estate is capable of. João, our winemaker, loves the current 2019 vintage as it shows the freshness of the estate, the vintage, and our contemporary approach.

Pedra a Pedra Branco RRP £15.49

Reserva Tinto RRP £25.49

Pedra No. 03 White Port. RRP £19.49

in the middle of a chain reaction

The surge in independent numbers has coincided with a dramatic retrenchment among the multiples. So what’s become of the chains that are still standing? Nigel Huddleston reports

Achange of ownership, a new broom in the buying team or an above-par press tasting are often heralded as signs of a resurgence for the national wine shop chains.

But the new dawn frequently turns out to be a damp squib, ultimately serving merely to emphasise just how the specialist chains have receded into day-to-day anonymity.

As Simon Hill of Artisan Wine & Spirit in Salisbury puts it: “Oddbins seems to have arisen more times than Dracula, but weaker every time. Wine Rack? Surely they aren’t still operating?”

Wine Rack accounted for over 400 of First Quench’s 1,200 stores when the group went belly-up in 2009. Today, the Wine Rack website lists 19, at least one of which, in Roundhay in Leeds, is known to be permanently closed. What is still out there is split between the western fringes of London and a sprinkling across northern England.

In the last 14 years it’s been part of the doomed Conviviality group, and is now owend by Bestway, in a retail arm that includes Bargain Booze, Costcutter and Best-One convenience stores.

Bestway still ranks Wine Rack as part of its development plans but has indicated a future role in a co-branded c-store/wine shop cross.

It already has a trial underway with a Costcutter/Bargain Booze store at

Meopham in Kent, and Wine Rack could form the second half of that equation in future Costcutter refurbishments where the location favours it.

Anyone visiting a Wine Rack today will find it, aesthetically, little changed on a decade ago. Promotions are to the fore and the wine range is almost weirdly broadbrushed. There can be few retailers that display the likes of Sassicaia, top-flight Ricasoli and Errazuriz Don Maximiano alongside Barefoot, Yellow Tail and Casillero del Diablo.

The stores are franchises, with business owners allowed to buy 10% of products from outside their deal with Bestway since 2018.

Sheffield indie StarmoreBoss has a Wine Rack less than 100 yards away, but co-owner Jefferson Boss says “this isn’t an issue”.

He adds: “Our main competitors are more likely to be other independents.

“Wine Rack is more promotion-driven and the range has more recognised brands. Our range is more focused on independent producers.

“People come to us in search of something a bit different and excellent customer service.”

Oddbins – once numbering stores in the hundreds and with many cities and large towns supporting more than one site – won wine merchant of the year 12

times running at the International Wine Challenge in the 1980s and 1990s.

Like Wine Rack, it passed into wholesaler ownership when 37 stores were bought out of administration by European Food Brokers in 2011. It later acquired a batch of Nicolas stores outside London, and was widely heralded as having undergone a rebirth in fortunes in the mid-2010s, driven by range development by buyer and MW Ana Sapungiu.

One trade magazine reported how it had “defied its critics” when it won again at the IWC in 2014.

But that proved to be a false dawn as Whittalls Wine Merchants 1 and 2 – separate companies which operated

Oddbins stores in England and Scotland respectively – went into administration in early 2019.

The administration was finally resolved in 2020 when a new company, Wine Retail Ltd, bought a package of 28 stores. The rest were closed.

Wine Retail Ltd turned out to be owned by Wine Retail Holdings Ltd, which was, in turn owner by European Food Brokers. Ayo Akintola stayed on as managing director of what is now essentially a diminished chain under the same owners.

More branches have since closed and the best available information suggests that there are 17 shops with a peculiar geographic spread: 11 in London, three in Edinburgh, two in Glasgow and one out on its own in Liverpool.

Entry-level price points are a grade or two up on Wine Rack, and a central London store visited by The Wine Merchant had what seemed to be hand-made attempts by the staff to inject some of the humour and energy of yesteryear.

But the absence of an over-arching coherent marketing narrative makes Oddbins as a whole a much less essential wine shopping destination than it once was.

Its natural territory has been largely swept away by the success of independents

in the past decade, in many cases set up by talent that Oddbins nurtured.

“They gave the managers relatively free reign in running the shops and that kind of set the blueprint for how many indies now operate,” says Jefferson Boss.

Nicolas – whose UK shops were once bedfellows with Oddbins under Castel Frères ownership – is another diminished presence on the high street, with only seven shops, all in posh parts of north and west London, similar territory to west London indie Jeroboams.

There were 43 Nicolas stores when Spirited Wines bought the UK stores and

the rights to continue using the Nicolas name, from Castel Frères, in 2012.

Its UK presence contrasts with that of the brand in Europe, where it turns over €260m a year. There are half a million Nicolas loyalty card holders in France alone.

The only other small/medium specialist wine chain of note is Laithwaites, whose estate of 10 stores comprises eight in the Home Counties west of London, one in Nottingham and one in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, its last new opening in 2017. The stores effectively serve as showrooms for the company’s main feature online.

Majestic is undergoing one of its regular periods of bullish reinvention, after the parting of the ways with Naked Wines, and appears to be viewed by independents as the most serious chain competition.

Simon Hill at Artisan believes “we are able to operate at a level of service and quality that they can’t” but adds: “We certainly don’t underestimate them and will keep a watching brief on what they are doing. But they certainly don’t keep me awake at night and, as long as we keep doing what we’re doing we can persuade customers to try us and stay with us.”

Majestic published a list last year of

Fiona Blair

Oddbins’ natural territory has been largely swept away by the success of independents in the past decade, in many cases set up by the talent it nurtured

76 locations where it’s looking for new sites, though some of these were potential re-sites of existing stores.

It currently has 201 branches, and has added nine in the last three years, though this includes a return to a former Majestic site in Oxford and a new location in Preston, where it had previously operated until 2015.

Potentially more significant, from an independent perspective, is the recent opening of a slimmed-down version of Majestic in Harpenden. The former Santander unit, near the train station, is about half the size of a typical Majestic warehouse and offers a range of around 600 wines, and has a fine wine area with a selection of 72.

“The lessons we learn in Harpenden will be invaluable as we look to further grow our store estate,” says CEO John Colley.

The company has plans for eight new shops this year, in locations including Banstead, Saltash, Thame and Truro. It claims that 88.7% of the population already lives within 10 miles of one of its stores.

Majestic’s eyes seem to be firmly back on bricks and mortar as part of a sustained reinvention strategy which also include aggressive online marketing and promotions.

But it’s hard not to see the likes of Wine Rack and Oddbins as increasingly anachronistic, like heritage rock bands with no new material, failing to forge a contemporary identity in an age when portfolio tastings, masterclasses, bythe-glass, food, Enomatics, YouTube podcasts and more have variously became part of the DNA of modern British wine merchants.

Adnams keeps options open as it aims to ‘fill the gaps’ in estate

Adnams recently opened its fourteenth store, in Frinton, Essex.

“First and foremost, Adnams is a brewer and a distiller,” says Nick Attfield, the company’s director of properties, retail and events. “So there’ll be a strong focus on our beers and spirits. There will be a big range for own-label wines, across all sorts of different areas and price points, and a little bit of fine wine. And we’ll tailor our offer as we get to know the people of Frinton better.”

Attfield says that the company’s investment in digital technology over the past few years has enabled it to significantly understand its customers.

“We’ve done a lot more analysis; there are lots of customers all across our heartland of East Anglia,” he says. “I also look at the people that are staying in our hotels and visiting our pubs.

“You quickly realise that there are some great hotspots that we should be in. We can offer experiential shopping and we can deliver straight to a customer rather than through a big warehouse and third-party delivery.”

The flagship store at Southwold has an electric van and an electric bike for local deliveries.

So will Adnams venture outside of East Anglia with its retail estate? “Perhaps. That’s my honest answer,” says Attfield. “We opened in Bishop’s Stortford in midNovember and I’m looking at Essex.

“It’s where we can fill the gaps. We want to reach as many of our customers as possible. Talk to them, get people tasting our wines and coming to events. We feel that's the best way for us to represent our brand. Part of our strategy is to expand our shops portfolio over the next few years. But whether that is three or five or 15 or 20, I don’t know.”

Claire Harries

Majestic expansion could include more high street sites

The Adnams store in Southwold

WIN A TRIP TO ARGENTINA

Calling all indies interested in promoting organic and Fairtrade wines from Argentina in store and online this autumn.

Bodega Argento and Bodega Otronia are inviting independent retailers, no matter what their size, to run a special promotion between September and October 2023.

Five lucky winners will travel to Argentina to visit the beautiful organic vineyards of Argento in and around Mendoza, before flying 1,000km to explore some of the most southerly vineyards on the planet in Chubút, located in extreme Patagonia.

It’s a fantastic opportunity to get under the skin of winemaking in Argentina and visit some of the iconic terroirs of the country, courtesy of its leading producer of organic wines.

CRITERIA

To win a place on the trip, you must commit to arranging a three- to six-week promotion in-store and online, including a minimum of three organic wines from Bodega Argento (Mendoza) and three organic wines from Bodega Otronia (Patagonia). This promotion can run at any time between September 1 and October 31. Judges will be looking to reward the most effective promotions.

APPLY NOW

Email charlotte@winemerchantmag.com to register your interest. Entries will remain open until September 1.

Samples can be sent to you on request – please use the email above. Your orders can be shipped out to you anytime between June and October 2023.

Lucky winners will be announced in November 2023 and will head out to Argentina for a sevenday all-expenses-paid trip in March 2024.

Know your Albariño from your Alicante, Garnacha from Graciano and Verdejo from Viura?

Prove it by entering the Spanish Wine Master competition from the Spanish Wine Academy by Ramón

How much do you know about Spanish wine?

Rioja’s Ramón Bilbao is taking its mission to teach the trade about Spanish wine a step further this year, with a global, professional competition to find the Spanish Wine Master.

Launching this month in the UK, the contest takes entrants from a timed online qualifying quiz right through to an inperson final in front of judges this summer, via an online tasting challenge.

The overall winner will take home a cash prize and the opportunity to make their own wine in partnership with the Ramón Bilbao technical team.

Ramón Bilbao has placed education at the forefront of its communication with the trade for several years, with its Spanish Wine Academy platform holding in-person and online events around the world since its launch in 2018.

The Spanish Wine Master is open to anyone who works in the UK trade –independent merchants, sommeliers, consultants, bartenders, educators

and writers – and will be pitched at the equivalent of WSET Level 3 knowledge or above. Entrants are also offered information and training at spanishwineacademy.com.

“Our mission is to help our industry discover the distinctive, excellent styles from the different DOs of Spain, so we take people on a detailed journey into the viticultural and vinification techniques, plus the geography and topography, behind some of our country’s top wines,” explains head winemaker Rodolfo Bastida.

“If you know even a bit about Spanish wine, and want to know more, this is the competition for you.”

Rodolfo has led the team at Ramón Bilbao since 1999, and will take his place as head judge with fellow winemaker Rosana Lisa and renowned Spanish wine expert and Master of Wine Sarah Jane Evans joining him.

They will sit in on the at-home semifinal, which will see contestants tested on

five wines from Ramón Bilbao and other leading producers they are sent, and come to London this summer for the UK leg of the finals.

“We’re looking at people’s knowledge of facts and figures about Spanish wines, but also how they taste them,” adds Rodolfo. “The more you take part, the more you’ll learn. That’s at the heart of what we are trying to achieve.”

Entries are now open at spanishwinemaster.com.

Come to the Ramón Bilbao stand at the London Wine Fair (May 15-17, Stand B26) to find out more.

Bilbao

Ramón Bilbao is on a mission to find the Spanish Wine Master

Rodolfo Bastida

In association with

THE DRAYMAN

Flavoured beers

Are experimental drinkers really seeking out discordant fruit blends?

The silly survey is usually a red flag, a lazy PR tactic to generate any old publicity for a brand that hasn’t got much else to say. When the survey is heralded as coming from the “mad scientists of sour beer” it seems like justification for the government to send out a real-life version of its new emergency text alarm.

Edinburgh-based Vault City is one of those breweries with a tendency to call its beers things like The Muffin Man Mango & Blueberry Pastry or Tonka White Forest Gateau Session.

Though the opportunity for beer to constantly reinvent itself is one of its most appealing characteristics, I’m generally of the opinion that in doing so less tends to be more. The Germans created a law permitting beer to be made only from water, barley, hops and yeast for a very good reason: they’re all that’s really necessary.

However, I’m no purity law purist, and prepared to accept that subtle tinkering with grain content and adding the odd

bit of fruit here and there can deliver beers that are desirable beyond the basic formula.

Where, say, the Belgians have got it right with fruit beer is by focusing on elucidating the best possible expression of a single ingredient rather than trying to accommodate a discordant blend of several.

Back to Vault City’s survey, which has come up with a list of what it says are the most “experimental” cities in the UK when it comes to trying new drinks. Norwich and Sheffield tied at the top, closely followed by London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Bristol, with a gap to the bottom half of

the top 10 (or 11, as two cities tied in tenth) comprising Manchester, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff and Nottingham. It’s slightly surprising to find boho haven Brighton and craft beer-strewn Leeds failing to feature.

Vault City founder Steven Smith-Hay says it also revealed that a third of drinkers are “more experimental” than they were before lockdown.

“I think the days of ‘drink as much as you can for as little as you can’ are gone for most,” he says.

If all this is true, and my trend radar is woefully out of step with the times, it seems only fair to give Vault City the chance to stake its claim as the go-to brewery of choice for what Smith-Hay unabashedly calls “weird and wacky flavour combinations”.

Samples (bought from a third-party source, not freebies from the brewery) reveal a house style of gentle sourness, smooth body and coherent fruit combinations, though the sourness is underplayed and needs a bit more beery alcohol character to pull it along.

Paradise Punch is billed as a kiwi, melon and mango session sour, but punch is the very thing it lacks – a mocktailish-tasting fruit melange with a moderate sour edge. It’s sour beer for people who don’t like sour beer, a pleasant entry point, perhaps, before progressing to more challenging fare. Orange Soda comes across like Fanta in a beer form: lacklustre but harmless.

Pear Drops Keep Falling On My Head is an odd flavour choice, as the aroma of the retro sweets – undeniably present here – is widely considered to be a beer fault. It’s made even more puzzling as the beer’s fruit character appears to be derived from fresh pears rather than the additives used to make the confectionery.

It’s a shame, because, setting that aside, the modesty of its fruit flavour makes it the one that most allows some beer-like hop character to come through.

Definitely one for the hipsters of Norwich and Sheffield, but not Leeds or Brighton.

The Germans created a law permitting beer to be made only from water, barley, hops and yeast for a very good reason: they’re all that’s really necessary

A big seller on Drury Lane

Merchant Profile: The Surrey Wine Cellar

It’s time to think outside the boxes

If you visited Paul Pavli’s shop in Chobham during Covid you would have struggled to get near the shelves. The place was choked with towers of cardboard as hundreds of daily deliveries awaited collection.

Online sales still dominate the business, but these days the plan also involves getting the premises to realise its potential as a shop in its own right –and an occasional restaurant in the evenings.

Chobham is, apparently, “occasionally known as the Beverly Hills of the UK”, according to aboutbritain.com, which makes it seem like an ideal location for a wine shop.

Peter Gabriel was born here; Paul Weller comes from Woking, a 12-minute drive away. Neither musician was in evidence when The Wine Merchant rocked up in the Surrey village in March. But the person we were looking to interview was a different sort of personality altogether.

Paul Pavli was born into a wine family. His father Mario owned and ran Bacchus et al in Guildford until his retirement, while his uncle, Andrew, is the force behind Wimbledon Wine Cellar.

For a while, Paul helped to run his dad’s business, setting up his own online wine shop based in an annexe at his parent’s home. As it grew, he decided to branch out into bricks and mortar too, and identified a spacious unit in the centre of Chobham, a pretty and conspicuously affluent community where he lives with his wife and young children.

Online sales still dominate the mix, but the crazy months of lockdown, when most of the floor space was taken up with towers of boxes waiting to be shipped, are fading from memory as the small team focuses on increasing footfall and bringing back evening events. The central display units are on castors, and can be rolled out of the way to allow seating for about 30.

Has wine always been in your blood?

I used to take the mick out my dad knowing so much about wine when I was a teenager. It used to be an ongoing joke at dinner parties: oh, look at the wine snobs talking about their wine. Then it kind of fell into my lap after I finished college, needing a job. It made sense to go and work for my dad. From there I worked for my uncle for a little bit in Wimbledon.

By Graham Holter

When did you realise it was a vocation?

When I was forced on my own, because then I became a business, using my own money. That’s when I realised actually I had to get involved and I had to start loving it. I’d always loved sampling the wine, enjoying it, taking tours around vineyards and doing what everyone expects someone that has a wine business to do. But it took it to a whole new level when I started realising it was my livelihood.

We are a lifestyle industry, and if you’re not too careful you could spend 360 days of the year trying wine and actually not selling any.

Is your dad fully retired now?

Yeah. He comes in for a coffee and a chat. He spends most of his time abroad. But he kicks around, loves to show his face and likes to have his own input. He’s always pestering me to start bringing wine in from Cyprus. Some of it is starting to taste really good.

How have you developed the online side of the business over the years?

From 2017 we expanded a little bit on the website; spent a bit of money on building that. My key objective was to make sure that we had a lot of product available in stock. In 2019 we started selling a lot through the Amazon platform.

Then Covid hit, and it just sort of turned into a machine. I think at one point we were shipping 3,000 parcels a month all over the UK. Thank Christ suppliers were supplying us to that volume. And it carried on throughout 2020, 2021, 2022. We’re starting now to see the tail end of all of that and it’s resetting back to where it was in 2019.

What percentage of your revenue comes from online sales?

It’s a 70-30 split in favour of online.

Why did you feel you needed a bricks-andmortar shop?

I worked out that if I could find a shop locally, and get the rent at the right price, the cost of the shop versus our turnover and profitability is no different than an office would be anywhere. It makes more sense to me to have a shop than have an office.

Talk us through how you work with Amazon. You have two options. You can ship to their FBA [fulfilled by Amazon] centre. Risky; they can lose stock very quickly; there’s the cost of shipping it as well. But the upside to that business is that you

get the instant Amazon FBA cycle. You’re on Prime: boom, done next day, Amazon pick, pack and deliver it. You haven’t got to worry about it.

If you have a merchant [account], it’s different. It’s coming out of your stock. Amazon will side with any of their customers if they don’t receive the parcel or it’s received damaged; if it’s delayed by a day. They’ll retract that sale from you immediately. And you don’t get the money for it, even if the customer’s received it a week later.

During Covid, it was a bit different. Everyone was forced to be at home and there was no reason to go out. Also Amazon were more than aware that the distribution network was highly stressed. So they relaxed those rules.

Now it’s changed a little bit. They want you to be putting your product into their FBA centres, rather than you fulfilling it yourself.

There is a lot of damage by couriers, which costs a lot of money. They don’t guarantee delivery on time, because of the way the network is.

“Covid hit and it just sort of turned into a machine. I think at one point we were shipping 3,000 parcels a month all over the UK”

Paul Pavli, Chobham, March 2023

If I was to sell a bottle of Sassicaia, I can make a good bit of profit. You can subsidise the loss if it gets damaged, if that makes any sense. However, on a bottle of Villa Maria, it’s too competitive: say eight, nine or 10 quid a bottle, or whatever it is. But it’s costing you seven, and if it gets lost and damaged, you’re lucky to break even. With Sassicaia there’s more room there in terms of profitability. If it does get damaged, if it does come back to you, you’re not losing quite so much.

Amazon has also started to take more control of what sellers were once selling. They’re approaching the supplier now to sell it themselves. So they would go straight to Hatch Mansfield for their Villa, their Taittinger, sell it under Amazon Direct. And you can’t compete, because effectively you’re competing with your supplier.

What’s your long-term position with Amazon?

It’s changing. We’ve had to sort of look at it from a holistic point of view. If there’s a customer that’s hot to buy, they’ll buy on Amazon. Outside of that, we’ve gone from turning over £30,000-£40,000 a month on Amazon to £10,000, because we can’t control what they’re going to do as our partners. There’s a lot of customers out there that will claim they’ve not received the parcel when they have

received it and they get their money back, which is automated by Amazon.

Does that mean you’ll put more emphasis on your own website?

Oh yeah. We’ve massively increased the emphasis on our own website. We’ve added huge sell factors to try and increase volume through it. We’ve even started using Vivino as a platform, which has been fantastic. They approached us to ask if we wanted to be on there. Those notifications come through, you send out the wine on four-day shipping terms. The customer receives it. And that’s it. They have their own customer support centre, dedicated to you. So if there’s a problem, you speak to the same customer service manager, and they deal with it.

Are there any good couriers, or are some just less awful than others?

We started off with APC. Good service. As we grew, and we were shipping more, it became more apparent that we were spending far too much on couriers.

We then got approached by DHL, who were cheaper, but we had a huge problem with them; they lost a lot of parcels. Unexplained things. When it came to queries and bills, they were a nightmare, and they would never credit us.

So then we got approached by DPD and for four years they were our couriers, and they were very good to begin with and very good throughout Covid. Then early last year, their service became stretched, massively. Parcels kept getting lost, kept getting damaged. Their prices went up by 10p-15p a parcel, which is fine if the service is still the same, but when the service is getting worse, it’s not acceptable.

Then we moved to InXpress, who basically work alongside DHL. And that’s been a bit of a nightmare. And now we’re back to APC again. So I’ve been round every courier under the sun, and the gravity of the problem is that they are all as bad as each other.

The most common problem is that none of them get their invoices correct.

All of our negative reviews are related to nondelivery. And non-deliveries aren’t because we haven’t sent wine out. It’s because it’s never got there because the delivery company have failed.

I’ve been saying it for years: if someone came up with a dedicated courier service in the wine industry, it would do very well.

“I’ve been round every courier under the sun, and the gravity of the problem is that they are all as bad as each other. The most common problem is that none of them get their invoices correct”

The monthly bottle club is essentially a lucky dip. For £30, customers can potentially receive a wine worth £100

People shop in independents because they like the personality of the owner, the personal service, the ambience. The question is how you can replicate those things on a website. You can’t. Those people that shop online aren’t shopping for experience. Anyone that shops online I’m 99% certain is price-driven.

It’s not review-driven. How many people go onto a website and actually see what the reviews are before they purchase – 10%, maybe, if that. It’s all about whether or not that seller has that product. If they have it, they’ll buy it, but they won’t want to get ripped off for it.

So you’re saying these people already know what they want. They’re not browsing. They’re not browsing, no. The only time they’ll be browsing is if, say, I’ve got a bottle of Taittinger Comtes 2005. They know I’ve got it, they’ve gone to my website, they see there’s a discount: six bottles or more at 15%. Then they might start browsing and they might add more to the cart. But I personally believe that people come onto your platform because you have something specific that they’re after.

Does that mean there’s no point trying to inject personality with things like a blog, wine reviews or reports of trips?

I think they would be interesting, to a point. But there’s a lot of time that gets eaten up in doing reviews and blogs. It becomes a different kind of business model.

Where are consumers getting their information about wine, then?

Restaurants, I think. If you’re going out for dinner, the sommelier will have fairly in-depth knowledge about the wine. And those people that enjoy fine wine will store that in their brain and they remember it and they take photos. Do you know how many people come into our shop and say, “have you got this wine? I had it at a restaurant the other day and it was fantastic”.

What trends are you seeing with the wines people are buying in the shop?

There’s no doubt that in this part of Surrey people are old-world wine lovers. Our market is definitely going up towards the higher end. People are buying for their wine fridges and sometimes to hold on

The

to for five years before they drink it.

Some of our customers know more about the wine than I do. It’s actually quite refreshing to learn from a huge enthusiast.

We have a good support network of clients locally, which is the core of the business, no doubt about it. One thing Covid did was draw more people locally to us. I’ll get WhatsApps from customers all the time, which I would never get before. “How are you, can I pop in to see you?”

We had a dinner on Saturday, for 12 people, with five top-end Italian wines. It was a huge success. And that’s an experience I can offer with a shop that I wouldn’t be able to do in an office.

How do the dinners work?

A caterer comes in and cooks in the kitchen. She does the prep off-site. Pre-Covid, we used to do them once a month and they were really successful. We charged £110 a ticket and for that they got five courses of food. I think we went through eight or nine bottles of wine on Saturday night.

How many suppliers are you working with?

About 10, off the top of my head. Some suppliers are good; some aren’t. Some want to be on your shelves; some really aren’t that bothered. What I’ve found is that if you’re dealing with someone higher up in the company, that helps. Some people that are just the assistant salesman or whatever, they just come in, float about and off they go.

We’re looked after well by Hatch, Armit, Liberty, New Generation. Hatch are probably our largest supplier.

People around here have clearly got a bit of money. But are they quite price savvy?

Everyone’s always looking for a deal. Even on one bottle. I’d say we are actually one of the cheaper retailers in the market, but there’s always going to be someone who’s cheaper.

We’re working on margins between 25% and 30%. It doesn’t change online. Our prices are the same as our shop prices. We don’t differ – there’s too much admin doing that.

central display units can be rolled away to create space for up to 30 people to enjoy a meal, paying £110 a head for a five-course dinner and paired wines

Our delivery is £6.99 for a case and there’s free delivery on orders over £100.

Do you do any wholesaling?

No. Not interested. I’ve had fingers burnt. To be honest with you, I just can’t be bothered with the aggro. Small margins as well.

How is your Fine Wine Bottle Club doing?

Really well. We’ve got lots of members. It’s £30 a month. It’s a lucky dip: you could get a £100 wine if we can get the right supply. We subsidise it using a median value over six months, depending on what we can get subsidised from suppliers as well.

Every single one of our members will normally buy a case of that wine that they’ve had, because they’ve enjoyed it. So it’s a great way of upselling.

Then there’s your Monthly Taste Journey cases. Exactly. You set the budget and you tell us how often you want it; tell us what you like and don’t like. It’s all set up online and automated and delivered. I’ve got customers that will email me saying, “I didn’t like that wine, can you make sure it’s not in our box for next month?”

On the opposite side, you’ll get customers that say, “I love that wine, can you add three more to my box for next month?”.

Costs are rising from all sides at the moment. How are you dealing with these increases? Duty’s going up; there are murmurs across the industry that there are gonna be price hikes. The price of Champagne is going up next month across the board. You’ve just got to work it out.

We had a session earlier in the year where we put everything up by about 7% and I’ve not had one of those sessions for two years. It was the first time that I’ve put it up by such a difference. But it had to be done.

Will some supermarket shoppers gravitate to indies because the price jump for those wines is proportionately higher?

The reality of it is that someone who’s going to the supermarket to buy wine is 85% likely to come to you as an independent only if you have something specific, or it’s a gift.

Have all the customers who discovered the shop during Covid gone back to the supermarkets?

Most of them have, yeah. We’re talking people that are in £1m and £2m houses that would usually buy from Waitrose. But Waitrose were only delivering one bottle at a time. So they’d ring us up and go, “can I get six bottles of Whispering Angel delivered?”. And you do it for about a year, 20 times. But as soon as things change, you’re forgotten about.

Some people just seem to prefer supermarkets. Is there something inherently frightening about wine shops?

The first thing we get with someone we haven’t seen before is, “wow, I didn’t realise you sold wine that cheap”. But that’s our core.

I guess it’s like going into a Michelin-star restaurant; the same sort of feeling of “I shouldn’t be here because I don’t really know what I’m doing”. But people can come in here and have a coffee, have a chat. You’re talking to like-minded people that have no air of snobbery or anything like that. A lot of people think wine is a posh product.

It’s all about the relaxed atmosphere. I want you to be able to tell me that you go to the supermarket to buy wine – don’t be ashamed of it. We are here to improve your palate and show that, by spending a couple of pounds more, it makes a big difference.

What do you want to do next with the business?

We’re holding firm where we are at the moment. We’re trying to get the events back up and running, and trying to get people back wandering into the shop. That fell away massively. We’re trying to get that vibe back.

I’m trying to get back to having the business running as a shop, as well as an online place of work. We have a fulfilment centre down the road now that packs and ships our stuff. We’re paying a small premium for that but it means that people can actually enjoy wandering into a wine shop rather than a shop full of boxes.

With wine, do you still feel like an explorer when it comes to sourcing?

Oh, forever. You’re always looking for the next thing.

It’s a lifestyle. And if you can make it your business then you’ve done well in life.

You need to be happy in what you’re doing. We forget, sometimes. In business, everyone goes through trials and tribulations. But at the end of the day, we get to sit there with a decent glass of wine.

“I want you to be able to tell me that you go to the supermarket to buy wine – don’t be ashamed of it. We are here to improve your palate and show that, by spending a couple of pounds more, it makes a big difference”

The Drinks Trader Power List 500

Every year, The Drinks Trader, “the world’s most influential publication for professionals in the global drinks trade”, publishes its rundown of the “most influential people in the global wine trade”. Ahead of its presentation at a “star-studded pre-breakfast ceremony” at the London Wine Fair, David Williams picks out some of the notable names in this year’s much-anticipated list

No 498

Henk Koopman

CEO,

Henk Koopman Wijn Logiestiek

Henk Koopman’s trademark mutton chops, pipe and fisherman’s cap, as immortalised in his company’s instantly recognisable, much-loved logo, were an even more familiar sight than normal on northern European motorways over the past year.

The jovial Belgian haulier tightened his grip on the Benelux wine logistics market with the completion of the long-drawnout acquisition of his closest competitor, Stoepker Hendriks Jaager Trucks, in early 2022.

It brought Koopman’s total fleet to more than 3,500 vehicles, all of them decked out in the company’s red-black-and-yellowpainted livery and adorned with the famous Koopman slogan below his smiling face: “Het is niet nodig om het te vinden als je het nooit kwijtraakt!” (“There’s no need to find it if you never lose it!”).

Full-year trading results published in January, showing a 33% rise in turnover, appeared to confirm the wisdom of the SHJT takeover, but recent months have proved more challenging for the company,

after an ongoing police investigation into a complex corruption case known in Belgium as the “Bordeaux schandaaldozen” (“Bordeaux scandal boxes”) narrowed its focus to an unlisted warehouse belonging to Koopman in an industrial estate just

outside Mechelen.

“Er is niets verloren als het niet is gevonden” (“There’s nothing lost if it hasn’t been found”) was Koopman’s sole response when quizzed by Flemish-language newspaper De Standaard in late March.

Belgian police looking for new leads in the Bordeaux schandaaldozen case

No 310 Brooke Seedbank

Vice President Wine Buying & Human Resources

Big Dwight’s Wine House

In a year in which food and drink inflation has reached well into double digits all over the developed world, US Midwest-based wine retail chain Big Dwight’s Wine House was the rare wine retailer to oversee a drop in prices – by an average of 10% between March 2022 and March 2023.

That they achieved this while simultaneously achieving a 244% rise in profits over the same period is largely down to Big Dwight’s Wine House Vice President Wine Buying & Human Resources, Brooke Seedbank, who implemented what Forbes magazine called “one of the most daringly radical retail strategies of recent years”.

The package of measures included a reduction in lines from more than 1,000 SKUs to just two, and from more than 40 suppliers to one across the 680-store estate, as well as the successful launch of the “Be one of Big Dwight’s grape heroes” staff programme, which offered employees a 0.00001% stake in the company’s newly planted 1.2-acre Michigan vineyard in exchange for “an upward adjustment” to their working hours, a complete renouncement of union representation, and a “cost-based accelerated deceleration” of their healthcare, pension, dental, childcare, travel subsidies and staff discount plans.

No 126 Guy Foppe Champagne Foppe et Fils

Guy Foppe’s family-owned business may not be the largest or best-known Champagne house. But, thanks to the man

Continues page 38

Brooke Seedbank: making American wine retailing great again

Guy Foppe turned down “many, many offers” in favour of a return to his family’s business

JUST WILLIAMS

himself, it has some claim to being the most innovative.

From the moment he returned to the family’s exquisite Epernay headquarters after a stint at Estée Lauder (where he helped launch hazelnut-based luxury foot cream Pied Noix), Foppe, the third generation to head up the Foppe house, has been unafraid of risk and experiment.

There’s no doubt some of his ideas have backfired. Ten years on from its ill-fated launch, the company is still negotiating with a consortium of lawyers representing victims of the Foppe NV home disgorgement kit.

But Foppe’s appetite for the new has remained undimmed, with the company this year pinning its hopes on the planned June roll-out of its new “grand Can-pagne”: a series of large-format gold-plated cans, in sizes from Jeroboam to Methuselah, of its prestige cuvée, Foppe Art, complete with label illustration by Foppe’s son, Philippe Foppe.

No 3

Oli Carmichael

Founder and Auteur

Drink Your F***in’ Greens!

Is it a natural wine retailer, a pop-up restaurant, a punk brand consultancy, or all (or none) of the above?

Whatever the answer, Shoreditch-based Oli Carmichael’s “multi-valent” business

Drink Your F***in’ Greens! was everywhere in 2022.

The man himself was every bit as ubiquitous, the self-styled organic auteur’s near-constant presence on social media and at restaurant and drinks brand launches leaving many rivals wondering where on earth he finds the time to sleep.

As The Drinks Trader’s executive editor, Josh Carmichael, put it in a profile earlier this year: “Since founding his polyvalent company in late 2021, Carmichael has become the British wine trade’s

disruptor-in-chief, bringing a whole new, unapologetically abrasive style of doing business to a wine world that was in danger of growing stale.

“The ‘what’ is always behind the ‘why’ and some distance from the ‘how’ and the ’when’ at Drink Your F***in’ Greens!

“But Carmichael’s 360° angle on sustainability is undeniable, and he keeps his customers, investors and rivals on their toes by curating an unstoppable stream of innovations and ideas, at all times of the day or night, so that they never quite know what Drink Your F***in’ Greens! is doing next – or now.”

“Since founding his polyvalent company in late 2021, Carmichael has become the British wine trade’s disruptor-in-chief, bringing a whole new, unapologetically abrasive style of doing business to a wine world that was in danger of growing stale”

Josh Carmichael

Oli Carmichael says the DYFG workplace consists of “35% inspiration, 35% perspiration, and 35% laughter”

THE PGI AREA WINES OF CENTRAL GREECE FROM THE MOUNTAINS TO THE SEA

In the heart of the Greek mainland, the Central Greece region is a broad and diverse area for winemaking, producing unique wines with a variety of characteristics. The mixture of local and foreign varieties creates complex notes to the Central Greece wines, with a range of areas and vineyards worth exploring. All together, Central Greece is home to over a fourth of Greek vineyards, which employ a combination of traditional and modern methods.

Set a short distance from Athens, the five regional units of Central Greece lie along the southern part of the Greek mainland and the island of Evia to the East. Over the past 20 years, the region has experienced a winemaking renaissance focused on indigenous and, in some cases, almost forgotten, varieties.

Central Greece is home of 9 separate Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) Area wine zones which benefit from unique mesoclimates, unique varieties and skilled winemakers;

PGI Atalanti Valley | ΠΓΕ Κοιλάδα Αταλάντης

PGI Slopes of Knimida | ΠΓΕ Πλαγιές Κνημίδας

PGI Opountia Locris | ΠΓΕ Οπούντια Λοκρίδας

PGI Phthiotis | ΠΓΕ Φθιώτιδα

PGI Parnassos | ΠΓΕ Παρνασσός

PGI Thiva | ΠΓΕ Θήβα

PGI Lilantio Pedio | ΠΓΕ Ληλάντιο Πεδίο

PGI Evia | ΠΓΕ Εύβοια

PGI Ritsona | ΠΓΕ Ριτσώνα

The Valley of Atalanti (PGI Atalanti Valley) stretches across Central Greece from East to West, with Parnassos Mountain in the East and the sea to the West, allowing vineyards to cool naturally from a cross sea breeze and producing dry wines. Main whites grown in Atalanti are Assyrtiko and Savatiano, while the main red is Cabernet Sauvignon, adapted for over 30 years.

PGI Evia, one of the region’s better known wine zones, has a cooler north and more arid south. Covering the island of the same name, wine production in central and southern Evia employs traditional techniques, while northern Evia offers both Greek and international varieties and many modern wines. Whites include Savatiano, Malagousia and Moschofilero. Reds are Vradiano, Mavrokountoura and Syrah.

PGI Lilantio Pedio (or Field) wine zone is temperate with moderate winters and cool summers due to the influence of the sea and the Dirfy Mountain. Located on the island of Evia, the PGI produces dry to sweet white, rose, and red wines. The area has a long viticultural history associated with the Savatiano variety. Winemaking in Lilantio Pedio has evolved rapidly

with additional varieties and types of wine now produced. Whites include Moschofilero and Roditis whilst some Reds are Vradiano and Syrah.

The vineyards of Opountia Locrida (PGI Opountia Locris) are surrounded by mountains and sea to the east, producing whites Athiri, Assyrtiko, Robola and Malagousia, with reds Limnio, Xinomavro, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot Opountia stretches along the southeastern part of Phthiotida It includes the area of ancient Opous, one of the nine area's cities mentioned by

fertile soils are now grown on slopes, producing whites Athiri, Assyrtiko, Robola and Malagousia Reds are Mouchtaro, Agiorgitiko, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

PGI Ritsona features hilltop vines which receive the moderating effect of a sea breeze, producing whites Savatiano, Malagousia, Assyrtiko and Monemvasia and reds Vradiano, Agiorgitiko, Karabraimis and Mandilaria One of the traditional wine-growing regions of Greece, PGI Ritsona is located on the mainland of Evia The region was once known only for white wine, and

Homer. The region produces dry white, rose, and red wines, produced by two wineries.

PGI Parnassos wine zone is one of the most mountainous regions in Greece. Cultivated white varieties are Athiri, Assyrtiko, Malagousia and Robola, while reds are Mavroudi, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

Slopes of Knimida features vines grown mostly on the southern slopes of Kallidromon. PGI Slopes of Knimida are located at higher altitudes, with cooler mesoclimates for winegrowing, allowing for slower ripening and thus the retention of acidity in the grapes. Visitors will find Assyrtiko, Athiri, Savatiano and Kontokladi in whites, Vradiano, Limnio, Mavroudi and Caberbet Sauvignon in reds.

PGI Phthiotis wine zone boasts a semi continental climate, with vines grown on slopes surrounded by mountains. White grape varieties are Aidani, Athiri, Assyrtiko and Malagousia, with reds Vradiano, Mavroudia, Limnio and Aglianico.

PGI Thiva wine zone, said to be the ancient home of Dionysus, Greek God of Wine, has cold winters and hot summers. Vines from previous

now produces a broader range and styles using modern techniques.

The wine culture of Central Greece is among the most historically influential centres of viticulture in existence. The region's vineyards are a piece of living history with a variety of old dry farmed bush vines lying atop arid hillslopes stretching from the mountains of Central Greece to the sea.

winesofcentralgreece com

Wines

A big day in the north

In early March, wine merchants from Scotland and northern England joined a round-table discussion on a variety of topics that affect the wider independent trade.

Our coverage, which began in our April edition, concludes here.

Organised in partnership with Hatch Mansfield

How important are sustainability and green issues?

Ray Nicholls, Ripponden Wine Company, West Yorkshire: I think there is an acceptance that producers are doing more. I think everyone assumes that’s what’s happening.

I don’t get asked a huge amount of questions like “tell me about this wine and what that producer’s doing to reduce their carbon emissions”.

I also don’t think our customers are probably as aware of alternative formats as a sustainable option. I’m seeing stuff that’s coming through in cardboard bottles and cans and all that sort of stuff. People aren’t coming to me and asking for them because I don’t think they know about them yet.

Douglas Wood, WoodWinters: We don’t have a lot of people coming into the shop asking which wine is more sustainable, but we advertise it and talk about it. One or two large customers have asked us to fill out a survey about how much solar we have, and what our carbon footprint is. All our sales reps have electric cars, and we’ve got one electric van. We’ve got solar, and we recycle plastic and glass.

Mark Stephenson, Grape & Grain, Morpeth: I’ve got a couple of customers who will only buy European wines as they believe they have a smaller carbon footprint. But I think if you were to really break down the numbers, that might be a theory that could be argued against. I hear more from my customers about organics rather than the sustainability issue.

Graham Holter, The Wine Merchant: As a retailer, how much can you realistically do to be greener? Presumably you can’t start harvesting rainwater.

Mark Stephenson: You know, we have so many rules and regulations in the town about how our shops have to look. We can’t have lights or shutters on the outside, so any modification to create a system that would allow us to collect water … there’s not a lot for us to work with.

Richard Meadows, Great Grog, Edinburgh: I think there is more demand for lighter glass and stuff. We ship bladders from Alicante and the wines are pretty good. I drink them. They are supposed to be much more CO2 friendly but nobody seems to have the figures.

Andrew Lundy, Vino, Edinburgh: I have a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that’s bottled in Europe. Maybe four or five years ago I would have had a negative reaction to that – people want to think the winemaker lovingly placed it in the bottle and kissed the lid. But now I think they are more open to the environmental benefits. Maybe it’s down to countries like New Zealand to say, “we’ve done all the carbon neutrality that you’re going to need”.

Richard Meadows: I’d like to see what percentage of Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand is UK bottled.

Ben Knollys, Hatch Mansfield: It’s lower than for some countries because none of the big producers are doing it. Once something has left New Zealand, you don’t know what the temperature is going to be when you’re crossing the equator in three weeks’ time or whatever. And there are temperature spikes in the containers for bottles, whereas with bladders, that doesn’t happen as much. So from a quantitative point of view, there’s a very strong argument for it. It’s definitely greener, there’s no doubt about it.

Obviously, there are complications and variables. For example, where is the glass being sourced?

Graham Holter: UK bottlers would say that their facilities are often more sterile and more efficient than bottling at source.

Ben Knollys: Yes, and the wine’s fresher. If you’re looking at Sauvignon Blanc, you’ve got an extra 10 weeks’ shelf life.

Archie McDiarmid, Luvians, St Andrews: As a general rule, people care about organics, sustainability and biodynamics very deeply, right up until they see the price tag, and then it becomes an awful lot less important to them.

If the liquid is every bit as good, and the prices work, if one wine is more sustainable than the other then we’ll go for the sustainable wine, so it’s a useful tiebreaker.

You can make a wine vegan, but it doesn’t make it healthier or better. I think a lot of winemakers are finding better fining agents.

Graham Holter: If you hear about a fantastic producer in a region you’re interested in, but they don’t seem to have many sustainability credentials, would it make you less likely to list the wine?

Ray Nicholls: It wouldn’t stop me buying the wine if it was good.

Douglas Wood: I’m more interested in biodynamics. I believe in the science behind the holistic side of it for sure. But the palate should lead.

Ben Knollys: When we’re working on our tastings, we try to pick dates that are fruit days or flower days. We’ve got biodynamic producers; you can see the health of their vineyards.

Richard Meadows: They’re crackers. They’re just OCD. That’s why they’ve got good vineyards.

Ben Knollys: In 1996 Louis Jadot started biodynamic farming in Moulin-à-Vent and within about three years the life cycle of the

“As a general rule, people care about organics, sustainability and biodynamics very deeply, right up until they see the price tag, and then it becomes an awful lot less important to them”

Archie McDiArMiD

From left: Ray Nicholls; Douglas Wood; Mark Stephenson; Richard Meadows; Andrew Lundy; Ben Knollys; Archie McDiarmid

vines changed dramatically. They had a year when the weather was all out of kilter and a neighbouring vineyard was using lots of sprays and their vines couldn’t cope. But Louis Jadot’s vines did really well.

Archie McDiarmid: Biodynamics is a really excellent soil management system.

Richard Meadows: The thing about biodynamic growers, they are more obsessive. You said it’s the attention to detail. They’re just more OCD, that’s the thing. I say let’s leave it at organic.

Ben Knollys: Organics is a whole other thing, though. There are arguments about the extra runs of the tractor through the fields creating soil compaction.

Richard Meadows: Soil compaction is a big, big issue. I studied forestry. I almost got a degree once.

Ben Knollys: What do you think about wine in keg – say, 25-litre KeyKeg?

Andrew Lundy: It’s got to be good wine and a good price. I don’t want this strange, weird wine that a bar in London has on a back bar tap. I want the customer to come in and walk out with a nice bottle of wine.

It’s something the DRS [Deposit Return Scheme] may bring up more. The guy from Circularity Scotland didn’t have an understanding of what a growler was, which is frightening when you’re thinking about what he’s doing as a job.

We’ve tried it with beer in the past and the machines that we had were originally designed for Prosecco.

You’ve got to keep it in the right condition and when you’re in an old tenement building, it’s not very forgiving.

Richard Meadows: We gave up on it as well.

Andrew Lundy: The idea is great, but people want choice. When they come to you, they want to be able to choose from 200 beers. You can’t do that if you’ve still got the same beer that you had last week, and to get the volume through is really tough. Refilling wine bottles in shop, though …

Richard Meadows: We’re doing that. It’s just the 3-litre box and it’s cheaper. Customers come in to refill. We specify their bottle must be clean and resealable and it must be 75cl.

Andrew Lundy: Apparently milk bottle plastic is not included [in DRS], and the thicker kind of cough syrup plastic bottles are not included because it’s the wrong kind of plastic. So if you want to put your wine in milk cartons, then you won’t have any DRS. I’m sure breweries might have a take on it.

Archie McDiarmid: I think we’re genuinely committed to the sustainability side of things in Scotland, but we still don’t have a factory in Scotland for recycling any of this plastic.

Ben Knollys: Presumably the returns element of the DRS plan presents the biggest challenge for you.

Andrew Lundy: I think we’ll probably get an exemption because we don’t have the space and there are various health and safety issues.

We’ve got lots of small supermarkets near us, so we should be fine on that front. But actually does that then become a negative, because all our customers are going to go to Tesco to take the glass back?

Archie McDiarmid: I think DRS is in its current form is dead. I don’t think it’s going to happen. Whether or not that’s just another delay, whether it’s a fundamental rethink ...

But there is definitely a very big part of Scottish Government and the civil service and the people advising them, where there’s some real ideological anti-alcohol campaign.

We haven’t even touched upon the fact that the Scottish Government has declared war on the entire alcohol industry by suggesting that all booze is evil and all Scottish people must be protected from it. And so we can’t advertise it.

If you follow the consultation through, we can’t even donate a bottle of wine to a local raffle, because that would be seen as sponsorship.

Taking it through to its logical conclusion, we’re not allowed to have a shop window. We’re going to have to go full-on Soho sex shop and black the whole thing out.

Andrew Lundy: That might bring customers in.

“It’s got to be good wine and a good price. I don’t want this strange, weird wine that a bar in London has on a back bar tap. I want the customer to come in and walk out with a nice bottle of wine”

AnDrew LunDy

From hallowed hills to the

March is not a month to experience the Tuscan landscape in its full, sensoryoverloading vibrancy. The palette is more muted in these early days of spring, but there are signs that nature is gearing up for its annual spectacular.

The vines, as usual, are biding their time. We’re still some weeks away from budburst in Chianti Classico, and it takes a feat of imagination to picture what these hillsides of schist and limestone will look like as the vineyards awaken.

We’re here as guests of Cecchi, a family-owned wine business which has its own quiet modesty. Starting out in 1893, the company has gradually expanded over the decades. Villa Cerna has been part of the group since the 1960s; Villa Rosa, also in Chianti Classico, was acquired in 2014.

In the 1990s, Cecchi branched out into Maremma, the neighbouring coastal region that has been described as Tuscany’s wild west of winemaking. The purchase of Val delle Rose allowed Cecchi to capitalise on its expertise with Sangiovese, but Vermentino is also an important part of the portfolio in these parts, while Cabernet Franc is one of the other varieties showing tantalising signs of greatness.

During our brief time here we also have the opportunity to try wines from another outpost of the Cecchi portfolio, Tenuta Alzatura, in Montefalco in Umbria.

We’re about to discover that, wherever the family puts down roots, the priority is always the same: to get deep down into the soils and really understand what makes this terroir tick.

For more information contact Cecchi export director Francesco Vitulli: fvitulli@cecchi.net or Gaetano Alabiso at Vinexus: gaetano@vinexus.co.uk

Above: CEO Andrea Cecchi

Below: Villa Cerna in Chianti Classico

Produced in partnership with Cecchi

wild west

Getting our toes in the terroir

Agronomist Giovanni Zerini takes us on the long and winding road to the Casetto vineyard in Castellina. It’s beside the oldest cypress grove in Europe, home to a large colony of wild boar who enjoy Sangiovese grapes just as much as humans do, which explains the tight fencing all around the 3ha plot.

The marly limestone soil suits Sangiovese down to the ground, and it has been ploughed to encourage more precious rain to soak in. We’re at 425m elevation, which also plays to the strengths of this late-ripening variety. It needs an extended growing season to reach its full potential.

A small group of independents is invited to explore the estates of Cecchi, a family-owned business, focusing on its properties in Chianti Classico and Maremma

Amphora or wood?

It’s a blend of both

Wineries can be unwieldy affairs as new pieces are bolted on and winemakers start experimenting with novel bits of kit. At Val delle Rose, everything is streamlined and logical, and it looks like an ideal environment for a creative winemaking team to produce their best work.

With Vermentino, fermentation always happens in stainless steel. Juice destined for the Cobalto label also spends time either in new oak or amphorae.

The fruit here is used for Villa Rosa’s Gran Selezione wines, the top echelon of Chianti Classico.

We also stop at the nearby Palagione vineyard, dating back to 1965 and acquired in 2015 when it was in a slightly distressed state. Many of the vines had to be replaced, but the object of the exercise was to preserve the rich genetic heritage of the site, where massal selection has always been a key part of its strength.

Off-road and off piste in Maremma

Maremma, a largely coastal region in the south of Tuscany, doesn’t yet have the same reputation for food and wine as neighbouring areas, but you sense that this won’t be the case for much longer.

Cecchi spotted the potential of the region in 1996 and has gradually increased its initial vineyard holding to its current 100ha.

There’s a faint saline note to some of the wines, especially the Vermentino, and it turns out we aren’t simply imagining the maritime influence. Val delle Rose winemaker Andrea Fioriello says he can often taste the sea spray on the fruit during harvest.

We climb into a Land Rover and jolt our way up to a 150m vantage point. We get a sense of the scale of the landscape and can see what Fioriello means about its touristic credentials. Maremma will doubtless soon be a destination on many Italian wine lovers’ holiday itineraries, but today the wind and rain are beginning to whip in and it’s time to jump back in the car and to explore the winery.

The difference is profound. We try a 2022 sample picked at the beginning of the harvest, ageing in wood, and then an identical wine ageing in amphora. There’s no doubt that the amphora example is purer and zippier than the barrel version, but the wooded wine has more aromatic intensity.

The experiment is repeated with a wine from a different vineyard, this time picked later. Again the amphora example is more precise – Sam Howard of HarperWells would be quite happy to sell it as it is – but you can see why Fioriello wants to blend in some wine from the barrel.

“Sometimes Vermentino can be bitter on the finish,” he says. “The wood balances that bitterness and adds some sweetness.”

Thom Allinson, The Oxford Wine Company

For Allinson, it’s clear that “quality is at the forefront of everything Cecchi produces, be that in the vineyard or winery”. He’s impressed by the way technological progress is being made, but without forgetting tradition and typicity.

On the whole, Chianti is performing well at The Oxford Wine Company, “from the sub£10 DOCG fruity house wine style, through the teens up to super complex £40+ Chianti Classico Gran Selezione … there is something for most people”.

Allinson thinks more education and awareness is needed in the UK about the region’s quality levels. He’s enthusiastic about the new Unità Geografiche Aggiuntive (UGA) system, which recognises 11 new sub-zones in Chianti Classico and will help promote individual terroirs, such as that of Castellina.

But Maremma is also “really exciting”, producing wines of “tremendous quality”.

He says: “Much like with the rest of Cecchi, there is always an eye on tradition and being true to the region’s wines and history, but with innovation in viticulture and vinification due to less strict regional restrictions.”

Hamish Chambers, The Vineking, Surrey

Chambers describes Cecchi as a “forward-looking producer making high-quality wines with fabulous facilities”.

He adds: “I was very impressed with the various expressions of Sangiovese that all showed great character given their locations and price points.

“The Tenuta Alzatura Montefalco reds showed an interesting approach: the softness of the Rosso and the classic tannin of the Sagrantino.

“Both ranges of whites – Vermentino from Maremma, and Trebbiano Spoletino from Montefalco – should be tremendously commercial.”

Chambers accepts that Chianti Classico can be perceived as steady but unspectacular, though the Cecchi visit has persuaded him that the company is “bang up to date”.

“Our job is to make customers aware of the quality that is actually available and that it is indeed exciting,” he says. “Gran Selezione will be a useful tool when the wines are up against Super Tuscans etc.

“The UGAs might gain some traction given that Tuscany is a tourist hotspot. Possibly the individual localities will be picked up by customers who already know the area.”

Sam Howard HarperWells, Norwich

Howard is pleasantly surprised to discover that Cecchi is a “quality, terroir-focused producer”.

He admits: “Prior to the visit, I would have pegged them in the medium/large production of relative entry-level Chianti Classico. What I wasn't expecting was the production from small parcels and such attention to the specific sites within the DOCG.”

He adds: “What impressed me with this approach was the obvious extra effort this takes without it necessarily transferring to the higher, dare I say vanity, pricing you can find elsewhere.”

Chianti Classico is one of the important regions represented on HarperWells’ shelves, enjoying “a great affinity with customers”. But Howard says there’s a danger it can be viewed as simply a provider of “bright, quite austere or slightly dusky oak-aged wines”.

He adds: “Cecchi does very well at avoiding this stereotype and is producing modern wines within a historic and classical DO. Its wines are clearly Chianti Classico, but it’s not so bound by tradition that it is afraid to experiment.”

It was Howard’s first visit to Maremma and, by the sound of it, probably not his last. “It’s a region that I can see us growing,” he says. “If Tuscan whites have had a hard time in the past, I think Maremma might offer up the antidote.

“In a region that could have chosen to go down the Super Tuscan route, it was great to see Cabernet Franc being allowed to show its full potential as a single variety. I was impressed with the early-release La Mora range as an example of this innovation.”

Pictured at the Palagione vineyard in Castellina, from left: Anna Clark, Tolchards; Sam Howard, HarperWells; Thom Allinson, The Oxford Wine Co; Gionvanni Zerini, Cecchi; Hamish Chambers, The Vineking

Some of the stand-out wines

Valle delle Rose Litorale Vermentino

We taste the 2022, the second vintage for which this stainless-steel fermented Maremma DOC wine was certified organic. There’s a lovely jasmine note on the nose. “A really fresh, slightly salty and attractive style of Vermentino,” says Thom Allinson. “A touch of lees ageing gives it great structure and more complexity as well, really rounding it off.”

Val delle Rose Cobalto Vermentino

We’ve already sampled some of the components of this Maremma Vermentino and here we see the blending prowess of the winemaker in action. For Hamish Chambers, it’s a stylish wine reflecting its journey of stainless steel, oak and amphora. “Bags of ripe fruit flavour,” he says. “Good hits of minerality and acidity with a fabulous finish. Very appealing.”

Villa Rosa Ribaldoni Chianti Classico

Sam Howard loves it “for its classic Sangiovese profile” and says the 12 months spent in tonneaux has softened the wine, “making it approachable now”. Made from Villa Rosa’s youngest vineyards in the Castellina hills, it’s intensely fruity on the nose and the tannins are velvety. “It feels like great value for a wine of this region; a baby Gran Selezione,” Howard says.

Villa Rosa Chianti Classico Gran Selezione

“Classy and elegant all the way through,” says Thom Allinson. “Amazing with the local cuisine but equally as tasty by itself. It really shows off Sangiovese’s qualities.” During the tasting we’re reminded that Gran Selezione doesn’t imply the wine is in any way “big”: in fact, the point is to underline the elegance of the variety.

Villa Cerna Chianti Classico Riserva

The 5% Colorino component here adds a little colour and boldness to a wine only made in the best vintages, in this case 2018. “Amazing concentration and structure,” says Thom Allinson. “It was a firm favourite of mine before the trip and tasting it in situ elevates it further for me.” Hamish Chambers enjoys its “delicious freshness”, describing it as “a classic food wine”.

Val delle Rose Samma

The label simply says “Cabernet”, but the missing word is Franc, not Sauvignon – though on first inspection you might not be absolutely certain, such is the rich, ripe style. It’s a highlight for Sam Howard, who believes more bottle age will bring out its complexities. “Definitely one to write up for private clients to put downstairs for a few years,” he says.

Val delle Rose Il Ciliegiolo

Ciliegiolo is a variety with its own DOC in Maremma and for some of us, Hamish Chambers included, it’s a new variety to get to know. “Beautifully rounded fruit, a delicate oak influence, soft tannins and a lively acidity make it quite versatile,” he says. It’s a point that’s exemplified, he suggests, when we try the wine at dinner paired with monkfish.

How we reward loyalty

A customer isn’t really a customer until they make a second purchase … and then hopefully a third. But how can independents persuade people to keep returning? Claire Harries speaks to three merchants about their various loyalty schemes

The loyalty card: stamp collectors earn big discounts

Jane Cuthbertson at Barrica Wines in Chorley has recently reinstated her loyalty scheme.

“We didn’t get the bump at Christmas that we expected and then everyone expects January to be in the doldrums, so I thought ‘let’s give people a reason to shop with us rather than someone else’,” she says. “So we re-introduced our scheme because prior to Covid it had been really popular.

“We have a card: it’s very old-school, like the Starbucks stamp. Every time you spend, your card gets stamped and once your card

is filled with 10 stamps you get £10 off your next purchase.

“There are terms and conditions attached, so they can’t use it for ticketed events, although we do stamp it for money spent at the bar.

“Only one card can be redeemed per transaction, so the customer can’t store them all up and use them that way.

“We’ve found it does make a difference. People have seen it and they are interested. Instead of saying you’ve got 10% off, which is in effect what it is, giving it a defined monetary value really helps.”

“It’s very old-school, like the Starbucks stamp

The saver club: a bit like Naked Wines, only better

Sam Jackson at Chester Beer & Wine invites her customers to pay a regular amount into a scheme for a 5% top-up at purchase.

“I was at a local business group and I was asked who my major competition was,” she says. “I said Naked Wines, and lots of members there said, ‘I use them, it’s really easy, you just put in 20 quid a month and cash it in whenever you want to’.

“I asked if they’d use me if I did something similar and they said yes. The more I looked into it, I was sure this is what we should be doing, because we’ve already done subscription boxes for wine and beer. It just seemed like a good add-on if people wanted to save up and spread the

cost of Christmas.

“My website guy is really good and he did a lot of research into finding the right bit of software and we set it up. We think it’s better than Naked Wines because you get to choose, and we have beer and spirits as well as wine.

“A few customers save up and only cash in at Christmas, but that’s fine because we always have high stocks of everything at that time of year. Most people just save up and treat themselves to a nice case every couple of months. It is quite a mix, but I think increasingly we’ll get people saving for a special occasion that otherwise would cost them quite a lot of money. It just helps to take the edge off.”

Most people just save up and treat themselves to a nice case every couple of months

The app: it works in France, so why not Northampton?

Harriet Poupinel at V&B in Northampton is about to launch an app-based loyalty scheme.

“We won't just reward people for every pound that they spend in store,” she says. “They will also get points if they do a tasting or a masterclass with us.

“We want it to encourage people to participate. They will have the ability to cash in their points quickly, which will be in the form of a percentage off a purchase, or they can save their points and get a free wine tasting, for example. It would be nice to invite people through the loyalty programme to do product selections with us too.

“We’re using some software that’s linked to our epos system. It’s not bespokebespoke, but we are able to tailor it. We

just need to send over our brand kit, our fonts etc, and they’ll create the app around it. We’ll also use it to put out our monthly newsletter. We hold so many events here, so it’s a good way of keeping everyone up to date as not all of our customers use social media.”

As a franchisee of the French retailer V&B, Harriet has total autonomy over how she chooses to run her store when it comes to marketing and events. But she says she is inspired by what happens in the company’s home territory.

“In France there are around two million customers who are signed up to the V&B loyalty scheme. Obviously we cannot compare ourselves whatsoever, but we are aware of the sense of community that a good loyalty programme can have, for sure.”

People will also gets points if they do a tasting or masterclass with us

Tuning in to Tejo

It’s a region that’s established itself as one of the most progressive in Portugal, producing fresh, balanced and authentic wines that chime with independents. Here’s a beginners’ guide to set the scene In association with Vinhos do Tejo

The Tejo wine region shares its name with the great Portuguese river inland from Lisbon. Having a body of water flowing through the heart of the landscape helps bestow a freshness in the wines that has become a hallmark of the region. Days are warm, rather than scorching hot, and generally dry. Nights are cooler and moist, often followed by early-morning mist. The river Tejo also supplies all the water required by wineries in their production processes. What’s not required is returned back to the waterways in good condition, helping keep nature in balance.

Winemaking in Tejo has been part of the way of life since Roman times. At one time the region was called Ribatejo, but is now better known in its shortened form. Tejo has been one of Portuguese wine’s big success stories of recent years. More than 80 wineries – many family-owned for generations – and four progressively-minded co-operatives produce more than 30 million litres of certified wine each year, making Tejo the fifth largest of Portugal’s 14 wine regions.

Bairro is one of three distinct terroirs in Tejo, providing ideal conditions for red wine production. Located to the north and east of Tejo’s right bank, it’s dominated by clay-limestone soils, with schist also occurring near the city of Tomar.

Campo is a sub-region where the alluvial soil is more fertile. Mornings can be foggy and humid, followed by very hot afternoons and cold nights. White grapes are at home here, notably the Fernão Pires variety.

Charneca is a sandy, gravelly subregion with a generally drier and warmer climate than most of Tejo. Located south and south east of the river, it’s a landscape where grapes mature quickly and wines are noticeably concentrated.

Tejo is proud of its indigenous varieties. The main white grapes are Fernão Pires, Arinto and Verdelho, but international stars like Chardonnay and Sauvignon

Blanc also achieve impressive results. Among the reds, many independent merchants focus their attention on Castelão, Trincadeira, Touriga Nacional, Alicante Bouschet and Aragonez. But Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon from Tejo also have their devotees.

As Tejo has capitalised on its ability to make world-class premium wines, growers have naturally spent more time working on expressing their terroir, lowering yields and working as sustainably, and in tune with nature, as possible. Of course, these aren’t new ideas. But the objective isn’t to return to an idyllic, pastoral past. The wines that Tejo makes today are aimed squarely at a discerning 21st century consumer, which is why producers have been investing in modern methods and equipment to produce wines that can be rich and complex, but crucially are also balanced and approachable.

Wine tourism is gaining momentum in Tejo. Some of its estates are among the oldest continuously operating wineries in Europe. All welcome visitors, and several estates now have restaurants and hotel facilities. Holidaymakers can also spend some time admiring Tejo’s Lusitano horses, the medieval city of Santarém or the bustling riverside city of Tomar, with its Knights Templar fortress.

The three sub-regions of Tejo have markedly different terroirs

Portugal has been on fire in the independent trade for a while now, and it shows few signs of cooling off. David Williams looks at why it’s still generating such excitement

An export success story

It took a while. But whenever I speak to the UK’s Portuguese wine specialists, I get the impression that, after years of hard work from importers and their producers, British perceptions of Portuguese wines finally reached a tipping point sometime around the end of the last decade.

Those importers no longer have a sense that buyers in all parts of the trade – on and off, independent and multiple – must be persuaded of the quality and value on offer. Buyers are, rather, actively coming to them to source Portuguese wines, with a variety of styles, regions and brands now becoming staple listings.

That feeling is very much represented in the sales data – and not only in the UK. According to figures released by generic body ViniPortugal at the end of February, total Portuguese wine exports had reached their highest-ever value by the end of 2022, at €923m, up by 1.52% versus the same period in 2021.

That follows a significant period of growth that has seen Portuguese wine add 8% in value and 7% in volume since 2019. The UK is responsible for a significant portion of modern Portugal’s progress, with imports of €83m placing it in third place overall, behind France and the US.

According to ViniPortugal president Frederico Falcão, the results were all the more impressive given the context of “a

The reasons why Portugal

year in which a war broke out, bringing us economic weaknesses and even fragile access to markets.

“However, as always, this is a sector that never gives up and the goals for 2023 remain ambitious,” Falcão added. “We want to reach €1bn, basing this growth on the increase in average price. This is what we are working for, not only in terms of promotion in traditional markets but also opening up new markets where Portuguese wine has great potential for growth.”

Independent favourite

Inevitably, it’s the multiple grocers –responsible for some 80% of total UK offtrade wine sales – that have had the most significant impact on Portugal’s growing volume in the UK.

But independents, in their role as market-shaping trendsetters, have been a cornerstone of the country’s rise in popularity, and the markers in this part of the trade remain highly positive.

As ever, Portugal put in a strong performance in what is arguably the most comprehensive overview of the latest thinking in the independent trade: The Wine Merchant’s annual reader survey. It was just pipped by Italy as the respondents’ “most interesting” wine country, after taking top slot in 2022.

But the country’s importers and producers will perhaps be even more pleased that good vibes are more than ever translating into sales: the country has risen from ninth to sixth place on the list of respondents’ best-selling countries.

No wonder Wines of Portugal is set to

Portugal is booming

continue with its successful independent promotional campaign, Wines of Portugal Month, for the third time this June.

Participating retailers in the 2022 campaign reported a Portuguese sales jump of 383.4% in value and 440% in volume compared with the same period in 2021. As ever, 15 retailers will be given support by Wines of Portugal for in-store and online activities. The 15 will also see

their efforts promoted on social media by wine writer Jamie Goode, who has partnered with Wines of Portugal for the campaign.

Sustainability: An urgent message

Portuguese producers have been at the forefront in pushing for action on environmental best practice for some years now, with two of the biggest names in the Douro emerging as driving forces in two of the most significant international initiatives focused on the wine industry’s role in confronting the climate crisis.

The Fladgate Partnership (of port brands Taylor’s, Fonseca and Croft) founded the Porto Protocol Foundation, an international non-profit institution formed

of hundreds of members “committed to making a greater contribution to mitigate climate change”, while Symington Family Estates (of Cockburn’s, Dow’s, Graham’s, Warre’s and light wine brands Chryseia and Altano) was one of the first wineries to sign up to the Torres and Jackson Family Estates-led Wineries for Climate Action in 2019.

Both businesses, and many others in Portugal, have internal climate action plans, too, and the country is also ahead of many in Europe when it comes to coordinated action via its industry bodies.

Central to Portugal’s sustainability message will be a new National Reference for Sustainability, which was presented at the Wines of Portugal’s Annual Forum last November. The document, which comprises 86 sustainability “indicators”, most of them environmental, is designed to act as a benchmark for producers looking for accreditation.

“The main concern was building a reference that was accessible to producers, but credible for the markets. The aim is to create a national seal that is proof that producers have adapted to these standards,” said Frederico Falcão, of the initiative, the urgency of which was reinforced by vintage conditions in 2022, a year of blistering heat (temperatures reached a July record of 47°C in the Douro) and continued drought across the country.

Wine tourism: Portugal’s superpower

The starry-eyed holidaymaker looking to recreate happy times by buying bottles from their destination once they’ve got back home to Blighty is a familiar figure in independent wine merchants and an important shaper of wine trends. And the boom in tourism to Portugal – with visitor numbers returning to pre-pandemic levels during 2022 – is often cited by merchants as a reason for the growth in popularity

The UK is responsible for a significant portion of modern Portugal’s progress, with imports of €83m placing it in third place overall

From page 53

of the country’s wines.

Of course, most of those visitors aren’t wine tourists, even if many of them are tourists who like to drink wine. But there is no doubt that Portugal has raised its wine tourism game enormously in recent years, with significant improvements in facilities across the country’s wine regions.

That improvement was acknowledged in the latest set of results from The World’s Best Vineyards awards, a competition from the team behind the World’s Best Restaurants, which picks out “the Top 50 most amazing vineyard experiences” in the world each year, which featured eight Portuguese wine estates, the joint-top performance alongside France.

The names singled out were: Quinta do Crasto, Quinta do Infantado, Quinta da Pacheca, Quinta do Bomfim (Symington), Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo, and Quinta do Noval in the Douro, and Quinta de Soalheiro and Quinta da Aveleda in Vinho Verde. A further three estates – the Douro’s Quinta do Vallado and Graham’s Cellars and Quinta da Taboadella in the Dão – made the Top 100.

Douro: New stars emerging alongside the old Boys

The Douro’s strong performance in the World’s Best Vineyards is reflective of its position as the most recognised Portuguese wine region – a position which it shows no sign of losing, with the table wine offer from the region deepening and broadening with every vintage.

The producers that led the late 20thcentury Douro table wine revolution such as Poças, Quinta de la Rosa and the Douro Boys club of top names (Quinta do Vallado, Niepoort, Quinta do Crasto, Van Zellers & Co and Quinta do Vale Meão) have stayed innovative and remain responsible for many of the region’s best wines. But the

Above: António Luís Cerdeira, Maria Palmira Cerdeira and Maria João Cerdeira of Soalheiro Below: the Douro featured strongly in the World's Best Vineyards competition

From page 55

valley is also home to exciting new projects led by both Douro insiders and those relatively new to the region.

Among the former is Mateus Nicolau de Almeida, a winemaker whose family has deep winemaking roots in the region, but whose latest project is very much of its time: two terroir-driven brands, one devoted to reds from native varieties – one apiece from sites in the Baixo Corgo, the Cima Corgo, and the Douro Superior (Trans Douro Express) – and one to whites made from Rabigato in three plots in the Douro Superior (Emeritas), plus a range known as Curral Teles, devoted to wines made with different types of vinification.

An example of the refreshing influence of the outsider, by contrast, is Quinta de Pedra Alta, a producer with 35ha high up in the Cima Corgo, which was acquired by former Manchester United chief executive

Ed Woodward and his wife Isabelle in 2018. With winemaker João Pires joined by Barossa Valley’s Matt Gant as consultant, and with former Liberty Wines man Andy Brown involved on the commercial side, the project has made a splash with a range of stylishly made and packaged modern wines and ports.

A genuine north-south wine culture

Perhaps the most significant development in Portuguese wine over the past decade has been the development of what football people would call strength in depth, which means it’s now possible to find a range of interesting producers in all of the country’s wine regions.

An elite squad of Portuguese highperformers that have impressed The Wine Merchant in recent months, whether for the first or the latest of many times, might include Quinta de Soalheiro (Vinho Verde), Arribas Wine Company (Trás-os-Montes), Rui Madeira (Beira Interior), Textura (Dão), Filipa Pato and Wim Wouters (Bairrada), Hugo Mendes (Lisboa), Susana Esteban (Alentejo), Monte da Casteleja (Algarve), and the Azores Wine Company (Azores).

A more varied team of all the strengths is hard to imagine.

Harvest time at Quinta de Pedra Alta

A tram in Lisbon

Adega Belém: leaping into the UK

Frogs

Catarina Moreira was an evolutionary biologist studying the mating patterns of the Iberian tree frog when she met David Picard, an anthropologist. They have been together ever since and in 2013 they decided to go back to school to study oenology.

And so their winemaking journey began, and in 2020 they made their first full vintage at their urban winery, a converted car garage, in the Belém district of Lisbon. Raymond Reynolds Ltd is excited to bring these amazing wines and personalities to the UK.

Beyond wine, family is everything. Their two daughter are involved wherever they can be – from crushing grapes to drawing the wine labels during lockdown. We mustn’t forget the family’s Portuguese Labrador, Lili, a keen member of the cellar team. She playfully drops balls in front of her favourite wine tanks, which helps with the selection that’s blended for the Lili Cellar Dog Selection Tinto. When asked what a Portuguese Labrador is, David explains that her mother was a Labrador, and met her father at the beach.

What started as a fun weekend winemaking course sparked a desire to learn more and to explore the idea of making wine. Both completed further and more comprehensive winemaking courses and Catarina worked several harvests in several locations, while David stayed in academia until they set up their winery in the city.

Most of their white grapes come from the University of Lisbon’s vineyards situated in the urban district of Ajuda. The red grapes come from two main sites. The first, on the edge of the city, is a cloister whose vineyards form part of the historic Carcavelos DOP in the foothills of the Sintra Mountains. The second site sits within the Alenquer DOP, about 30 minutes north east of Lisbon. The couple spend a lot of time in the vineyards and the grapes dictate the style, not the other way around.

Grapes (minimal sulphites for stabilising) and love: the ingredients list is very simple. The grapes are not certified organic or biodynamic, but the vineyards are managed with best practices. These exciting wines are all vegan-friendly as they don’t fine the wines and they only filter to remove coarse sediments. All wines are spontaneously fermented with carefully applied temperature control. The wines are handcrafted using winemaking know-how and curiosity, with a minimal intervention approach.

Sustainability is a core value. The winery uses wastewater filters and has its own wastewater treatment plant. Catarina and David use non-chemical hot steam technology as well as lightweight Bordeaux bottles with natural cork closures and recycled cardboard boxes for all their packaging. Their approach to winemaking, and deep care of their environmental impact, pair wonderfully with their charisma, personality and a quirky equation that has bought these wines to the UK.

The wines

Viosinho Pet Nat 2022 – RRP £32

A skin-contact Pet Nat bursting with crisp citrus and orchard fruits

Arinto 2021 – RRP £30

A refined Arinto with green fruits, vibrancy and texture from lees ageing

Lili Cellar Dog Selection Tinto 2020 –RRP £25

A playful wine with fresh red berries, crisp acidity and some chocolatey richness

Senhor Rita Reserva Tinto 2020 –RRP £34

A concentrated 100% Castelão with deep, dark fruits, vibrant freshness and classic sappiness

Sponsored feature

+ love = wine + family. It’s an unusual equation, but an accurate one in the case of this unique urban winery

Over the weekend, while eating an Amazing Lunchwich of Epoisses, Piper’s black pepper crisps, tomato and mayonnaise, a small wizard came into the shop. I recognised him by his serene, knowing otherworldliness and nylon cape. His mother encouraged him to straighten the selling tray that had been hung around his neck.

What have you there, Wizard? I asked the wizard.

It’s his last wand, his mother – who the wizard had bewizarded into being his mouthpiece – answered.

O, I said, my eyes glowing with desire, do you, Wizard, not have full function of your jaw, tongue and vocal cords?

The small wizard relented somewhat and replied, I can see now you are one that sees the subtleties between the real and unreal, unlike most of these fucking sheeple. He opened his small hand and gracefully indicated the customers deciding between the sub-£12 Malbecs.

Thanks, Wizard, I said, although watch your mouth, your mother’s right behind you browsing the maple, brownie and bacon gateau sours. The wizard rolled his eyes.

29. A WORD WITH A WIZARD

Phoebe Weller of Valhalla’s Goat in Glasgow is enlightened by a visitation from a mystic, but he is no help at all in recovering her stolen mobile

and Tony have named our (unnecessarily) imaginary dog – what are the chances/I wonder where “she” got that idea/sarcasm is the lowest form of wit? Sometimes there is nothing better than marching through forests with a never-used lead shouting, Ripley! Ripley! Where are you, Ripley?

I ended up buying the wand from him as he said he had sold one to the woman in Napiers and I’m not being outmagicked by the woman in Napiers. We sell mind/body altering substances that actually work.

I appreciated the wizard’s recognition of my real/unreal perceptive capabilities because sometimes they can just be a drag. Not in the case of Ann’s imaginary friend Hilary, who has given her (necessarily) imaginary dog the same name that me

Draggier but delicately poised between real and not real and also making me feel both much more real and not real was the theft of mine and Pocket-Rocket Carla’s phones from the “shop kitchen”, aka the old and unused Growler Bar now home to the kettle, microwave and crusty condimentsetera shoved our way (special mention to the Propolis grains which have so far not adorned any corned-beef noodles).

I think someone’s nicked my phone, PockRock Carla said, and there they were on CCTV, thieves, casual as anything, slipping our shiny, cracked and not particularly functional devices into their pockets.

They’re at 256 Carmuddon Drive, I said to the police officer, based on P-R C’s admirable Nancy Drew sleuthing and Find my Phone application.

There was talk of us going round and demanding them back, I said to the police.

Mmm, the police said, inadvisable as they might well turn around and accuse you of misdemeanours at their property and you would be charged

Draggy, real and unreal.

In the non-draggy real/unreal camp was the evening where the osprey in my/ dad’s garden scooped wings glorious to his nest atop the Scots pine leaving a bolt and echoes of rainbows arching thickly over the sky. I scrabbled in my pockets for my phone but it was not there, being instead at 256 Carmuddon Drive. So I just looked at it happily and drank it, and my gin and tonic, in.

Wizards: serene and otherworldly, but also surprisingly sweary

Vallegre is owned by a family deeply rooted in the Douro region, so it’s no surprise that tradition is a major part of the company ethos.

But for Vallegre, progress and development are just as important as the traditions handed down from each generation. The company is thriving because it recognises the need to evolve and operate sustainably.

General manager Miguel Martins describes Vallegre as “familybased and modern”. He says the “dynamism, creativity and innovation” so integral to the company is achieved “without forgetting the knowledge passed on from generation to generation”.

Making wine since the 19th century, Vallegre is now a fifthgeneration family business, and its main focus continues to be the production of DOC wines, specifically DOC Porto, DOC Douro and DOC Moscatel do Douro. The wines are sold and enjoyed in almost 40 countries and have earned many trophies and accolades over the years and, although port is still its main output, its specialism in still wines continues to grow apace.

Vallegre comprises three estates in the heart of the Douro: Quinta da Vista Alegre in Pinhão, Quinta de Valle Longo in Cima Corgo and Quinta da Lameira in Baixo Corgo.

This is mountain viticulture at its best, so pruning and harvesting must be done by hand.

“It’s all about hard manual labour,” says Martins. “Our reward is the beautiful surroundings we enjoy every day.”

In a landscape that’s both magnificent and wildly challenging, it’s essential to operate sustainably.

The winery has put many water saving and collection measures in place in case irrigation ever becomes a necessity. Martins say he has never had to do this in the past, preferring to stress the vines. But the effects of climate change might one day force him and his team to think differently.

In addition to irrigation, planting of mixed leguminous seeds has already begun – a practice that improves the soil’s nutrient content and benefits pollinators.

Sustainable practices also include plans for the installation of solar panels, and a considerable reduction of plastic packaging in favour of cardboard, which in turn is chosen very carefully.

Waste products such as plastic, cardboard and glass are pressed in balers ready for a collection service, and changes have also been made to the bottling of the wines. Lighter glass bottles are now employed, more consideration is given to the type of paper used for labels, and logistics and transport have been optimised.

There is another issue that Vallegre is confident it can handle: attracting younger drinkers to the port category. “We recognise the need to captivate younger consumers and encourage them to start drinking port,” says Martins.

“I would suggest an attractive long drink, a white port and tonic for the summer. It is a less traditional form of drinking port wine, but it has proved to be popular because it is so refreshing.”

Vallegre is one of the most progressive wine producers in the Douro region, with a dedication to preserving the best traditions of this wild and challenging terroir. But it's also focused on innovation.

That's why sustainability is right at the top of its list of priorities

The Vallegre winemaking team, from left: César Pinacho, Miguel Martins and Fátima Lopes

APPLE, GIN & GINGER

Given its affinity with summer, it’s curious that the only time of year anyone does anything more interesting with cider than pour it into a glass is Christmas, when it competes with wine for mulling duties. But here’s a great, refreshing cider-inclusive drink to get behind through the summer months, while also providing something different to do with gin. Aim for a dry-ish cider to balance the sweetness of the ginger beer.

Flavours of Spain Portfolio Tasting

Producers from Galicia, Rioja, CastillaLa Mancha and Valencia, among other regions of Spain, will be showcasing their wares.

The emphasis will be on indigenous grapes and different methods of vinification.

For more information and to register, email anagomez@flavoursofspain.co.uk.

Monday, June 5

67 Pall Mall

London SW1Y 5ES

Tim Atkin 2023 Chile Tasting and Masterclass

This free-pour tasting will feature an array of wines that Atkin awarded 90 points or more in this years’s Chile Special Report.

50ml London Dry gin

50cl dry apple cider

Ginger beer

Fresh lemon juice

Put the gin, cider and a squeeze of lemon juice into a shaker with ice: shake gently. Pour into a chilled glass. Garnish with a slice of apple and a grating of nutmeg.

A masterclass starts at 3pm. Contact info@winesofchile.org.uk.

Monday, June 5

Asia House

63 New Cavendish Street

London W1G 7LP

Davy’s Portfolio Tasting

This year’s tasting will be focusing on producers that are exclusive to the London importer.

More than 25 winemakers from around the world will be attending, representing Hungary, South Africa and New Zealand, among other countries.

For more information and to register, contact info@davy.co.uk.

Tuesday, June 6

The Royal Over-Seas League

6 Park Place

St James’s Street

London SW1A 1LR

Loire Valley Wines Annual

Tasting

Twelve producers from the Loire Valley will be presenting a selection of wines from various appellations across this diverse region.

There will be the chance to taste from six categories: sparkling wines, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Muscadet, rosé and Cabernet Franc.

The event also includes a round-table discussion.

To take part in the tasting and for more information about the event, contact loirevalleywines.com.

Monday, June 12

Southwark Quarter

55 Southwark Street

London SE1 1RU

Sud de France/ Occitanie Tasting

The annual trade tasting for wines of the Occitanie region returns, with winemakers from across the south of France heading to London.

Twenty-seven producers will be present, pouring 300 wines that are seeking UK distribution.

Full details and registration are available from sebastien.duboullay@occitanielondon.com.

Tuesday, June 13

The Royal College of Surgeons

38-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields

London WC2A 3PE

Wines of Santorini London Showcase

Six Santorini winemakers will be in attendance to pour their PDO wines made from the Assyrtiko grape. A walk-around tasting will be followed by a sit-down food and wine pairing lunch.

Numbers are restricted. Contact alison@ dillonmorrall.com to register interest.

Wednesday, June 14

Vinoteca

Borough Yards

18 Stoney Street

London SE1 9AD

Picpoul de Pinet Trade Tasting

This event starts with a masterclass followed by a free-pour tasting to celebrate 10 years of this successful Languedoc appellation.

For more details about the event and

registration, contact mbourgeois@sopexa. com.

Monday, June 19

London venue TBC

Gonzalez Byass UK Portfolio Tasting

The Gonzalez Byass team return to taste old favourites and showcase what’s new in their portfolio of wines and spirits. For more information and to register, contact ejones@gonzalezbyassuk.com.

Tuesday, June 20

IET London

2 Savoy Place London WC2R 0BL

Wines of Greece Trade Tasting

Thirty-two Greek wineries will be travelling to the UK for tastings in London and Edinburgh.

The focus will primarily be on wines made with indigenous varieties including Assyrtiko, Malagousia, Roditis, Savatiano, Xinomavro, Agiorgitiko, Mavrodaphne and Liatiko.

Jamie Goode will be presenting masterclasses in Scotland.

For more information or to register for London, contact anny@westburycom. co.uk. For Scotland, contact diana@ wineeventsscotland.co.uk.

Monday, June 26

St John’s Church

73 Waterloo Road

London SE1 8TY

Wednesday, June 28

Assembly Rooms

54 George Street

Edinburgh EH2 2LR

Waddesdon Wine Collection Tasting

Wines from the extensive Waddesdon portfolio including Barons de Rothschild Lafite and Edmond de Rothschild Heritage, Penfolds, Henri Bourgeois, Hundred Acre and many more will take pride of place at this event.

Tasting highlights include the newly launched Anseillan 2019 from the Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite stable and the newly acquired Bannockburn producer Akarua.

For more information about the tasting and to register, contact marketing@ waddesdonwine.co.uk.

Tuesday, June 27

27 St James’s Place

London SW1A 1NR

Pair Assyrtiko with Greek goodies

Taste Greek wines on June 26 or 28

The division of our family business that’s focused on independents

LOUIS LATOUR AGENCIES

12-14

0207 409 7276

enquiries@louislatour.co.uk

www.louislatour.co.uk

Fresh new look for Champagne Gosset

In 2024, Champagne Gosset will have been in existence for an incredible 440 years and to celebrate this momentous milestone, the brand has revealed a refreshed look.

This is intended to honour its long history, in which Albert Gosset, (co-founder of Rochas perfume) played a big part. He was responsible for creating the brand’s signature “neck medallion” label, made to resemble jewellery, with a gold foil capsule which is a reference to the perfume industry.

This revamp has brought them back to their classic aesthetic, swapping silver for gold along with fashioning an all-new Gosset monogram.

Odilon de Varine, general manager and cellar master, said: “We wanted something warm instead of cold; silver no longer matched our identity. We’re only altering our external presentation. The wine itself remains the same.”

Arriving in the UK in mid May, Gosset’s new look will be available across the range. Please contact your Louis Latour

account manager for more information or contact sales@louislatour.co.uk.

Agencies

Photo: Gilles de Beauchêne

gonzalez byass uk

The Dutch Barn

Woodcock Hill

Coopers Green Lane

St Albans AL4 9HJ

01707 274790

info@gonzalezbyassuk.com www.gonzalezbyassuk.com

@gonzalezbyassuk

London NW1 8UR

0207 449 1665

orders@walkerwodehousewines.com www.walkerwodehousewines.com

@WalkerWodehouse

English wine producer Freedom of the Press has joined the Walker & Wodehouse portfolio. When Gavin Carver launched Freedom of the Press in early 2020, he couldn’t have known how the world would change in a few short weeks.

His original plan was to have an “urban winery” in Oxford, in a business style resembling a micro-brewery. However, the pandemic intervened, and now Freedom of the Press is based in an idyllic location on a hilltop in the Cotswolds, using grapes brought in from some top vineyards in Essex.

But the original goal remains the same: to make small batches of beautiful still wines from exquisite English grapes, bringing out the best in each wine.

Freedom of the Press joins Walker & Wodehouse

Right: Gavin Carver

vindependents

Jessica Hutchinson

jessica@vindependents.co.uk

www.vindependents.co.uk

@vindependents

Find out more about joining Vindependents

Why not come along and try our range for yourselves, meet fellow indies and find out how it all works. We offer:

• A superb selection of wines selected by Indies for Indies

• Great margins for you (min 40%)

• UK exclusivity (no more competing with online only and multiple retailers!)

• Own part of a highly successful business

• Benefit from fantastic rates on card processing, wine accessories, transit packaging and more…

“As a small independent we have found joining the Vindependents a positive and valuable experience. We have gained knowledge from other members who have years of industry experience, as well as a true sense of camaraderie and friendship amongst the group. As a business we have seen a growth in margins and a direct increase in sales of wines that are exclusive to the Vindependents and its members. We love the fact that we are able to offer our customers exceptional value wines that are sourced direct from an ever-increasing range of producers. Being a part-owner of Vindependents gives each individual member a voice in a growing business in an increasingly tough industry. For our business the Vindependents have been a huge success.” Chris & Gosia Bailey - Mr & Mrs Fine Wine - The Wine Bank

To find out more about membership and to register for our tasting contact louise@vindependents.co.uk | 0770 994 5016

hallgarten wines

Mulberry

sales@hnwines.co.uk

www.hnwines.co.uk

jeroboams trade

7-9 Elliott's Place London N1 8HX

020 7288 8888

sales@jeroboamstrade.co.uk

www.jeroboamstrade.co.uk

@jeroboamstrade

vintner systems

The computer system for drinks trade wholesalers and importers

16 Station Road Chesham HP5 1DH

sales@vintner.co.uk www.vintner.co.uk

BERKMANN wine cellars

104d St John Street

London EC1M 4EH

020 7609 4711

info@berkmann.co.uk

www.berkmann.co.uk

@berkmannwine

@berkmann_wine

buckingham schenk

Unit 5, The E Centre

Easthampstead Road

Bracknell RG12 1NF

01753 521336

info@buckingham-schenk.co.uk

www.buckingham-schenk.co.uk

@BuckSchenk

@buckinghamschenk

Campania is a territory rich in indigenous grape varieties which can produce some of the most unique Italian white wines. Made using native white varieties of Campania such as Falanghina, Coda di Volpe and Greco di Tufo, our Corte del Golfo wines are delightful examples of how good white from this area can be with intense fruit flavours and great minerality. The wines come in very eyecatching and unique labels, with bright colours and an artistic art deco feel.

Fells

Fells House, Station Road

Kings Langley WD4 8LH

01442 870 900

For more details about these wines and other wines from our awardwinning portfolio from some of the world’s leading wine producing families contact:

info@fells.co.uk www.fells.co.uk

@FellsWine

je_fells

richmond wine agencies The

Middlesex

020 8744 5550

info@richmondwineagencies.com

@richmondwineag1

We are pleased to announce a new range of premium South African wines added to our 2023 Portfolio: Doolhof Wine Estate.

Located in Wellington, north of Paarl, the valley is blessed with varied terroirs. The microclimates, growing conditions and soil types make it ideal for growing wine grapes.

The Estate lies between Bain’s Kloof and the Groenberg Mountain Range. The soils are finer, more balanced and deeper than in the surrounding countryside. Roots are able to descend four metres or beyond.

While Doolhof has more than adequate irrigation, natural water retention is also very good, without any sign of permanent dampness. While the topography of the Estate allows for several distinct microclimates, Doolhof generally experiences cooler winters and moderate summers compared with the Wellington norm.

Roughly 40 of the farm’s 380 hectares are planted to vine. Soils, growing conditions and microclimates vary considerably across this large expanse, and each grape variety is faithfully wedded to its ideal terroir.

Five wines are available: Single Vineyard Range; Single Vineyard Malbec 2020; Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2020. Limietberg Exclusives: Riviersteen Chenin Blanc 2018; Morestond Chardonnay 2018; Doolhof Malbec 2020.

Do visit us at The London Wine Fair on stand D58.

mentzendorff

The Woolyard

52 Bermondsey Street

London SE1 3UD

020 7840 3600

info@mentzendorff.co.uk

www.mentzendorff.co.uk

AWIN BARRATT SIEGEL WINE AGENCIES

28 Recreation Ground Road Stamford

Lincolnshire PE9 1EW 01780 755810

orders@abs.wine

www.abs.wine @ABSWines

Warmer weather calls for the Taylor’s and Croft Port & Tonic pre-mixed cans.

Read-to-drink cans providing a perfectly refreshing serve for this summer. Both cans are easy to carry, versatile and 100% recyclable.

Chill and enjoy straight from the can or serve over ice with a citrus slice or fresh berries.

Taylor’s Chip Dry & Tonic and Croft Pink & Tonic The Perfect Summer Serve For

We will also be introducing our new Spanish Rioja range from ZINIO Bodegas

See you there!

liberty wines

020 7720 5350 order@libertywines.co.uk

Two new Alentejo reds from Herdade do Peso

Situated in Vidigueira, one of the cooler Alentejo sub-regions, the Herdade do Peso estate features 160 hectares under vine (predominantly red varieties), an on-site reservoir that traps rainwater used for drip irrigation and olive groves with trees over 2,000 years old. The soils are predominantly limestone and much work has gone into a soil mapping project, which has identified 12 different soil types and matched varieties to specific plots.

In the new eco-friendly winery, the talented Luís Cabral de Almeida leads the winemaking team and is very involved with the management of the vineyards, believing that “the oenologist’s primary role is to interpret nature”. The resulting wines are exuberant and generous yet kept in balance by a refreshing acidity.

New to the range are the ‘Revelado’ 2019 and the ‘Parcelas’ 2018. The former is a ripe and juicy blend of Alicante Bouschet, Touriga Nacional and Syrah, aged for 12 months in French oak barriques (10% new), while the latter is the estate’s first single-varietal Alicante Bouschet, sourced from the clay-limestone Plot 21 in the ‘Vinha do Topo’ vineyard, which Luís deemed to be the best performing plot of the 2018 vintage. Aged for 12 months in 3,000-litre French oak ‘tonéis’ (50% new), it is a wine of great power, complexity, structure and length, with the characteristic dark fruit and earthy characteristics of this teinturier (red-fleshed) grape, known as Garnacha Tintorera in Spain.

• Exclusive to Independent Retailers.

• Premium Napa Valley and Sonoma Coast wines sourced from Duckhorn Portfolio estate fruit.

• Range includes a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley Red Wine blend & Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.

For details and availablity please contact Alastair Moss at Top Selection.

Q&A

Give us a Netflix recommendation. Ozark. But everyone has seen that. Just watched Maestro in Blue. The first Greek series to make it to Netflix.

Do you have any sporting loyalties?

Leeds United. God help me. I used to watch Leeds in the 70s when I lived in Harrogate. The football was great but the fans were horrific and there were fights everywhere. It was in the days of Billy Bremner, Peter Lorimer and Sniffer Clark. The violence usually started on the pitch! So I stopped. Haven’t been to see them since.

Who’s your favourite music artist?

So many. My first love was Bowie. Then I discovered The Ramones, The Clash and The Pistols. I have always loved Nile Rodgers, even when a punk. Bon Iver.

Who’s your favourite wine critic?

Olly Smith. I love Olly. He tastes brilliantly and has a rare talent of being able to describe the essence of a wine in a few words. He engages with people and gets them drinking and enjoying wine. He is also a great human being. Always positive and full of beans.

What’s your most treasured possession? My Ibanez Artist 1979 electric guitar. Given to me by my mum on my 21st birthday.

What’s your proudest moment?

Steve started at Martinez Fine Wines in Ilkley and joined Oddbins in 1987 as a trainee buyer. By the time he left in 2013, as buying and marketing director, he had helped the business win numerous awards and was instrumental in introducing Australian, Chilean and Greek wines to the UK market. He then set up Novum Wines, which became part of Hallgarten Druitt in 2010. He is now head of buying for the company.

What’s the first wine you remember drinking?

Apart from my mate’s dad’s homebrewed “Motor Scooter and Railing”, it was Michel Redde Pouilly-Fumé 1978.

What job would you be doing if you weren’t in the wine trade?

I would have loved to have been a rock star, but I am musically challenged. Or beach bum. I started my life as one and I am planning on being one again.

How do you relax?

Usually with a glass of wine. Anytime when I am in Greece. By playing the guitar very badly. Going to the gym.

What’s the best book you’ve read recently?

Lonely Boy by Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols. I tend not to read for pleasure; I’m dyslexic. I can’t believe how many people in the trade I have met that are. I think it has helped me in my job. I tend not to write notes, just the wine description and either an X for “don’t bother” or ticks from 1 to 5 if the wine is worthy, and a few bulletpoints. I think once you have committed something to writing your brain files it away. I like to keep the files open so I can remember the wines to compare and contrast in my head at any time. I don’t think it has held me back at all, although it might be a reason why I am so rubbish at languages. I wish I had been able to speak French in my early days in the trade.

The birth of my son and watching him develop into a wonderful human being.

What’s your biggest regret? No regrets.

Who’s your hero?

My dad. He was an honest, decent bloke. Taught me only to say something when I had something worthwhile to say; very Yorkshire. He was conscripted into the Second World War at 18 and recruited into the Reconnaissance Corps, apparently one of the forerunners of the SAS.

Any hidden talents?

No discernible talents at all.

What’s your favourite place in the UK? The Yorkshire Dales. But my favourite place anywhere is on a Greek beach in the summer.

If we could grant you one wish … Eternal youth.

“I think my dyslexia might have helped me in my job”

Steve Daniel Hallgarten & Novum Wines