The Wine Merchant issue 138

THE WINE MERCHANT.

An independent magazine for independent retailers Issue 138, August 2024

Indie heartlands targeted in Majestic expansion plan

Bullish chain says it’s aiming to open 50 stores at the rate of one a month, including smaller-format branches

Majestic is raising the stakes in specialist wine retailing with a major investment in new stores and refurbishments.

It opened in Brentwood in Essex and East Dulwich in south London in July, when it also unveiled refurbs at Bearsden in East Dunbartonshire and Stratford-upon-Avon.

East Dulwich clocks in at 3,900 sq ft and Brentwood 3,700 sq ft, in line with the company’s traditional warehouse model, but other recent openings have included smaller high street units in London and south east England.

The announcement of the investment package came soon after it published a list of 125 locations, which it said had the potential for Majestic sites, as it seeks to open 50 stores at the rate of one a month. It includes 13 potential relocations.

The list includes 41 locations within the M25 ring and 32 elsewhere in south east England.

There are 16 in south west England, 12 in eastern England, eight in the West Midlands, six in northern England, five in the East Midlands, three in Wales, one on the Isle of Man and Guernsey in the Channel Islands.

Many of the target locations are in places where independent wine merchants currently thrive.

Majestic opened its first Channel Islands store in Jersey in April, which it said put

The independent organisers of the first Sheffield Wine Week are so pleased with the reaction from the public that they're planning something even bigger and better next year. Story on page 26 and 27.

Dog of the month: Jasper Bottles Wine, Worcester

4 comings & GOINGS

Indies changing hands, indies expanding, indies saying goodbye

8 david perry

Why e-commerce isn’t always a viable option for small merchants

23 the burning question

What could the new government do to help independent traders?

28 merchant profile

Sean Welsh at Flourish & Prosper believes he is a benevolent dictator

34 the trade i'm leaving

As Graft’s Nik Darlington changes career, here’s his verdict on indies

39 FOCUS ON GIFTING

A four-page special on the options available to indies this Christmas

44 marking your territory

How much exclusivity can retailers expect from suppliers?

52 Buying trip to setubal

Another memorable visit to a fascinating corner of Portugal

79 Q&A: MICHAEL SAUNDERS

The Coterie Holdings front man succumbs to our questioning

Majestic aims to boost estate

90% of the UK population within 10 miles of a Majestic branch.

Chief executive John Colley said the investment programme “shows how serious we are about our commitment to bricks and mortar”.

The Majestic wish list

The company has its sights on openings in 50 of the following locations. Note: regions are Majestic’s own definitions. * denotes potential relocation

London: Belgravia; Belsize Park; Camberwell; Camden; Clerkenwell; Earlsfield; Farringdon; Hackney; Hampstead; Highgate; Islington*; Kensington/Chelsea; Kilburn; Ladbroke Grove; The Oval; Paddington; Pimlico; Primrose Hill; Putney*; Southbank;

Majestic is “serious about bricks and mortar”

Southwark; Southfields; Spitalfields; Wandsworth; Westbourne Grove; West Hampstead; Wimbledon*. Inside M25: Acton*; Banstead; Biggin Hill; Bushey; Ealing*; Epsom*; Harrow; Mill Hill; Pinner; Rickmansworth; Southgate; Staines; Stanmore; Watford. East: Bedford; Borehamwood; Cambridge; Elstree; Ely; Epping; Martlesham Heath; Radlett; Saffron Walden; St Ives; St Neots; Woodbridge. South east: Ashford, Kent; Brackley; Buckingham; Camberley; Caversham*; Chandler’s Ford; Chipping Norton; Chipping Sodbury; Crowborough; Eastbourne; Eastleigh; Fareham; Farnborough; Frimley; Heathfield; Hitchin; Horsham; Locks Heath; Letchworth; Maidstone; Oxted; Pangbourne*; Reading West*; Romsey; Thame; Towcester; Uckfield; Wallingford; Wantage; Whiteley; Woodstock; Worthing*. North: Durham; Isle of Man; Morpeth; Prestwich; Sandbach; Wetherby; Whitefield. South West: Bournemouth; Bristol*; Ferndown, Dorset; Gillingham, Dorset; Hayle; Kingsbridge; Launceston; Plymouth; Ringwood; Shaftesbury; Trowbridge; Truro; Wadebridge; Warminster; Wells; Wimborne Minster. East Midlands: Buxton; Melton Mowbray; Oadby; Oakham; Stamford. West Midlands: Bridgnorth; Bromsgrove; Kenilworth; Knowle; Malvern; Moseley; Solihull; south Coventry. Wales: Penarth; Swansea (Water Road)*; The Mumbles*. Channel Islands: Guernsey.

• We take a visit to Majestic’s small-format store in Crouch End, North London – see pages 18 and 19.

winemerchantmag.com 01323 871836 Socials: @WineMerchantMag Unit 45a Newhaven Enterprise Centre, Denton Island, Newhaven, East Sussex BN9

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

Admin and reader liaison: Charlotte Gingell charlotte@winemerchantmag.com

Bacchus

Dead but not buried

As customer requests go, “can I hold a memorial service and scatter my friend’s ashes in the garden of your wine bar?” is one of the most left-field. Yet indies are a community-spirited lot, and we suspect our home counties correspondent – nameless, at her request – was always going to be a soft touch. “I agreed, but didn’t expect quite so much ash all over the tables – lesson learned,” she tells us. “I can’t quite bring myself to wipe the ashes of one of my customers off the tables, so it had best rain soon.”

Join Marc’s club

Fresh from his first visit to The Wine Merchant’s favourite corner of Portugal, Marc Hough of Cork of the North was keen to share the delights of Moscatel de Setúbal with his Manchester clientele. This rich, racy and often marmalade-tinged fortified wine lends itself to all sorts of food matches. But Marc has found the king of them all in the form of Jacob’s Club – orange flavour, of course – and we’re told his customers wholeheartedly agree.

Bags for life

Top tip from winemaker Ana Varandas at Herdade de Espirra in Setúbal: old plastic plant pots, lined with (new) dog poo bags, make excellent tabletop spittoons. We can vouch for this, because we tested them.

Vino Vero goes up against big guns

Jaime and Holly Fernandez at Vino Vero are planning to open their second shop in Essex.

It’s been four years since the couple took over from previous owners Sam and Charlie Brown, who left the shop in Leighon-Sea to continue their wine adventures abroad.

The new shop, which Fernandez hopes will open in October, is in Thorpe Bay, about five miles to the east.

“There’s quite a big Majestic there,” he says, “and a Waitrose, so we can see that there is definitely a demand for wine in the area and we will provide a nice point of difference.”

Fernandez says a second shop was in the five-year business plan from the start. In fact the couple had earmarked the Thorpe Bay premises not long after they moved into the Leigh shop.

“Our two biggest things were to start the import company and have the second shop. We’ve been talking to the landlord there for ages, but it was held up by planning as they were trying to get permission to convert the flats above to residential and they didn’t want to let out the shop until the building work was complete.

“But it never got approved, so we got the green light about six months ago. We held on because it’s a really nice little area and a place we thought would really work.”

Fernandez says the second shop will carry the same branding and visuals as the original Vino Vero but the shop interior will be more “modern classic” than the natural wood vibe at Leigh. “It will all be geared towards organic and biodynamic wines,” he adds, “but with more of a push on classic regions, and then some quirky stuff that we’ve got as well.

“We’re always looking to expand our reach outside of Essex with the wines we import, but having that second shop

is definitely a good avenue to feed stock into. So all this will help with growing our import business too.”

• Brett Dawson’s Turton Wines business in Bolton is looking for a buyer. The sale includes the rear bar, The Slaughtered House, which opened in 2018. The freehold is available for £460,000 but a £30,000 annual rent is also an option. The sale is being handled by CoGoGo.

• Winyl in Manningtree, Essex, is on the market as owner Steve Tattam considers his options. The business, established in 2018, sells records as well as wine and has a neighbouring function room. The leasehold is being offered for £49,000 by Essex & Suffolk Business Sales.

Jaime Fernandez is opening a second store

All Good Beer buys Weino BIB

North London independent All Good Beer has opened a second shop following the purchase of nearby Weino BIB, established by Kirsty Tinkler in Dalston in 2016.

The Hackney Downs indie, which started out in 2019, was Tinkler’s preferred buyer and will continue her policy of offering wine on tap.

Tinkler is moving to South Africa with her partner, where she plans to make wine. She will be returning to the UK at least once a year to run Vessel, the sustainable wine fair she set up last year.

All Good Beer has been owned by Karen Millar and Linda Pace since 2023.

“Lately we’ve noticed a shift in our sales and wine is slowly overtaking beer in terms of popularity,” says Millar.

“Our range is vast and varied and, being in Hackney, the majority of our customers are keen to opt for something natural. Our best seller by the glass is an orange Gewürztraminer.

“We charge a flat-rate corkage of £12 to drink in, which allows punters to drink something very special for incredible value.”

Millar says the deal she struck with Tinkler was “serendipitous”.

“We had long-terms plans to expand but perhaps not quite so quickly,” she says. “I’ve known Kirsty for years, but it was a shared regular who mentioned to me that she was selling the business and asked if I’d be interested in taking it on. There were quite a few interested parties and Kirsty chose us, which is lovely.

“I’m very much aware of the great sense of community Kirsty has fostered during her tenure on Balls Pond Road and I want to ensure that her regulars still feel at home in this next incarnation. Still lots of wine by the glass and to take away, but we’ll definitely be adding draught beer and expanding the can selection for off-trade

and drinking in.”

She adds: “We currently offer refills for our wines on tap at Hackney Downs and plan to continue this in Dalston. Mindful consumerism when it comes to the environment is something we consider to be very important.”

Tinkler says: “I am selling up because my

partner got a dream job. She left over three months ago with our dog for Cape Town, where she is from, so I am excited to join them.

“I have recently completed a winemaking course at Plumpton College and am super excited to try my hand at winemaking.

Being able to sell the shop is facilitating this new adventure. I’ll be buying grapes and building over the next few years.”

She adds: “I’ve loved my life at Weino BIB; I feel super proud to have achieved the normalisation of posh natural box wine. That said, it is true that business is really hard at the moment and when this new opportunity knocked, I jumped.

“I intend to sell wine to the UK, possibly breaking my own rules on how far wine should travel, but hoping sea shipping and alternative formats will help me negate this.”

Kirsty Tinkler, who started Weino BIB in 2016, is off to South Africa to make wine

Karen Millar took over All Good Beer in 2023

Stone, Vine & Sun opens second site

Stone Vine & Sun has opened its second store after 22 years of trading, with a move into the former Wine Utopia shop in Stockbridge, Hampshire.

It’s the first new opening for Stone Vine & Sun since it was founded by Simon Taylor in 2002.

The Stockbridge site – which Wine Utopia vacated in April – is less than half an hour by road from the existing shop in Twyford, near Winchester.

Taylor is pleased that experienced Wine Utopia team members Fed Ferino and Kat Brown have joined the Stone Vine & Sun team.

“They’re great wine professionals and know the local customers,” he says.

“Our current shop is basically just a room at the front of a warehouse on a farm estate. It is pretty invisible. A few people find their way up there but it doesn’t feel ‘shoppy’.”

Taylor says Stockbridge felt like a nobrainer when the opportunity came up.

“Stockbridge is tiny in terms of population but it’s an historic market town,” he says. “It’s a destination for a lot of people. There are lots of independents, pubs, restaurants and hotels.

“It was easy to do because it was set up for a wine shop. You could ask why we’d want to take on a site where a wine merchant has failed but it’s very different if it’s the second outlet. It doesn’t need a separate website and there are so many other savings.

“We’ve got a warehouse full of wine 10

miles away, so it’s easy to top it up, and we can support it with staff from the existing business when people are on holiday.”

Taylor says he doesn’t expect any significant change in product mix at the new store. “It’s shop window for us as well as a shop,” he says. “We ship 90% of what we sell from about 85 estates around the world and try to avoid agents whenever possible.

“Our Italian portfolio grows by one or two estates every year, but France is really half our business and I don’t think that will be any different in Stockbridge.”

The new store opened in late July and has been well-received, says Taylor.

“The reaction from our existing customers has been very positive. It’s almost like they never thought we were a real wine merchant until we had a shop.

“It’s weirdly given us more credibility, which surprised me. If you have a high street presence people will take you more seriously.”

Bidding farewell to The Crafty Pint

West Sussex beer, cider and wine shop

The Crafty Pint has closed.

Owner Andrew Chiverton has stepped back from the business in Midhurst for health reasons to coincide with the lease coming up for renewal.

Chiverton opened The Crafty Pint in 2014 after a career running local pubs and the county’s Cowdray Farm Shop.

“It has been a bit quieter in recent years as a result of the economy and Covid,” he says. “People have changed their habits. It’s picking up and been busier lately but not quite enough for me to get somebody else in to look after it.”

He will leave with fond memories. “I’ve absolutely loved every minute of it,” he says. “The interaction with suppliers, customers and everybody else involved has been great, but the time has come.”

The Stockbridge branch was once a Wine Utopia store

Taylor:”It’s weirdly given us more credibility”

The Isle of Wight business is thought to be one of a kind in the UK

Where haircuts and wine collide

Any business owner looking for a change of pace or direction might want to consider an unusual proposition on the Isle of Wight.

The Yarmouth Barbers & Connoisseurs is a hybrid with a difference, combining a classy gentlemen’s grooming parlour with a fine wine and malt whisky shop. It also sells cigars, hats from St James’s milliner Lock & Co, luxury leather goods, Mont Blanc pens, Waterford crystal, Gucci and Ray-Ban sunglasses and range of other upmarket gifts for men.

Owners Melanie and Ed Panek are selling their portfolio of local businesses one by one because of family health issues.

Melanie is from Washington DC and Ed from New York. The couple moved to the UK three decades ago and have been based on the Isle of Wight for the past 23.

“I always wanted a wine shop,” says Melanie. “We love great wine and single malts, but when we first moved down here we couldn’t get good wine in west Wight.”

The couple have already sold one of Yarmouth’s best restaurants, and a deli close to the barbers/wine shop is under offer.

“The coolest business is this one,” says Melanie. “When we bought it there was a covenant on the unit stipulating that it must always be a barber or a hairdresser but we’ve since had that changed.”

That gives wine merchants the option to convert to a more conventional retail format if they wish – but for the adventurous, the sinks, mirrors, two vintage barber’s chairs and a bunch of other items of antique furniture are all included.

The business is currently between barbers after the last incumbent retired, so one would need to be recruited.

“It’s a really cute shop, right on the main market square in Yarmouth, which is only

three blocks by three blocks,” says Melanie. “It’s really small, spectacularly beautiful and in a conservation area. You can’t have Starbucks or any chains there, and you can’t build.

“It would be doing it a disservice to say it’s just a barber’s shop. It’s a gentlemen’s shop with two barber’s chairs. It’s experiential: you feel like you’re in a club in Pall Mall or something.

“Customers can order drinks while they sit in the chair. They can even start a whole bottle and leave with it.”

The shop hosts private tastings and has function spaces that offer the potential to expand this aspect of the business, Melanie says.

“Revenue has exceeded £100,000 for the last couple of years,” Melanie adds. “Since March we’ve been running £1,500 of revenue from only being open two days a week, which is fine, but having tons of people coming through the barbering business is where the steady cash flow is.

“The only reason we haven’t gone out aggressively to find another barber is because we were going to sell.”

She adds: “Not one customer has come in and said they’ve been to another business like this in the whole country, and that’s really flattering.”

The business is being marketed by agent Spence Willard but anyone interested is asked to contact Melaine in the first instance at theyarmouthconnoisseurs@ gmail.com.

• Kimchi’s Bottle Shop in Hackney has closed. Maria Viviani and her partner Alex Reynolds set up their restaurant Eline in October 2022, and Kimchi’s was the on-site wine shop. A message on Eline’s social media page reads: “Our beautiful restaurant has permanently shut its doors. We tried to make something special here and we hope that some of that came through when you came to dine. Thanks to our devout regulars, our wonderful suppliers and our fantastic team. It’s been a joy serving you.”

Vins du Médoc will be rolling out its exciting new Upgrade the Moment with Médoc Wines initiative, part of its inaugural #jointhemédoccrew campaign, in the UK this autumn.

Showcasing the unexpected diversity that Médoc has to offer to a new generation, the campaign aims to highlight how the region’s wines can upgrade any moment, whether it’s alongside a curry on a Friday night or a slice of pizza with friends. Following an ongoing, successful digital campaign in June, which has already exceeded expectations with over 1.6 million impressions, this second burst of activity will include Médoc’s first promotion for indies this October.

Located on Bordeaux’s world-famous Left Bank, Médoc is home to many of the region’s most illustrious châteaux but it offers so much more: a wealth of superb wines to suit all palates, budgets and occasions is waiting to be discovered thanks to its unique terroir and expertise.

Vins du Médoc is excited to be bringing the incredible and surprising diversity of Médoc wines to the fore, showing both the trade and consumers how a bottle of wine from Médoc can make any moment, however informal, memorable.

For two weeks in October, 10 independent retailers in London, and several online partners, will run promotions. The in-store activations will include one tasting showcasing at least four Médoc wines from at least four different AOCs to highlight the breadth of styles.

As well as eye-catching POS including posters, stickers and stoppers to decorate shops and branded paper to wrap bottles, Vins du Médoc has also created a range of digital assets including gifs and video content to help merchants maximise their promotions, boost sales and make sure that Médoc is front of mind. There’s even an opportunity to win a weekend for two at La Vie de Château en Médoc, which consumers can enter by scanning the dedicated QR code on its social media channels and its wrapping paper when they buy a bottle of Médoc wine.

The initiative will be supported by a geotargeted digital influencer campaign that will help drive customers to stores.

Want to get involved? There are still a couple of spots left. Please contact teambordeaux@cubecom.co.uk.

Upgrade the Moment with Médoc

With an ever-growing focus on diversity, sustainability and accessibility, many estates and winemakers in Médoc are creating smooth, easy-drinking red wines that are ready to enjoy now – and this new trend is at the heart of the region’s new Upgrade the Moment campaign.

du Médoc

DAVID PERRY

Irregular Thoughts

We’re not really bad at web sales. But no, we don’t deliver to Dull-in-the-Wolds

Almost every day I get an email telling me our shop website is rubbish and, for a consideration, they could make it work so much harder for us.

I think our website is pretty good, considering how old its design is. My daughter and co-owner, Alice, is a techy copywriter on her days off, so we still tend to do quite well when it comes SEO. The major problem is we never get time to update the listings. The WordPress template it’s built on is capable of doing ecommerce but we keep that bit switched off for, I like to think, many good reasons.

The young man who produced our website told me we should go full-on ecommerce because that was what he was into. My main issue was not having real-time inventory. Someone in London orders 12 bottles of something, pays for it, and expects it to be Deliverood to them the next day at the latest. If I only have 11 left, I have to order 15 dozen, which takes at least three days anyway. He had a simple solution: I should ringfence specific stock, separate to the retail stock, and count it down either manually or via the website as it sells. That way I can display how much is available. OK. So what he was proposing was a separate route to market, serving different customers, with different stock, stored separately. Isn’t that a whole different business, running parallel to the retail business? (Yes, it is.) I only just manage to

run one business. I don’t want another one. We do get the occasional request to send some stuff out. It usually starts with a telephone call saying that they have found what they want on the website but can’t find the button they press to pay and have it immediately delivered. I have to explain that there isn’t one.

On other occasions we get a long series of emails. Do you have such and such? We do. Can I have six? You can. Do you deliver to Dull-in-the-Wolds? We don’t. Can you post it? After a fashion and at a cost, yes. How do I pay? You can ring with a card like a normal person or I’ll email you an invoice for a bank transfer.

We sometimes also get asked by actual in-person customers if we can post a bottle to Aunty Maude in Much Sighing. In that instance I point them to the post office almost next door and explain that I can, but it would be less expensive for them if they did it themselves. At least 20% less, as there is no VAT on postage. But if I charge them for doing it, I have to add VAT.

Because we don’t send much out, we don’t have a courier contract, but one of our local importers does. He delivers to us most Wednesdays and is happy to collect parcels and send them out for us. I pack the order up in whatever I can find and more often than not it arrives at its destination eventually and mostly intact.

Another huge obstacle for us is packaging. We really struggle for space

already and if I cleared out the shed and filled it with transit packs there is no guarantee that Ratty McRatface and family wouldn’t use it as nesting material. So we recycle old boxes – not ideal, but it saves on space.

Someone once got really stroppy when we were reluctant to send a case of expensive Napa Cabernet to his remote Scottish estate (we had had it for a while, so it was now a competitive price for an increasingly rare vintage). He arranged his own online courier, but when I later tried out the same website I was told they excluded glass, so he must have falsified the description of contents. For extra safety, I filled the box with hundreds of thousands of small polystyrene beads. I like to imagine he’s still finding them now, or his housekeeper is at least.

Despite all that, we do still occasionally send stuff out. Last week we sent a parcel of six whites and six rosés. The rosé was Château Paquette (Daniel Lambert Wines) which had just won the IWC Trophy for Best Provence Rosé. I tasted it last year with Elizabeth Gabay MW and we agreed it was rather good. We ordered some and listed it on the website, diligently including its abv of 12.5%. After the parcel arrived safely, we got an email complaining that the rosé we sent was too strong. This year’s stock declares 13.3%, apparently. What’s the problem? His wife doesn’t drink anything over 13% and the website says 12.5%. Does it? Well, that is easily changed – or we could just unplug it.

Another recent dispatch was six magnums of claret. They were packed in a box that had safely carried them from France to Shaftesbury via Tilbury, but failed to make the final step from here to Hampshire. I got a phone call asking if I had meant to only send five and why were they a bit damp and covered in shards of glass? A replacement was sent by post and we probably just about broke even. Next time I might explain why we don’t do on-trade. Now get orf moi laand!

David Perry is the owner of Shaftesbury Wines in Dorset

Serodes & Kovac Vallée des Aigles Cazot Blanc 2022

Highly commended in this year’s Wine Merchant Top 100, this beguiling blend of Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris and Vermentino has an enchanting muskiness on the nose that might feel more Greek than southern French. It’s alive with exotic fruit, with an energetic acidity underpinned by a warm, silky mouth feel.

RRP: £19.25 ABV: 12.5%

Ucopia Wines (01435 517080) ucopiawines.co.uk TRIED & TESTED

Caliterra Tributo Gran Reserva Carménère 2022

Caliterra’s new packaging – lightweight bottle, recycled paper, funky artwork – is so much nicer than the rather boring and straight-laced imagery it replaces. Appropriate, because these wines are about happy informality, none more so than this juicy, violet and chocolate-tinged people pleaser.

RRP: £14.92 ABV: 13.5%

Hatch Mansfield (01344 871800) hatchmansfield.com

Domaine du Salvard Cheverny 2022

Made by a sixth-generation producer which works in a pretty-much organic way, this blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay is one of those unpretentious, summery reds that glides down all too easily but really deserves a few moments of reflection. Gentle red fruit, punchy acidity and earthy undertones: châpeau

RRP: £16.70 ABV: 12.5%

Les Caves de Pyrene (01483 538820) lescaves.co.uk

Tabali Talinay Chardonnay 2021

Limarí Chardonnay really shouldn’t have to convince anybody about its claims to greatness, but this is a wine that could do the honours if ever the need arises. Chalky soil, mountain elevation and Pacific breezes all provide the basics that Felipe Müller needs to create a wine with the bracing zippiness of a good Chablis and just the right balance of new world generosity.

RRP: £21.49 ABV: 13%

Boutinot (0161 908 1300) boutinot.com

Garage Wine Co Pirque Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2018

Derek Mossman Knapp loves to plough his own furrow in Chile and this take on Cabernet Franc, from high in the Andean foothills in Maipo, is characteristically idiosyncratic. He’s gone for an intense style, so savoury you could say it’s slightly bitter, with ripe black fruit and squeezing tannins.

RRP: £38.50 ABV: 14% Jascots (020 8965 2000) jascots.co.uk

Pedemontis Arajs Roero Arneis 2021

Another highly commended Top 100 wine, from a small eco-friendly estate in Piedmont where donkeys roam free, feasting on wild grasses and providing fertiliser in return. Pedemontis is rooting for Arneis despite its sometimes disappointing yields: this aromatic, bracing and honey-tinged wine certainly justifies its faith.

RRP: £22.49 ABV: 13.5%

Hallgarten & Novum Wines (01582 722 538) hnwines.co.uk

Nuit de Lumières Petit Verdot Réserve 2023

We can only hope that Languedoc winemaker Philippe Lebrun has done his sums correctly because this seems like an awful lot of wine for under 10 quid. He’s judiciously sourced fruit from hither, sometimes thither, and created a sumptuous, plummy but lightfooted red with hints of spices and bayleaf.

RRP: £9.99 ABV: 12.5% Cachet Wine (01482 638888) cachetwine.co.uk

Domaine of the Bee Les Genoux Maury Sec 2022

Justin Howard-Sneyd’s loveable Roussillon project normally focuses on more affordable options than this single-vineyard wine, only made in the best years. A gorgeous, garriguey blend of Grenache Noir, Gris and Blanc, plus Carignan, it’s worth every penny for its understated but intricate blend of herbs and fruit.

RRP: £50 ABV: 13.5%

Domaine of the Bee (020 8274 8980) domaineofthebee.com

Rising Stars

Armed with a degree in marine and natural history photography, a career in the wine trade wasn’t originally on the agenda for Jon Wigmore, but he’s far from adrift at Constantine Stores in Cornwall.

Brothers Andrew and Mark Rowe are the second generation of the family-run business which has almost reached its seventh decade. “My father Ivan started the business 68 years ago,” explains Andrew.

“It’s run by me and my brother now and Jon is an integral part of that. He’s been great for our business because he’s really keen and interested to learn. We’ve passed as much on to him as we can, but the wines and spirits world is changing every day, so it’s down to his own initiative and willingness to teach himself.”

The business was a very early adopter of ecommerce with its first website going online in 2000. Trading under the name Drink Finder, the online side of the business is huge and is still run from the original site at Falmouth. “From the outside we look just like a normal village store,” Andrew says. “But over the years we’ve had about five extensions out the back. We have about 6,000 lines on display and 1,000 different whiskies.”

It was a part-time packing job to fulfil those internet orders that first brought Jon to the business eight years ago. “Initially I don’t think he was looking to stay, but you know the love of working with wine … and a role came up for a marketing job and he’s progressed from there,” says Andrew. “He’s implemented quite a few changes on our website and he gives us fresh ideas for the business.”

Jon admits he was “more of a rum person” when he first joined the company, but that changed pretty quickly. “It was very early on in my time here,” he remembers. “I was invited to a wine tasting with a supplier and I sampled the wine and … ping! what is that? It was white Burgundy, and like nothing I’d ever tasted before.”

Tastebuds duly tantalised, he has since completed his WSET Level 3 and his most recent family holiday was spent travelling through the Loire and St Émilion in his campervan visiting vineyards.

“We’re a small team,” says Jon, “and as such we all wear different hats at different hours of the day, so my job can be anything from making orders up,

dealing with trade customers, wine lists, finding new products, working on the website, writing newsletters etc.

“Probably my favourite part of the job is finding new products – say, if we notice a trend or we get a request for something new. I brought Nc’Nean whisky to the attention of the directors in the early days and I was very happy when it turned out to be our number one best-selling whisky in volume for two Christmases in a row.

“I’m very fortunate to be able to work with autonomy within a business that’s built such a great reputation. It doesn’t matter where you go, someone will say, ‘oh, I know that shop’. In fact, when I was on a campsite in France last week chatting to someone about wine, they said they’d shopped with us. So you can be in the middle of France, on a farm, and somebody knows where you are coming from.”

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

SEMINARS

“How to create the ultimate Rioja wine list” with Stuart Skea

“Beyond the Classics” with Sarah Jane Evans MW

DATE

BastiaN Fischer

Commercial and business development manager, The Good Wine Shop, south west London

What do you find most interesting and exciting about Bordeaux wine?

There is a lot happening within the region as a whole. The shift to more sustainable and organic farming practices, as well as innovative winemaking to adapt to the challenges of climate change, are certainly two trends I follow with great interest. The continuous use and development of technology and how it gets deployed in every aspect, from vineyard to sale in Bordeaux and beyond, is another aspect I follow with keen interest.

What kind of activities did you organise for Bordeaux Wine Month?

Last year, we poured a variety of Bordeaux wines by the glass across our in-store wine bars, which were really well received. The white wines and Crémants, in particular, were a great hit with customers. We also offered a variety of free in-store customer tastings, which we call Barrel Pours, to showcase a diverse range of wines from the region. Our team hosted tastings for those interested in diving deeper into the land, its people and their wines.

How big is your Bordeaux range and what styles of wine sell best?

Our Bordeaux range fluctuates seasonally between 60 and 75 listings. Reds from the region make up the largest share of regional sales, followed by sparkling and white wines.

Boost your sales by participating in Bordeaux Wine Month, an activation designed specifically for independent wine merchants.

Now in its seventh year, Bordeaux Wine Month attracted over 115 independent wine merchants in 2024, with retailers running activities throughout September.

It’s free to take part. Participants receive an eye-catching merchandising pack, attractive digital assets to use across social platforms and a contribution to cover any expenses. The best campaign will win a trip to Bordeaux.

Want to join us next year? Contact teambordeaux@cubecom.co.uk

Here we feature the experiences of two wine merchants who participated in Bordeaux Wine Month 2023 to boost their business, attract new customers, and drive sales.

Do you think consumers are discovering that there's far more to Bordeaux than the world-famous châteaux?

Yes, definitely. There is so much value in Bordeaux, with great wines made by a diverse range of growers in both traditional and lesser-known parts of the region. Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux and Fronsac feel like less explored lands, offering superb quality at very accessible price points. Wines from these areas have become firm customer favourites in our shops.

NathaN Moss

Marketing and administration manager, Wine Poole, Warwick

What excites you most about Bordeaux wine at the moment?

New and more commercially viable white and rosé wines coming out of the region. It’s no longer just for red wines!

How did you engage with Bordeaux Wine Month in 2023?

We did mixed cases, a tasting at a restaurant and Zoom tastings. Tastings are the best way to get people to engage with

Bordeaux wines as many of them need a hand sell.

What does the Wine Poole Bordeaux range look like?

We have circa 50 Bordeaux wines in stock and we sell well across the range, but red sells the best.

Are consumers opening their minds to the breadth of Bordeaux’s offer?

I think so but it’s taking time. People see Bordeaux as a treat or special occasion wine and don’t look to the region for more everyday drinking. Bordeaux produces great wine at entry level.

Published in association with Wines of Bordeaux

COMING DOWN THE LINE

By WSTA chief executive Miles Beale

New ministers, new lobbying potential

With a new government in place there are fresh opportunities to educate and influence new ministers. The WSTA has launched a Government Hub on its website to provide members with the headline briefings on the new government and offer all necessary tools to encourage members to contact their new MP, via constituency offices, and invite them to visit, particularly over recess in August.

If you aren’t already a WSTA member we’d first invite you to get in touch, but would also hope that all indie merchants are reaching out to their MPs to bring them up to speed on why it is so important to make the easement for wine duty permanent. The WSTA has been hard at work writing to ministers and officials to ensure they are fully briefed on the campaign. We can still make a difference, and the more united the sector is, the more likely we are to get the right result.

Keep on pushing for EPR delay

The earlier-than-expected election meant a failure to secure critical legislation to simplify Extended Producer Responsibility which, together with the delay in announcing indicative producers’ fees, means businesses cannot plan for October 2025 implementation. The only sensible solution is to delay the introduction of EPR – which is one of WSTA’s urgent asks of the new Labour administration. This is also something we urge you to bring up when engaging with your local MP.

Border control update

The WSTA carried out a research study to find out what complexities and costs were being experienced by traders following the introduction of new border processes in 2021. Wine merchants may have been experiencing more complexity and expense, but the research showed a more stable and predictable service. The findings revealed a “new normal”, but clarity is still proving difficult, especially in the varying interpretations of the rules across the EU27 markets.

HMRC initiatives to simplify and streamline border and excise processes are wide-ranging – and very welcome. The improvements will take some time to introduce. HMRC seems to have the time and resources now to carry out audits of movements from three years prior, so it is essential to keep accurate records and to be able to show traceability.

Find out more at wsta.co.uk

Crouch End is one of those parts of London sometimes lazily described as “leafy”: off the Tube grid, treelined streets, well-off but not too well-off. It’s also got that “villagey” feel that the inhabitants of the capital’s comfier suburbs like to ascribe to their areas. Waterstones, Superdrug and Costa are on the vibrant main road, but the back streets are the sort of place you’ll find an urban farm shop, a wellbeing boutique or a dog spa.

One of the latest additions to Crouch End’s main drag is a new branch of Majestic, with one of three stores trading under a new smaller wine shop format. The others are in Harpenden in Hertfordshire and Marlow, Buckinghamshire.

To give a sense of scale, the Marlow store clocks in at around 2,200 sq ft, roughly half the size of a normal Majestic warehouse.

Despite the reduction in size from the standard warehouse format, the look, layout and product range at Crouch End will be familiar to anyone who’s visited one of Majestic’s bigger stores in the past couple of years.

It’s large enough to push a shopping trolley around but small enough never to be out of reach of the counter should a customer have a query. Entry is via a security buzzer.

There’s chargeable parking right outside the door but a quick ticketless run-in should be possible for anyone keeping an eye out for wardens through the large front windows. Demand for parking seemed light enough during the middle of the day that securing a space wouldn’t be a problem.

Crowd-pleasing wines pay the way for more esoteric members of the line-up. A spot-count identified upwards of 30 New Zealand Sauvignons and 26-plus Argentine Malbecs (specific wines, not SKUs). The former cover a spread from The Ned at £9.99, as part of Majestic’s six-bottle mixed case deal, to £31.99 for Cloudy Bay (£37.99 for a single bottle).

But there’s also an “off the beaten track” fixture, featuring a mix of wines from

So, what exactly

There’s a renewed bullishness at the chain, retail park locations. Should indies be concerned? of three small-format trial stores, to see what

Alsace, Germany, Greece, Romania, Austria, Hungary, Lebanon and still wines from England.

There’s also a significant fine wine selection that tops out at just short of £100. Orange wines had a prominent position in the window display when we visited, alongside more obvious cash cows such as Villa Maria and Waimea Sauvignons.

The style and content of Majestic’s smaller format is of more than academic interest. The retailer has significant expansion plans which could increasingly see the chain impinge on the high street catchment areas of independents.

The Crouch End branch is less than half

Hot topics that could impact independent wine merchants

exactly is Majestic up to?

chain, with the owners homing in on high streets as well as the more familiar concerned? Nigel Huddleston pays a visit to the Crouch End branch, one what the competition could look like

a mile from one of the four shops operated by London indie Bottle Apostle.

Although Majestic has publicly stated that it would prefer new openings to follow the traditional warehouse format, it will settle for smaller sites where larger ones aren’t available, or where there’s some other compelling local reason.

Majestic has identified 125 possible locations in which it could fulfil its plan to add 50 stores at the rate of one a month – which works out at just over four years –and many of those have the potential to be in areas similar to Crouch End.

The chain says that 90% of the UK population now lives within 10 miles of a store.

Historically, Majestic’s model for new

locations was derelict cinemas and vacant car showrooms, but such sites are in finite supply and the spec has shifted in recent years towards inner ring-type retail parks.

More conventional high street locations and the smaller format provide flexibility in its portfolio and, possibly in some cases, the opportunity to hit an optimum population base at cheaper rents than it could at bigger sites. They also put Majestic further into the orbit of the Q-commerce world of Uber Eats and Deliveroo.

The Crouch End store has an Uber Eats menu for a broad range of products for single-bottle purchase.

Case sales from larger sites have historically been fulfilled by Majestic staff from the nearest store using the company

van, but the likes of Uber Eats – and Deliveroo, which Majestic also works with –will reduce the workload of staff and make fulfilment of smaller orders more efficient.

Increasingly, local delivery seems to be on the Majestic radar. A recent deal with on-demand delivery firm Gophr extended same-day delivery to larger orders as well, taking pressure off the Majestic van fleet.

Gophr will also handle on-trade deliveries to Majestic Commercial customers and be used to ramp up capacity for retail orders at busy times such as Christmas and during major sports events, or to provide cover for staff sickness or annual leave.

One aspect that hasn’t been incorporated into the new smaller Majestic format is any sort of hybrid offer, widely considered to be a necessity by many independents in similar locations to sustain a viable business.

Vagabond, the chain of nine bar-led hybrids bought out of administration by Majestic in April, may prove to be the inspiration for the company in this area in the future.

While the arrival of a Majestic nearby can be concerning for independents, close proximity needn’t be fatal. Over the years, some independents who’ve seen Majestic move into their neighbourhood have related how it’s energised their own business by unleashing a wave of fierce loyalty from customers who don’t like to see a familiar favourite under threat.

Others have taken the pragmatic view that an independent’s customers will be inherently adventurous and/or promiscuous in their shopping habits and shop with both them and Majestic – among others.

Locations where Majestic sees strong enough demand for quality wine are often those where the pool of customers is big enough for more than one type of specialist wine retailer.

YOU AGAIN!

customers we could do without

QUIZ TIME

I probably won’t be in when you deliver, I’ll be in Bristol recording the third episode of my male wellness podcast, The Serenity of the Warrior, but Dave, three doors down, should be in and can take the boxes … I know I’m number 10, but he’s actually number 18 because it’s technically a different street … his doorbell doesn’t work so bang hard on the knocker, and if there’s no reply try his side gate, which is the small green one on the right and not the big yellow one on the left … walk down the passage and you’ll see some bins, then an old greenhouse … if there’s not enough room in there, move the kids’ bikes out of the shed and make some space, but if the Dawes racer is there for god’s sake don’t touch that … you’ll have to leave the wine with Helen, she’s in the top floor flat that you can only reach from the fire escape, which can be a bit slippy … the code for her porch is 1234 but you need to put all your weight against the door and give it a bit of a kick … leave a note in big letters saying something like “Jimbo’s Wine, Do Not Touch!!!” and she’ll know what it’s all about … though I have a feeling she may have moved, in which case …

1. Arrange these Loire appellations from west to east: (a) Sancerre (b) Chinon (c) Anjou-Saumur

2. The photograph below was taken in a winery. What does it depict? (a) Yeast (b) Tartrates (c) Lees?

3. In which city does the Vinitaly wine show take place?

4. Which of these suppliers is oldest: Boutinot, Alliance Wine or Liberty Wines?

5. Mr and Mrs Sadie are a Swartland winemaking team, preferring to use their first names on their labels. What are those names?

Answers on page 38

60. James Ardmann-Smythe NOT

In a nutshell: Rather than saying yes to every charitable cause that comes your way, picking one to focus your efforts on throughout the year can prove to be more motivating.

Tell us more.

“We do get asked to help out with a lot of different charities and so we’d have managers asking, can we support this or that? We just thought it would be a lot easier for everybody if we had clear parameters to work with, so about five years ago we adopted the policy of choosing a different charity, sometimes two, to partner with each year.”

How do you select which charity to support?

“We put a poll out to the whole team and ask for suggestions. We try and pick things that align with who we are as a company. Last year we supported two charities. One was Manchester Cares, which works to combat loneliness or isolation, so it arranges events to bring people together and socialise. We loved that as such a big part of our business is about connectivity.

“The other charity we worked with was to provide boilers for homes. The energy crisis was looming large, and so this was a simple message, with tangible results, and it was easy for everyone to get behind. We knew that we had to raise £800 for each boiler and we committed to buying a boiler a month.”

58: Pick an annual charity

Kate Goodman Reserve Wines, Manchester

Your charity for this year is Eat Well MCR.

“It’s a collective of Manchester-based chefs that provide meals to people living in challenging circumstances. It partners with grassroots organisations, delivering meals to families experiencing homelessness, women taking refuge, parents of children staying in hospitals and schools supporting families affected by food poverty. So it’s a brilliant charity that’s local to us and it’s hospitality-based.”

This brings us to your latest fundraising adventure …

“A team of us did the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge in June. We set off in our cars from Manchester at 4am, started walking at 6.30am and didn’t finish until 7.30pm. A total of 63,000 steps! It was harder than I anticipated but everyone just displayed great team spirit and it was brilliant from that perspective. When you see people in a challenging environment, I think that’s when you really see what people are made of. We had to dig deep but the support we

gave each other was amazing. I was just so proud of everybody.”

How much money have you raised so far?

“The Three Peaks fundraiser page is still open as there are still some donations trickling in, but right now we are at just over £4,300. Each of our shops will also be holding tasting events over the coming months and the funds raised will also go to Eat Well MCR.”

Does it make it easier all round to have this focus?

“Each of our shops is very much part of the local community, so we do get schools come in and ask for raffle prizes and our site managers do have a bit of room there to donate for those kinds of things. But if we get a big request, it does make it easier for the team to say that we have a chosen charity for the year, and they can send us information about their organisation for us to put it in the pot for consideration next year.”

Kate wins a WBC gift box containing some premium drinks and a box of chocolates.

Tell us about a bright idea that’s worked for you and you too could win a prize.

Email claire@winemerchantmag.com

Favourite Things

Sue Kelly Bonjour Wines Tarporley, Cheshire

Favourite wine on my list

Rubicon is currently top of my list. It has lovely deep notes from the South African Stellenbosch region. This choice is a new one for me as I’m usually a staunch Rioja girl, but this is just as deep and a lovely change.

Favourite wine and food match

I would choose Comte cheese and a bottle of Ondarre Rioja Reserva on any occasion. This hard nutty cheese makes the roof of your mouth beat, whilst it awaits the wonderful oakaged Spanish delight. It brings the best of France and Spain together.

Favourite wine trip

I love visiting Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It’s just a super little village with such a mass of vineyards and tasting opportunities, along with shops sharing their French cheese delights.

Favourite wine trade person

We love Tanners who are always so helpful and supportive. They do wonderful tasting evenings for us at Bonjour, which are really enjoyable.

Favourite wine shop

DeFINE Food & Wine are great. They’re just a bigger version of us but with a wider selection. They have a lovely menu too!

Gusbourne is latest to consider a sale

English winemaker Gusbourne has effectively been put up for sale.

Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft, who owns a 67% stake in the business, has told the board he wants to “explore various strategic options for his shareholding”.

Ashcroft said: “I am flexible as to the outcome. It may be a sale. It may be a strategic merger with a similar company.”

The announcement comes weeks after sparkling wine rival Chapel Down revealed it was also considering a sale.

Chapel Down, which is Britain’s biggest wine producer, said it was kicking off a strategic review as it tries to meet the booming demand for English fizz.

This is Money, July 23

“Strategic merger” could be an option

American wine group in trouble

US wine group Vintage Wine Estates has filed for bankruptcy and is to voluntarily delist its common stock after failing to pay off $60.5m in debt.

The company plans to sell “all or substantially all” of its assets and said it had already received “multiple preliminary indications of interest” from buyers. Just Drinks, July 24

Still too many Bordeaux vines

Poor weather has hampered winemakers’ efforts to uproot vines this year as part of a grubbing-up scheme in Bordeaux.

As of July 10, more than 3,000 hectares of vines had been uprooted as part of a “sanitary grubbing-up plan” co-funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and the CIVB. That is below the maximum amount of 9,500 hectares allowed under the scheme, which constitutes around 9% of the region’s total vineyard area.

It’s part of efforts to put wine production in the Bordeaux area on a more sustainable footing, amid ongoing decline in wine consumption in France and challenges on export markets.

Decanter, July 29

Jacob’s Creek has a new owner

Pernod Ricard has agreed to sell off the majority of its international wine brands, including Jacob’s Creek and Campo Viejo, as the drinks company aims to focus on its spirits and Champagne business.

The sale to Australian Wine Holdco Ltd – the owner of Australia’s Accolade Wines –will also include the brands Orlando and St Hugo from Australia; Stoneleigh, Brancott Estate and Church Road from New Zealand; and Ysios, Tarsus and Azpilicueta, which are produced in Spain.

Pernod will retain its US and French wine brands, as well as labels in Argentina and China.

The Guardian, July 17

Who is Brad Pitt’s mystery partner?

Brad Pitt has demanded to know who he is in business with after half of his hip wine brand Château Miraval, sold by his former partner Angelina Jolie to exiled Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler, ended up in a secretive Jersey trust.

Sources close to Pitt told City AM the actor is taking a “big interest” in an international report into Jersey’s secretive shelters for the super-rich.

The actors are involved in a bitter legal battle over the wine estate, with Pitt claiming Jolie broke a mutual agreement when she sold her half to Shefler for $67m in 2021.

City AM, July 29

Pitt has a 50% stake in Château Miraval

Champagne found on Baltic wreck

Polish divers have found the wreck of a 19th-century ship at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

Although the wreck itself is relatively unremarkable, the divers say it contains valuable cargo, including over 100 bottles of Champagne as well as other types of wine, porcelain and mineral water.

Notes from Poland, July 24

? THE BURNING QUESTION

What could the new government do to help independents?

�Would rejoining the EU be too much to ask? More realistically, the obvious answer is to make the duty easement on wine permanent, which could be done with the stroke of a pen and would make all of our lives so much easier next year. Also an overall freeze on duty would be nice, given the massive hikes last year.”

Shane Goodbody

The Good Spirits Company, Glasgow

�I’m sure we’re not alone in the situation that often just pennies are left over after we make our quarterly VAT payments, and the government have it in their power to change this. Even a movement from 20% to just 15% VAT (even back to the 17.5% we used to pay, for that matter) would have an enormous impact on our business, allowing us some breathing space in order to focus on growth and expansion.”

Will Evans Wandering Palate, Greater Manchester

�A big impact that we have noticed since Brexit is the import tax on wine coming into the UK, which increases the price per bottle that we can sell to customers. The wines being imported from outside the UK are too good to miss out on, so of course we want to stock them in our shop, but we still need to balance a slightly higher price to protect the business as well.”

Joanna Handley Bottles Wine, Worcester

�Firstly, and most obviously, the new government need to scrap the insane duty as this is going to impact all independent wine merchants hugely. Another factor which would really help the industry is to reduce the VAT on hospitality as a whole, which would allow us to get a firmer foothold on profits and increase trade. It would be great to see closer ties with Europe reinstated so that we can all reduce the amount of paperwork and separate systems needed to function going forward.”

Erik Laan H Champagne winner H The Vineking, Surrey

Champagne Gosset

The oldest wine house in Champagne: Äy 1584

DUNCAN MCLEAN

Northabout

If you’re a carb enthusiast visiting Orkney, the world is your lobster

Orkney Favourite Recipes is a Facebook group I joined three years ago based on one interesting post, and have never quite got round to leaving. Often members ask for solutions to cooking problems like over-crumbly oatcakes or tablet not setting. Sometimes an innocent question inadvertently sparks a lively debate: when someone asked recently how to make an obscure teatime treat called Raisin Rhapsody, several commenters told them what they were actually making was Paradise Slice, while others argued vociferously for Fly Cemetery. It got quite heated.

The post that caught my eye this week was on a more mundane subject: macaroni cheese. Actually, the contributor asked about “mac ‘n’ cheese”, which is one of those creeping Americanisms that causes linguistic outrage in this traditionallyminded island. It’s usually people driving John Deere tractors and Dodge Ram pickup trucks who get most upset. The poster wasn’t American, but Australian. How, she wanted to know, did the Standing Stones Hotel make such good mac ‘n’ cheese? She’d had some on her holiday here and longed to replicate it in Adelaide. People pitched in with various suggestions, but eventually the former chef at the hotel provided what is surely the definitive answer: use lots of cheese, ideally Orkney Cheddar. Take that, Noma. But it wasn’t the cheese that intrigued me, it was the

I cooked a meal for you, and it was all yellow

carbs. The photograph showed an oozing pile of macaroni accompanied by a big pile of chips and two generous slice of garlic bread. We have two or three restaurants in the islands that aspire to a locally inflected fine dining; they wouldn’t serve this. And we have a couple of youth-oriented smallplates eateries; they would never serve this either (though they do like their dirty skinon skinny sweet potato fries). But most other eateries are hotel restaurants and lounge bars, and this style of cooking is their mainstay. Many serve both boiled and roast tatties with their meat dishes. Curries will come with not just rice and poppadoms, but also a choice of chips or baked potatoes. And quite possibly a naan too.

The apotheosis of our love for starch is the pattie supper. This is a staple of chip shops as well as being a hotel favourite. To make a pattie you boil and mash floury potatoes, mix in a small amount of either minced beef or cheese, then shape into discs about 10cm across and three deep.

Coat in batter, deep fry, and serve with chips.

Yes, deep fried mashed potatoes served with deep fried chipped potatoes. We have to support our farmers, you know. It’s local food for local people. And the odd visiting Australian.

However, there’s another kind of visitor who wants something completely different. “I’m very disappointed with the seafood offering here,” one said to me in the shop this week. “I thought, with you being an island, there’d be copious fresh seafood. We were in Padstow last month and it was ubiquitous.”

“I think our population’s a bit smaller than Cornwall’s,” I said. “And we don’t get as many tourists.”

“I’m not expecting Michelin stars,” he said. “Just a shack by the harbour, a simple grill, and some lobsters with dulse butter. Maybe a bowl of mussels in white wine. And langoustine! Surely Scapa Flow is teeming with langoustine? At half term we were in this lovely little village in Brittany, and they had any amount of langoustine.”

“We do have all that stuff,” I said. “But we mostly sell it to restaurants in Edinburgh and London: seafood’s a cash crop for us. However, if you go up to the industrial estate, behind the cheese factory there’s an old shipping container with a fridge in it. They’ll sell you fresh fish and shellfish.”

“Do they have lobsters?”

“No, but there’s a shed next door with big ponds full of all kinds of shellfish. If you ask nicely they’ll go through and get some for you, and shuck your scallops while you wait. Then all you have to do is take them home to your Airbnb and cook them.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m on holiday,” he said. “I was rather hoping to avoid such labour.”

“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “You want local food? Go along to the Harbour Fry. Order a double pattie supper. Eat. Swadge.”

“Swadge?”

“Relax in a carb-induced stupor.”

“And can you recommend a wine to go with that?”

“Certainly. It’s called Irn-Bru.”

Duncan McLean is proprietor of Kirkness & Gorie, Kirkwall

FONTAINES DC ROMANCE XL RECORDINGS

This month’s choice is from Fontaines DC, who have not one but two releases in August. The first is a collaboration with Massive Attack and Young Fathers called Ceasefire. A super-limited 12" originally D2C (direct to consumer; the bane of all record shops), it was made available to order by shops back in February. The single raises funds for Médecins Sans Frontières, who mount emergency operations in Gaza and the West Bank. Such is Fontaines DC’s moral outrage and angst where social injustice prevails. Wait until they find out about wine duties!

The Dublin band have certainly come out from the shadows since their debut in 2019, being named International Group of the Year at the 2023 BRIT Awards. Romance is the fourth album (singer Grian Chatten also has a solo LP out), with a marginally more polished, less vitriolic tone moving slightly away from punk-grunge to more dystopian electronica and hiphop percussion. This album might almost be playable in your wine bar.

The band say: “We’ve always had this sense of idealism and romance. Each album gets further away from observing that through the lens of Ireland”. Romance is also inspired by the anime film Akira: “I’m fascinated by that – falling in love at the end of the world,” says Chatten. Romance is out on August 23 on indies-only pink, clear or black vinyl.

Steve Tattam is owner of Winyl, a wine and record shop in Manningtree, Essex

‘We wanted to highlight

that there are places to go in the city and have really good wine’

It’s a part of the UK where steel and beer have traditionally held sway. But a collective of independent wine merchants is determined to change perceptions, as Claire Harries reports

Pictures by @elliegracephotography

The merchants behind the inaugural Sheffield Wine Week, which took place in June, are confident that it will become a regular annual event, positioning the city firmly on the wine map for both consumers and trade.

Virginia Myers and Sarah Hatton at Tenaya Wine came up with the idea for a formal wine week to promote and celebrate the vinous options, both retail and on-trade, already available in the area.

“I don’t imagine Sheffield is the only city that is very beer-focused,” says Hatton, “but there are a lot of things that happen around here that revolve around that, including the fact we have loads of microbreweries. So we wanted to highlight that there are places to go in the city and have really good wine. You don’t have to just make do with whatever wine the pubs have got. You can go and have something really beautiful and delicious in some quite unique spaces.”

Myers and Hatton teamed up with neighbouring bar The Old Shoe to create a series of events across Sheffield. Indie collaborators include Starmore Boss, Gills & Co, Mitchell’s and Bench.

“We’ve all got our own personalities,” says Hatton of her fellow independents, “and nobody felt like they were competing. We all offered support to each other where we could.”

About 25 events took place over the

participating venues, from tutored wine tastings and supper clubs to DJ takeovers and the intriguingly titled Rugs, Rap & Rioja.

“Most of the events sold out,” reports Hatton. “I’d say probably the most popular were the wine and cheese tastings. We had so many of them across the city and they all sold out. People were also very interested in the education side of things but the wackier stuff went down very well too. The Old Shoe did a wine and crisp pairing and that was hugely popular.”

Visitors to Sheffield Wine Week were given an illustrated map depicting the participating venues.

“We wanted to provide a permanent thing that people could take round with them and unfold, rather than doing something online,” explains Hatton. “Grace Jandrell, who works in our shop, is an illustrator so she did the map and logo. We’re very fortunate to have her.”

The wackier stuff went down well. The Old Shoe did a wine and crisp pairing and that was hugely popular

There’s a trade element to Sheffield Wine Week that Hatton is keen to develop in the coming years.

Suppliers in on the action this year were Wines Under the Bonnet, which held a trade-only tasting which was then opened up to the public in the afternoon. Ally Wines and Enotria&Coe were on board with tastings at Tenaya Wines and Hatton is confident that a suitable venue has been found to host enough suppliers to enable a larger dedicated trade event as part of Sheffield Wine Week, attracting merchants who will find it an easier travel prospect than the capital.

There’s every indication that Sheffield Wine Week 2025 will be even bigger and better. As Hatton says: “This year was kind of a trial run. We didn’t give ourselves very long to organise huge events but everyone in the city got on board with it quite quickly.

“The reach was broader than I thought it would be and I had people saying that they might come into town specifically for Wine Week, so it’s something we can talk to the local tourist board about.

“Next year I want plans for some bigger events to happen as a collaboration between all the spaces, as well as everyone doing their own thing. It would be nice to have a big finale where we’re all bringing something to the party.”

Sean Welsh, Howden, July 2024

A BENevolent DICTATOR

sean welsh seems to understand what his customers want better than they do themselves. and when it comes to eating and drinking on the premises, they tend to get what they’re GIven.

But fifteen years of serving his east yorkshire town has taught him to trust his instincts – and his customers to trust him.

by nigel huddleston

The East Yorkshire town of Howden flies a little bit under the radar. If you know the name at all, it’s most likely from the kitchen company that originated there. But, as the sign on the way in from the M62 says, it’s an historic town.

It’s been home to Barnes Wallis, creator of the bouncing bomb, and Neville Shute, the Australian novelist. For a brief time after the First World War, it was the location of Britain’s biggest airship base.

The 14th century minster, in what was the medieval capital of the region, looks down over a collection of independent traders who’ve only relatively recently begun to see the benefits of tourism that has historically been the preserve of more illustrative regional centres such as Beverley, Hull and York.

Among those indies, you’ll find within a few yards of each other a trio that encapsulate modern drinks retailing.

The Spirit Specialist, owned by Ben Bowers, opened three years ago, and is not to be confused with The Spirit of Howden, a former Bargain Booze

“I liked being the northern rep for Mentzendorff.

The directors didn’t come near me, which suited my personality”

that’s retained the value specialist off-licence ethos that’s largely disappeared outside of the big convenience store groups.

Lee Ruddell’s Hop Cavern is a hip young hybrid craft beer store, and the relative newcomer.

But the one that kicked off this mini indie drinks scene is Flourish & Prosper, Sean and Julie Welsh’s hybrid wine shop that sits straight facing the Bowers business.

It’s a friendly rivalry, says Sean. Although he sells spirits and beer – partly to fuel the drink-in side of his business – both Bowers and Ruddell are customers, and there’s little crossover in product range. Each will gladly point customers in the direction of the others if they know it’s going to lead them to what they really want.

Julie has her own full-time business, so Sean’s day-to-day sidekick in Flourish & Prosper is Gabriella Gyorgy-Hodkin.

“Julie occasionally comes in as a fresh pair of eyes, because you get snowblind,” says Sean. “And because she’s my wife of almost 40 years she will

tell me what I need to know. She’s very useful as someone who comes in and sees it differently to how I do.”

Before Flourish & Prosper, Sean worked in the wine trade as a rep for Mentzendorff, and others before that.

“I liked being the northern rep,” he says. “The poor London guys working out of London-based offices would have the directors going out into London accounts and checking up on them.

“They didn’t come near me, which suited my personality. Just leave me alone and I’ll get on with it.

“It suits me being an independent wine merchant. I’m unemployable now. Once you’re self-employed you can’t go back. I earned a lot more money when I worked with Mentzendorff, but it’s fine. I’m happy, I live in a nice village, I’ve got a nice house, a nice shop and lots of friendly customers. It’s a nice life.

“I can’t think of any towns I visited when I was repping that were so full of independents as Howden. We’re like the Hay-on-Wye of the north.”

The shop is divided in two. At the front are cute bistro style tables and the everyday wine range and to the rear top-end stuff and chilled cheese storage. There’s a suntrap courtyard out the back, which extends the hybrid offer in the summer months, and has even hosted a 90-guest wedding reception.

Wines are merchandised by style with film stars such as David Niven, Clark Gable, Katherine Hepburn and, er, the Spice Girls pictured alongside pithy descriptions that describe both the celebrity and the wines underneath.

“I merchandise by style because that’s how people buy wine,” says Sean. “It’s also become a bit of a quiz when customers are sat in the wine bar, trying to work out who they all are.”

You’ve got a colour code for things like organic, biodynamic and vegan wines on the shelves. Are those things important in Howden?

Not a huge amount. We get a few people asking about vegan but it’s not a big thing because this is a farming area. If I started talking vegan to some of my best customers, I’d probably lose them. Around here, vegans are just fussy eaters.

You start talking organics and biodynamics to them and they just say, “I’m a farmer, love, I spray everything”. You have to talk to who you’ve got, and the best customers are farmers. They’ve got the money. This is David Davies territory. Everyone hates the Tories this year, but he still got an 18,000

Some people can’t remember the shop’s name. “They call us Prosper & Flourish or Porridge & Doodah”

majority. It didn’t waver. It’s solidly Tory.

Does retail dominate for you?

Retail’s the biggest part at around 40%. Wholesale’s probably 20% and the drink-in the rest – and a bit of internet. That’s not something I’m particularly keen on because the margin’s so tight on web sales. You can’t insure it and if you send it and it gets broken you lose that money. And people don’t like paying delivery charges, so you end up in a situation where it’s just not worth it. We do a little bit.

My sister-in-law lives in Bristol. We get her and her mates to buy wine from us and we send it down en masse to her and they collect it from her house. We save a load of delivery charges because it’s one delivery to one place, and they like it. Every couple of months we get a nice big order out of them.

You’ve got a vinyl record player, so it looks like the hybrid element is very bedded in.

“If I started talking vegan to some of my best customers, I’d probably lose them. Around here, vegans are just fussy eaters”

It’s new made to look vintage, so it plays CDs as well. I got that so I could encourage customers to bring their own vinyl in and they can DJ. It’s just a bit of fun and adds to the atmosphere. The customer base is slightly older, over 40, so they like blues.

We decorate the place with eclectic furniture. There’s a woman who lives round the corner who used to work for Liberty [the chic London department store, not the wine supplier], who’s very good at upholstering, so she did some lovely oak chairs for us.

What’s the drink-in offer like?

There is no wine list. If you can see it, you can drink it. There’s a corkage [£1 on beer, £7.95 on a bottle of wine]. They don’t get to choose what cheese they have on a cheeseboard. We do that. Most of them don’t get to choose what wine they’re drinking, beyond red or white. It’s a benevolent dictatorship. They’re tired, they’ve had a long week at work, they can’t make a decision. “Right, I know what you like, you’re having that”, and I just give them it. It’s become a standard joke: “Don’t bother choosing what you want; he’ll just give you what he wants to get rid of.”

Is it what you want to get rid of?

Sometimes there’s stock I want to move but it’s a more thoughtful process than that. I’m not just going to dump a bottle of wine on someone. I know their tastes. Lots of my customers are regulars. They might think, “he’s a pain in the arse, but he never picks anything we don’t like”. New people come in and the regulars say “don’t bother choosing, he’ll choose for you”.

An unusual element of the business is the holiday let above the shop.

I manage it but it’s the landlord’s. Julie’s business is a cleaning company, so she does that and I just make sure they’re happy and deal with any problems and get paid a commission.

I’ve got a very good landlord. The original lease [for the shop] ran out and we just do it on a handshake now, on the same terms with

“Lots of my customers might think ‘he’s a pain in the arse, but he never picks anything we don’t like’”

annual increases. The original idea was to have tenants upstairs but I didn’t like that because I’d have to share the outside space. If you get good tenants it’s fine, but if you’ve got bad ones you’re stuck with them for six months driving you mad. So I persuaded the landlord to do this to a high standard. It’s luxury. It turns over enough that we both get more money from it than we would from renting it out. And quite often the guests will come downstairs and buy a bottle of wine or some cheese.

Why choose Flourish & Prosper as a name?

We were around the corner in an even older building when we first started. Because it was an old building we were going through different words we could use. When we first started we were more of a full-on deli than we are now, so it didn’t have to say “wine shop” per se. Supermarkets have taken that deli business away, so we reduced that. The name felt right for that old building – and it’s a bit of a mission statement.

Some people can’t remember the name. They call us Prosper & Flourish or Porridge & Doodah. But after 15 years we’re established and people do know we’re here in their town.

I didn’t want to be the Howden Wine Shop, because if I had wanted to expand and open in Pocklington or one of the other market towns, the name’s stuck with the town. And I didn’t want to do yet another pun on the wine trade. I felt they’d been done to death.

and Portugal”

Do you have any particular strengths in wine?

We’re probably strongest in Spain and Portugal. Obviously, in New Zealand we’ve got a fair few Sauvignon Blancs because they’re popular. We do a bit of South Africa and we always have a lot of classic French because we have to.

We’re probably weakest in Australia. Partly because I’m not the world’s biggest fan, and Australia – and Chile – have been done to death in the supermarkets, and I can’t compete with those. We will do better-end Australia but we don’t do everyday stuff.

What’s your approach to buying?

I always try to buy with a few of my customers in my head. I don’t always buy things I personally like but they’re a good example of that style of wine. I know Brian’ll like that, so I buy it for Brian. Or for

Welsh says the range is “probably strongest in Spain

Laura or whoever. The range gets formed by my customer base – what they like and are looking for.

We’ve got a wine club, so every month we supply about 30 customers with a mixed case of wines. They’re very loyal to that but every month you’ve got to find some new wines, so the range does roll slightly. We don’t throw the baby out with the bath water; we don’t throw out all the big-sellers but it does allow us to experiment with things.

Which are the main suppliers on your radar?

We were a member of Vindependents for a couple of years through Covid and that was very helpful at the time. The quality was good but the buying and shipping, and trying to guess so far in advance what you’d need … I just got it wrong.

Like everybody else, we use Boutinot. They’re great: they’ve got some really good value stuff and entry-level stuff. We use Liberty, Richmond Wine Agencies, Mentzendorff and Delibo – and recently we started working with Daniel Lambert.

Boutinot have a strong product range that works with indies. They do it at really competitive price points and the wines are well-packaged and good wines, so they sell. And they’re very decent to deal with. When we’ve had cash flow problems – which over 15 years you do at times – they’ve always been reasonable and held our hand through it. All those things that make you a good supplier.

During Covid I went for two years without seeing a rep from many companies, or them picking up a phone to call us. I thought it was really poor. Those companies then came back. Sorry, you’ve abandoned us at the worst time for the trade, and you’ve got no idea how we got through this, and you think because you send me a few samples I might buy some off you. Naaah!

What constitutes entry-level for you?

It’s £10 upwards nowadays. One of the things that irks me is we get emails from suppliers saying you could sell this wine for 32%. We can’t live off 32%. It was 32% 15 years ago when I was working for Mentzendorff. Wages have gone up a hell of a lot since then. There’s no money in that unless you’re a big boy who can really churn the stuff.

What does it needs to be?

40%. 36% minimum. One of the joys of Vindependents is that you have to work off 40%; it’s part of the deal and you’re not allowed to go

“I quite like the idea of going ‘here’s some wine and here’s some nibbles’ but without the grumpy old man giving them a lecture”

online and undersell that. It was one of the reasons we were in it, because it helped us for a while.

I used to pay above the odds when we first started to get good staff. Now, I’m struggling to pay the minimum wage because it’s gone to such a high level and is going up again. It’s easy for the government – “aren’t we good, we’re going to put the minimum wage up” – but the government isn’t paying it, muggins here is.

We’ve got to have bigger margins. That’s why we’re still here. That’s why we do the hybrid model, because it gives us better margins. It pads out some of the other stuff.

That’s why we do less and less wholesaling, because we just can’t afford it. But I’ve got a young rep who I recently took on to look after prestige accounts and private customers. You like to give a young lad a chance, don’t you? I’ve known him a couple of years; he’s turning 82 this month. Otto Hinderer MS.

What role do events play for you?

We tend to do tastings on Thursday nights because it’s slightly quieter but close enough to the weekend

The suntrap courtyard at the rear of the shop has been used for a 90-guest wedding reception

that people aren’t too worried about it being a school night. People don’t want to do a tasting on a Friday night or a Saturday night because they’re busy with other things. Tuesdays and Wednesdays don’t work because they’re too early in the week. We’re going to do something more informal, just a bloody good night out. When we do them now, I take them through the wines and they have to shut up for a few minutes while I do a spiel. I quite like the idea of going “here you go: here’s some wine and here’s some nibbles”, but without the grumpy old man giving them a lecture.

You offer a 100% “no ifs, no buts” money-back guarantee, if someone doesn’t like a wine. It was something Thresher offered and people thought they were mad because customers would abuse it. How has that worked for you? It was something a marketing bod told us to do a few years ago. It’s worth doing because I don’t want to lose customers. If people come in and say, “I really didn’t like that or I think it was off”, we never argue. We had someone the other day do it. It doesn’t happen a great deal, but it reassures them.

“The county council sent guys with ponytails and lanyards and hi-vis jackets to organise a food festival. I bristle at hi-vis and lanyards”

The supermarkets will give you your money back if you complain, so why wouldn’t we? You’ve got to compete in that world.

We do it with the wine club. If we send them wines that I’ve picked and they don’t like them I’ll happily swap them for something they do like. It very rarely happens because I know the customer base and I’m putting stuff in there that I know they’ll like.

The wine club is intended to pull them out of their comfort zone into other areas. Instead of Marlborough Sauvignon or Pinot Grigio we’ll put in a Gavi or a Vinho Verde or something. We’re making them try something they wouldn’t necessarily pick off the shelf otherwise.

After 15 years, what’s your favourite thing about being an independent wine merchant? The customers. I’ve formed some great friendships; a lot of them are good mates.

And the worst thing?

The customers! No, probably the council and the bureaucratic rubbish you have to deal with. East Yorkshire County Council decided in their wisdom that they wanted to pedestrianise the street: “It will be grand – there’ll be tables and chairs outside and it will be all very European”. But with all these parking spaces we have, people come in from the villages around and drop and shop. They can park for an hour, grab what they need from the shops and go on. What they don’t want is to be told they can park all the way over there and they can’t get access to the shops.

In Goole, which is the closest town with bigger retailers, they pedestrianised the centre and most of the shops closed. I fought tooth and nail against it in Howden and eventually it got dropped. It would have killed the town.

The county council ignored the town for years but suddenly decided they liked us because of the new housing. They sent guys with ponytails and lanyards and hi-vis jackets to organise a food festival, using a European grant before it all disappeared.

I bristle at hi-vis and lanyards. They closed the high street and put stalls out there. Right outside there was someone selling cheese, and a bit further along one selling cheese and wine, and then another selling cheese. And this was supposed to help the high street. I sell cheese and wine!

To paraphrase Zhou Enlai’s verdict on the French Revolution, it’s too early to tell the state of the trade I’m leaving behind. Ask me again in time, with the sharper perspective that distance brings. What follows therefore risks ageing like a Zinfandel blush but I hope readers can recognise and relate to some of it. Perhaps this is the first Wine Merchant article to open by quoting a Chinese prime minister but if there’s anything my decade or so in wine has taught me it’s that there’s a first time for everything. We’ve certainly given most things a go, as have many of our customers. I’m sure each generation would echo the sentiment but the decade just gone feels like it’s witnessed more than its fair share of firsts.

Red Squirrel began life as an online merchant and indies became a key market for us when we moved into distribution. Today they represents the fastest-growing channel for Graft. I leave now having had a hand in running a couple of them too and thus have seen the sector from many angles. Here are some observations on what’s changed, and where we’re heading.

1. Few genuine generalists remain, and in that I’d include the glorified off-licences (“high street” or not). I lost count of how many times I’ve read a headline about Oddbins going bust. The bottom has long fallen out of that market (and not just in wine). Moreover, indies with a similar please-all-comers pitch are a dying breed. Wine buying has become polarised betwixt the perennially dominant supermarkets and specialist wine merchants – or, increasingly, premium provisioners for whom wine is just one string to an

a Few words as i leave

The Graft Wine Co boss is exiting the wine trade to become a teacher. Having change in the indie business – mainly as a supplier, but also by running the Pip Mother Vine in London – he's well placed to share his thoughts on the state of play

impressive bow. The best, in whatever guise, know their customers well, how to sell to them but crucially how to talk to them. These aren’t always the same things.

2. Somewhat related to this, and accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the sale of premium wines has become more democratic in the same way a wider audience generally seeks out more authentic and rarified food and drink. Wine has yet to be drawn fully into the reaction

against ultra-processed foods but that will play its part. In short, the language we use today speaks to a wider spectrum of the public. It needed to. I’ve often (and only partly in jest) said wine merchants ought to be in favour of a radical redistribution of wealth. Far better for business, when any individual can only sensibly consume so much alcohol, to have a lot of people with just enough money to spend on the finer things in life, than resort to chasing after a smaller number of very wealthy people.

leave you

Having witnessed more than a decade of Pip of Manor Farm shop in Surrey and play as he bids his farewells

3. And it’s a fact of life that most people are drinking less now than a decade ago This phenomenon is especially pronounced among young people. The traditional wine merchant’s mantra has always been “drink less but better”. Butchers seem to be reaping the benefits of a similar mantra in response to mushrooming concerns around meat consumption. I’m neither sure the wine trade has reached a similar conclusion, nor confident it can with such success. Yet reach one it must.

4. So-called “natural wine” is no longer a modish separate shelf populated in response to perceived trends. For the most part. Same goes for orange wines. It’s not that these wines have hit the mainstream; they have been absorbed more fundamentally to the point that we no longer notice. There remain those bottles adhering to a stylistic definition of “natural”. Speaking with my hospitality trade hat on now, when deployed adroitly these have a magical role to play. But my conclusion is that, among the independent trade, this once callow conversation has matured into one about flavour, sustainability, authenticity and responsibility. This is a great place to have found ourselves.

5. We’ve passed peak self-service machines. Once the USP of an exciting new generation of hybrids (see below), a mixture of high capex, running costs and their erection of a barrier to personal interaction means, with some exceptions, these kits appear to be on the wane. I’ve witnessed the rise, demise and stagnation of several of the format’s pioneers and greatest proponents. Their failings result from more than this alone but are very likely symptomatic of a futurism not common among contemporary success stories.

6. Everyone’s a hybrid now. OK, not everyone, but most of us. Maybe not within the same four walls, maybe not always at the same time. But this is an important legacy of those pioneers alluded to above, and another trend accelerated by the pandemic – on balance more so among hospitality businesses, be they restaurants, speciality coffee shops, bakeries and so on, who dabbled with retailing some special bottles, retained it as a key feature, and inspired entrepreneurs who followed. This in turn reinforces and normalises the pre-existing trend among wine merchants. Essentially, the Venn diagram separating “on” and “off” has closed ranks.

I’m not saying that business for wine merchants was straightforward in 2012, but it feels so much fiddlier in 2024

7. Lastly, suppliers have become more valuable as a result of Brexit and global shipping irregularities. Direct importing has become more challenging, verging on impossible, for all but the biggest merchants. I’d hope our customers believe Graft has stepped up to the plate more often than not in this respect! The logistics of sourcing, transporting and supplying good wine at the prices indies need have become a Gordian knot. Excellent wine is one thing; but suppliers today have to fulfil this essential function more than ever. I suspect this is one of the chief reasons why the biggest suppliers have managed to strengthen their grip on distribution. I’m not saying business for wine merchants was straightforward in 2012, but it feels so much fiddlier in 2024. From the supplier’s perspective, therefore, as well as sourcing high quality and relevant wine, demonstrating how you can ease the load for your customers has become the priority.

Challenges abound: regulatory, systemic, societal, to pick a handful. Nevertheless, I depart a trade that is incontrovertibly more germane, more vibrant, and more progressive than the one I joined. We have to celebrate and build on this.

Thank you everyone I’ve come across these past 12 years for your generosity, inclusivity, and above all your friendship. To thine own self be true, and your customer, and I’m confident the trade has a marvellous future.

The lost thrill of Bill’s

A quirky greengrocer in East Sussex was a joyful place to spend a few hours. The chain of mid-market restaurants that it spawned, not so much. David Williams considers how beloved independent brands get distorted through scale

I’ve been mildly obsessed with the middle-market restaurant brand Bill’s for some time now. It’s not that I go there very often or have strong feelings about what it offers and represents as a brand. Indeed, I can’t imagine that Bill’s in its current form inspires strong feelings in anyone.

It’s the sort of place you end up in by default for lack of somewhere else to be, where you’ll have a perfectly reasonable time eating perfectly competent food from its perfectly generic modern American diner-ish brunch-and-burger menu, at slightly, but not outrageously, inflated prices – and which you’ll forget all about

Have the likes of Petaluma and Bonny Doon ever been the same since they were acquired from their charismatic owners?

the moment you walk out the door.

The thing is, though, I actually do remember my first time at a Bill’s, which must have been almost 20 years ago. Back then, Bill’s wasn’t a nationwide chain. It was a single-outlet independent founded by the eponymous founder Bill Collison in Lewes. It had a slightly eco-eccentric streak that fitted right in with the Sussex town’s mildly bohemian atmosphere, and it had hit on its unusual café-in-a-greengrocer’s model pretty much by accident, the café bit arriving only after floods had prompted a refit.

I loved it. It was a place full of personality and quirks that had grown, like its produce, organically in a very defined local patch –the polar opposite, indeed, of what it would become.

And it’s this disconnect between the original Bill’s and the version we see in high streets today that is the source of my interest in the business.

There are three things I don’t understand. First, what was it about Bill’s back in 2008 that made Richard Caring,

the at-that-point relatively new owner of restaurant group Le Caprice Holdings, want to buy it over any number of similarly wholesome and/or organic cafes in other similarly sized towns around the UK?

Secondly, what did Caring see in Bill’s that he thought would make it the perfect brand to roll out as a casual dining brand in what would, at its peak, run to 80 outlets in the UK? (After a tough time post-Covid, it’s currently around half that.)

And finally, why, if his plan was to create a chain of restaurants that were all-butindistinguishable from the original, did he not simply start from scratch with a similar concept and name? After all, it’s not as if many people outside of East Sussex had any knowledge of Bill’s the place or the brand. So, what value did the name have over, say, an ersatz version called Bob’s in Manchester, York or Norwich, all places where Bill’s went on to open?

Really, though, my interest in Bill’s is as a vivid and, given my attachment to the original, very personal

Candidates will be expected to supply their own uniforms

example of just how difficult it is to retain the precious something that makes a small, independent business special when you try to turn it into something bigger.

There are examples of this process everywhere in retail, including wine retail, of which the most extreme in recent times is probably Vagabond. In retrospect, the excitingly spontaneous, creative, openmindedly wine-loving mood of early Vagabond was remarkably resilient at first. It was certainly still intact in the first few new outlets of its expansion in the 2010s, and even, arguably, in its urban winery.

By the time of its administration and subsequent purchase by Majestic earlier this year, however, the company had long since lost touch with its roots. And it would have been very hard to connect the business responsible for Vagabond’s garish airport outlets with that first Fulham store back in 2009, which was, of course, one of the first of the new breed of wine shops making use of Enomatic-type sampling machines.

Wine production, too, has more than its fair share of brands that have been “Bill’s-ed”: have the likes of Petaluma and Bonny Doon, for example, ever been the same since they were acquired from their charismatic founders by big businesses that didn’t fully understand their appeal?

I’m not saying it’s impossible to turn a small brand into a big brand. That, after all, is the story of all successful brands. Neither am I saying that a brand can’t or shouldn’t evolve, even if that evolution takes it far from its original form.

But there’s a reason why I get nervous whenever a business I love is sold or its owners start talking about their ambitious growth plans. No matter the sector, there is always a point in a brand’s expansion when something of the original spirit is lost. It’s just a matter of when, and how much.

Bill Collinson in 2008

James Boardman/Alamy Stock Photo

IT'S THE WINE MERCHANT CROSSWORD

NUMBER FIVE!

There wasn't a crossword in our July edition, but that was only because we got distracted by the election and the football. Now we've regained our focus – and so can you, puzzlers.

Take a photo of your completed grid and send it to claire@winemerchantmag. com. The first correct entry drawn out of the borderline racist tam o’shanter with attached ginger hair will win a bottle of Tres Miradas Alta Cerro Franco 2020, generously donated by the good people at Les Caves de Pyrene

The company’s Doug Wregg says this is a special wine. “Tres Miradas is a project in Montilla dedicated to making terroirdriven non-fortified Pedro Ximenez from old vines at high altitude,” he explains. “The wines are made meticulously, spontaneously fermented with native yeasts in old Manzanilla butts and aged under a veil of flor for 22 months before bottling and release. The Alto Cerro Franco is from a tiny parcel of their oldest vines.”

QUIZ TIME

Answers to questions on page 20

1. (c) Anjou-Saumur (b) Chinon (a) Sancerre

2. (b) Tartrates (in this case from a Chardonnay tank)

3. Verona

4. Boutinot, founded in 1980. Alliance Wine started trading in 1984 and Liberty Wines in 1997

5. David and Nadia

1 Eyots (5)

5 Rubbish (5)

8 Incantation (5)

10 Russian sleigh (6)

11 Defence covering (6)

12 Having the form of a song (5)

13 Sister of Mary and Lazarus (6)

14 Resident of eg Nairobi (6)

15 Stage play (5)

17 Scratched (6)

19 Plan (6)

21 Cuban dance (5)

22 Die from lack of food (6)

23 Professional killer (6)

24 Locations (5)

25 Workshop machinery (6)

27 Pressed (6)

29 Grecian architectural style (5)

31 Go back (6)

32 Beast (6)

33 Porridge (5)

34 Eg Tarka (5)

35 Is inclined (5)

2 Rill (9)

3 Throw out (5)

4 Not in any circumstances (Poetical) (4)

6 Recall past experiences (9)

7 Sweat room (5)

8 Mayonnaise (5,8)

9 Lazy (13)

16 Allow to enter (5)

18 Storage building (9)

20 Cemetery (9)

26 Representative (5)

28 Oil source (5)

30 Part of speech (4)

June winner

Congratulations to Sarah Hall of Doddington Hall Farm Shop in Doddington, Lincolnshire, who is the winner of the fourth Wine Merchant crossword.

The prize is a bottle of San Cassiano Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG, supplied by the generous souls at Marcato Direct. There are no official runners-up prizes but if you call the office and ask nicely, Claire might sing to you.

Solution to Crossword No 4

the giFt oF

FrescoBaldi

The Frescobaldi family have been making wine in Tuscany for over 700 years, and have counted popes and monarchs among a client base that stretches back to the Renaissance artist Donatello and architect Brunelleschi. The company’s rich history hasn’t prevented it from being a forward-thinking innovator, pioneering international grape varieties in the 19th century.

It was the first Italian producer to age a white wine in barriques, and its single-vineyard Chianti Montesodi was one of the first Sangiovese varietals to be aged in small barrels. Enotria&Coe has a range of gift options that allow independents to showcase the exceptional quality Frescobaldi has to offer.

Nipozzano Riserva, gift carton (RRP £18)

The DOCG Chianti Rufina Riserva has been produced since 1864 and is a renowned Tuscan wine on the global stage, from an historic Frescobaldi estate a few kilometres north east of Florence. It promises violets, rosehip, delicate black pepper spice and balsamic notes.

Tenuta Perano Chianti Classico, gift carton (RRP £20)

Perano is in the heart of Chianti Classico country, in a natural amphitheatre facing south west, providing exceptional conditions to produce rich and elegant expressions of Tuscany’s signature Sangiovese grape.

CastelGiocondo Brunello di Montalcino, gift carton (RRP £43)

Tenuta CastelGiocondo is situated south west of the town of Montalcino at an altitude of around 300 metres, with a mix of marl, clay and sand that is the ideal terroir for growing Sangiovese.

Alìe rosé, presentation box with two glasses (RRP £28)

This Syrah-based pale pink rosé is made in a coastal location, enjoying the influence of sea breezes that mitigate the region’s hot climate for a fresh and elegant style.

the Full package

Fells has long been the leader in bespoke gift options. Now independent merchants can tap into its vast range of premium packaging, accessories, gift items ... and so much more

Fells is taking 30 years of experience in supplying gift solutions for highend retailers and prestige drinks brands and putting it into a new bespoke gifting service for independents.

Development director Ed Thornton says:

“Our expertise in this area has almost been under the radar but we felt it was time to widen it to the independent sector, which is very important to us, especially with the premium portfolio of family wineries we represent.” That portfolio includes famous names such as Graham’s Port from Symington Family Estates, Torres, Yalumba, E Guigal and many more.

Crucially, the packaging options being offered to independents won’t be readily available to multiple retailers. There are also options to suit different seasons

and occasions through the year, not just Christmas.

“These are products and accessories we’ve developed to offer a point of difference from what is generally available in the high street and, most importantly, it enables independents to make a decent margin, while still being competitive,” Thornton adds.

“It’s not just things we’ve bought off-thepeg and stuck our logo on.

“Everything we’re offering has been designed by us from the bottom up to offer quality at a competitive price point.”

The nested wooden boxes featured opposite are a good example of this quality ethos. “One of my pet hates is wooden boxes where the ply lids start warping and splintering after a few weeks because

they’ve been made cheaply,” says Thornton.

“Ours have a three-layer composite with an MDF centre and two veneers either side to ensure they stay dead flat and stable. It also proves an excellent surface for lasering if people want to personalise them.

“The nested design makes them suitable for smaller merchants who don’t want to have to order a pallet and use up valuable storage space – and the resulting savings in freight and distribution costs are passed on in lower unit prices, not to mention a significant reduction in carbon footprint.”

The company also offers a range of metal box lid signs, premium wine bags and hampers, and personalised gift and accessories (see opposite). For more details about its full range please visit fells. co.uk/gifts or call 01442 870 900

Metal box lid signs

An exciting new range of wooden boxes with metal sliding lids, supplied empty for customers to pack with their own wines. Inspired by old enamel French street signs and painted shop fronts, these sliding, embossed metal lids are designed to be reused as decorative wall art in and around the home. Made from recycled aluminium, they are also suitable for hanging outdoors.

Personalised gifts and accessories

In addition to its off-the-peg gift solutions, Fells can accommodate customer requests for personalised gifts using its in-house laser. Cheese boards, cheese knives, corkscrews, leather-trim aprons and wooden boxes can all be personalised in low volumes. Please contact the Fells gift team for more info.

Nested wooden boxes

These high-quality boxes offer numerous options for wine gifting and hamper use. The design incorporates a mixed selection of 24 individual boxes of different sizes within a single outer, taking up less space for the retailer. The user-friendly nested format results in a significant decrease in carbon footprint compared to individually-shipped bulk boxes. Single and double replenishment cases are also available for retailers to top up on faster-selling sizes.

Wine bags and hampers

Fells has developed an attractive range of brand new premium insulated bottle bags under the Wine Jacket brand. With its selection of handembroidered bottle bags, cotton canvas totes and nested wicker hampers, Fells is sure to have a packaging option to meet most customer demands.

giFt ideas that are Big, aNd clever

Established by John Armit in 1988, Armit Wines is a specialist importer of wines from some of the world’s most iconic producers.

The portfolio contains a wide range of gift options, including magnums, double-magnums and stylish gift packs of sought-after fine wines.

Champagne Geoffroy NV Les Houtrants Complantés Tirage 2012, gift carton (RRP £123.01)

Geoffroy is renowned for Champagnes of great freshness focused on Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The single-plot Les Houtrants cuvée is made from five varieties from a slope planted in 2004. The absence of dosage provides a pleasantly pure finish and lengthens the minerality.

Champagne Gimonnet

Special Club Grands

Terroirs de Chardonnay 2016, gift carton (RRP £74.41)

Didier and Olivier Gimonnet are carrying on the family tradition of crafting superb blanc de blancs. The house has mastered the

Chardonnay grape like no other and this extra brut cuvée is made exclusively from the best grapes from Côte des Blancs.

Giacomo Fenocchio Barolo Bussia 2019, Piedmont, magnum (RRP £138.41)

Claudio Fenocchio pursued a winemaking philosophy of “radical traditionalism” after succeeding his father Giacomo at the helm of the family business in 1989, making wines that are approachable in their youth but get even better with age. This wine spent six weeks on the skins to integrate the tannins and soften its edges before bottling.

Aton Elena Walch Pinot Noir 2018, Alto Adige, three-bottle wooden case (RRP £408.02)

Only 2,788 bottles of Elena Walch’s top Pinot Noir expression of Pinot Noir –named after the ancient Egyptian sun god Aton – were made in 2018, with grapes from vines up to 61 years old. One of the three bottles has its own cardboard gift box.

Champagne Gimonnet Millésime de Collection 2009, magnum in wooden box (RRP £182.86)

This is a limited-production 100% Chardonnay cuvée, made with grapes from old-vine premier and grand cru sites. The wine is aged for 10 years before release with an extra brut dosage providing elegance and finesse with layers of complexity and a nutty finish.

Giacomo Fenocchio Barolo Castellero 2019, Piedmont, double-magnum (RRP £298.97)

The Fennochio winery makes a point of farming organically to respect nature, producing exceptional wines that represent great value for money. Jancis Robinson called it “brooding and a little exotic on the nose with hints of dark spice”.

Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto 2022, Tuscany, double-magnum in wooden box (RRP £246.83)

The iconic Italian producer’s Guidalberto has a younger style than its celebrated sister label Sassicaia, but still with undisputed ageing prowess. It’s the result of the vision Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta, son of Sassicaia creator Mario.

CAT BRANDWOOD

The Long Run

It’s time to replace our own Ed Sheeran, so let’s see what CVs arrive this time

The Ed Sheeran lookalike has cut his hair and got himself a full-time job elsewhere in the trade (the smart haircut won’t last the month, I’m sure). I was rather sad to be losing him; after a couple of disappointing hires, he was a breath of fresh air. He also gave me a lot less shit than the ones that have been here for varying degrees of “forever”. I’d of course be completely lost without them (not that I like to tell them this too often). They’re as much a part of the business as I am and they’re forbidden from leaving. But now I must go through the process of recruitment again. It’s not like I go through it that often: I keep most of them for a couple of years (often students) and they leave to go and do whatever they’re passionate about – sometimes that’s wine. I’m immensely proud of what my team has gone on to do. I don’t have kids and so I find this a particularly rewarding part of

the job. Supporting their growth, nurturing their talent, helping develop the skills they’ll need and watching them go off and do some amazing things.

You may think that perhaps I should have been a teacher. That’s a definite no. I once lost my temper in English at a class of French kids who were being dicks (as kids are). At the end of it one raised their hand – “je ne comprends pas” – and my rather unnecessary reply of “and that’s precisely the fucking problem” sealed my fate.

When I first opened this shop, I was wading through armfuls of CVs, many of

them from candidates with half decent experience, although the stock answer of “I like white Zinfandel” when asked about wine was somewhat tiresome. When did that stop being the answer? Maybe this is the problem. Now it’s a tossup between not drinking at all or at best being able to distinguish between white and red. There is of course the occasional option three: they can name several types of wine they like, but don’t then appear to want to do the job they are paid for (“I’ve worked hard today, I think we deserve some free wine”). In truth, this comment was not uttered by a lazy wine lover but by a hire whose mother still bought all their clothes and so shivered one winter day when they didn’t have a jumper. I’m not heartless: I told them to pop out to purchase one. But no, they couldn’t possibly buy their own.

Imentioned in passing to a customer last week that I am having to recruit again. “I could help out,” she said. Now, for additional context she was buying her second bottle of wine of the day and had clearly drunk all the first bottle herself. I apparently did not look enthusiastic enough about her suggestion: “You don’t want me, do you?”. As I’m sure many of you agree, employing customers is to be very carefully considered. I couldn’t see her taking well to the mundanity of un/packing boxes. I told her that her offer was kind but that she didn’t want to be doing this job and that I was looking for someone who wants to work every Saturday. Little did I know I was digging myself deeper into this bizarre hole of her belligerence.

I keep most staff for a couple of years and they leave to do whatever they’re passionate about. Sometimes that’s wine

“I used to earn £180,000 you know – I’m not thick.” You clearly fucking are if you think I’m paying that much, I did not say. I told her how much I pay. She tried to negotiate it up. I told her no. On reflection, perhaps advising her to come back when she’s sober if she’s interested was a bit too keen-sounding. This was a week ago, and there’s no sign of her returning. So I guess it really is time to put that ad out and see what I get through the door this time.

Cat Brandwood is the owner of Toscanaccio in Winchester

Candidates will be expected to be identify at least two wine colours

Independents pride themselves on their individuality, and they reflect this through the wines on their shelves. It could be potentially rage-inducing to see exactly the same labels pop up just a stone’s throw down the road. But is it reasonable to expect suppliers to restrict their accounts?

It can be particularly dispiriting for a merchant, whether as a new kid on the block or as an established business, to be point-blank refused trade on the basis that the supplier already has customers in the area.

Graeme Woodward at Grape Minds in Oxford knows how that feels. “We’ve had suppliers that have shut us down instantly, saying ‘we’re really sorry, we work with the Oxford Wine Company and we’re not interested in working with you’,” he says. “This included a supplier that every independent had recommended to us, so I remember that being a bit of a shock.”

Trading since 2018, Grape Minds has grown to include two shops and a bar in Oxford. “Our view is very much that there’s a million and one reasons for customers not to shop with independents but rather to shop with the supermarkets, Majestics and the Wine Societies of this world,” says Woodward. “Our main competition isn’t each other. The more people that shop with independents, the better.”

Louise Oliver at Seven Cellars in Brighton, who has also had the brush-off from some suppliers, expresses her frustration at the practice. “When I first opened 10 years ago, we had to be very creative about which suppliers we could use because we found that there were so many closed doors,” she says.

“Surely we’re all about bringing good wine to people and the more people that can try a great wine, the better. I think it’s an incredibly meanspirited, mean-minded way of going about business.

“Each part of Brighton is its own little village and we [the wine merchants] are all spread out and there are enough customers to go around.”

Oliver believes there are underlying machinations. “It’s not about exclusivity because I can go a few miles down the road to Worthing and buy the same wine. It’s bogus, it’s about people being a bit precious about someone else having the wine to sell,” she says.

She also picks up the whiff of double standards.

How much should independent merchants respect each other’s territory – and is it fair to expect suppliers to restrict what they sell to your local competitor?

Report by Claire Harries and Graham Holter

“If somebody wants exclusivity, why will they then buy the same wine that I’ve been selling and have no compunction about doing that? I never object to it, because I don’t think restricting where wines can be sold is fair on the producer, I don’t think it’s fair on the importer and I really don’t think it’s fair on the customer, either.”

Elliot Awin at Awin Barratt Siegel Wine Agencies agrees to some extent. “Our goal, of course, is to sell as much wine as possible for the wineries that we represent,” he says. “If an independent says, ‘I’m not going to work with you if you sell any wine to that person, even though I don’t list it,’ then are they the sort of people we want to be working with? We have 600 plus SKUs in our portfolio, so just because someone takes 20, 30, 40 of those, it shouldn’t block the other 550.

“It’s a very sensitive subject,” he adds, “but the only way to deal with it is pragmatism, openness and lots of communication.”

“I don’t think restricting where wines can be sold is fair on the producer, the importer or the customer”

Louise Oliver Seven Cellars

For Nish Patel at The Shenfield Wine Company in Essex, open and honest communication with his reps is key.

“We have another wine merchant just 800 yards down the road, so the problem is acute,” he explains. “We had an unwritten agreement with them to respect each other’s listings and try not to duplicate things. But the new owners came and slowly these things get chipped away at. I’ve said to all my

Nish Patel

suppliers, ‘I can’t dictate to you where you’re going to sell wine, but as we’re a mature account, you have to think very hard. Do you want to do business with me? Or do you want to do business with them? Because I’m not in a position to want to sell the same products that they’re selling or will potentially be selling down the road.

“Now, who’s going to police that? No one. So, where we do have overlapping accounts, it’s up to the reps to flag things and let us know if it is already listed down the road so we can make an informed decision.”

There is a more lenient attitude towards product crossover when it comes to the more ubiquitous brands.

“There are some things you’re never going to be able to avoid, such as the big marques in Champagne,” says Patel. “But that’s not what we’re trying to sell. We’re trying to sell the brands that other people haven’t got.”

Woodward at Grape Minds adds: “We’ve had reps ask us if we’re happy if there’s any crossover, and usually we are, because we believe we offer genuine prices to customers, so if there is crossover, it shouldn’t really impact too much.”

Mark Stephenson at Grape & Grain in Morpeth is more absolute. “If you’re only buying half a dozen wines from a supplier, then I wouldn’t blame them if another opportunity came up in the area and they looked to gain ground with those instead,” he says.

“And if that happened, we would simply stop working with that supplier and look to replace their stock with others. We are always looking to offer a unique selection and it’s up to us to do that. After all, it’s a big world and there’s plenty of choice around.

“We had to completely revamp our range when a pop-up shop in the town opened which sold the vast majority of spirits and beers we did. In many cases we were the first to introduce them to the area. We now simply have a policy of not working with anyone who also works with them so that we can continue to offer a truly unique service to the local area.

“We’ve had to make some painful choices in that regard as we’ve lost some good sellers, but it has let us broaden our horizons and get some interesting stock rather than selling a product that is popular just because it’s local.”

Amore problematic situation is where a merchant has really got behind something only to have it taken away.

“We’d done a lot of work with a particular small importer, launched a lot of their products in the UK with them, established a market and created a following for them in Oxford, and then basically had it wiped away from under us,” says Woodward.

“They just went across to another independent to work exclusively with them. That really hurt.”

Awin acknowledges that it would not be acceptable, for his company at least, to pull off that kind of stunt. “We would never sell a winery, that has had a reputation in a town built up by an indie, to someone else without asking. They would have put everything into promoting that winery, time and effort and money in social media. So why let another independent capitalise on that?”

Patel observes that “selling wine is less difficult than finding the right supplier”. So it’s perhaps no surprise that long-standing relationships between a merchant and their supplier can be jealously guarded, and it’s inevitable that emotions can run high.

Awin adds: “Business is hard, and therefore people can take things very personally. I think independents have the hardest job in the wine trade, because they are often owner-operated. They are the decision maker, salesperson, merchandiser, marketeer, social media manager. They see absolutely every facet of the wine trade, and therefore they have an opinion on every single facet of it.”

“Where we do have overlapping accounts, it’s up to the reps to flag things up so we can make an informed decision.”

Nish Patel Shenfield Wine Co Louise Oliver

‘ THERE ARE A FEW WINES THAT EVERYONE WANTS. WE WANT TO ALLOCATE THOSE WINES AS FAIRLY AS POSSIBLE’

Doug Wregg

Les Caves de Pyrene director of marketing and sales

One problem is that the definition of an independent has changed. Some are purely bricks and mortar (but have a website); some offer their selection for delivery nationwide and some are straight online operations. Because of the online element of the business, an independent merchant is no longer confined to their locale. This makes maintaining exclusivity highly problematic.

We work with around 2,500 lines, and all (bar one grower’s range) are available to any independent retailer. We do not sell to supermarkets or high street chains. We try not to have preferential relationships, but obviously when we have worked well with a retailer, we definitely want to respect their sensitivities and do the best by them.

Loyalty is important to us. Transparency is essential to maintaining trust and we monitor sales of each outlet in the same area and strive to avoid overlaps. Our list is easily big

enough to accommodate more than one retailer without diluting the offering to another.

The bigger potential problem may be the prices charged by online retailers. With fewer overheads, the margins of these businesses tend to be considerably lower.

We are conscious of deliberate price undercutting taking place. We do occasional spot checks on retail prices online and if we discover any anomalies we flag these with the appropriate sales representative. Of course, the prices charged for the wines will never be the same – and we can’t dictate how people run their businesses or the margins they make. But the differences should never be too great.

Like everything in life, compromise is the best way, and normally we can finesse things. As I say, being open with your retail customers is the best approach. There are a few wines that everyone wants – we want to allocate as fairly as possible and give all customers the opportunity to buy those wines. If there is enough to go round, it would be invidious to offer to one customer and exclude another.

Customer loyalty is prized by suppliers

‘ EXCLUSIVITY OF

PRODUCT

IS SOMETHING THAT EVERY MERCHANT DESIRES. THIS IS A CONSTANT CHALLENGE’

Robin Knapp

Hallgarten & Novum Wines director of regional sales

At Hallgarten Wines, we make our entire portfolio available to independent wine merchants across the country, including everything from our selection of fine wines to bin ends, as we believe that each of the amazing wine producers we work with should be able to sell their wines into both hospitality and retail sectors.

Through our quarterly promotional magazine, Assemblage, we cherry-pick wines from our full portfolio and discount them exclusively for independent wine merchants.

There are of course a few grey areas here, and essentially it comes down to exclusivity of product: something that every wine merchant, and restaurant, desires. This is a constant challenge, particularly when we are working with a number of businesses, in different sectors, in a local area.

We are occasionally confronted with a situation where, in a small town, we may be supplying wine into a group of nationwide restaurants, an independently-owned restaurant and an independent wine merchant. In this situation, we would look to provide exclusive labels to the nationwide restaurants and find a balance between offering the full range to the independent merchant and restaurant, whilst ensuring both had exclusivity on specific wines.

Our nationwide sales team have the luxury of a large portfolio, with over 1,400 wines at their disposal, so are able to effectively manage each of their territories, ensuring all local businesses are able to maximise their wine offerings.

We don’t have any hard and fast guidelines as such. We take look at each situation in isolation and ensure all parties are happy and understand the need to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

Alex Gittins Boutinot head of independents

When the company started, long before my time, independent wholesalers became a key part of the business for us. And quite early on there was a decision made not to tread on their patches. That, in turn, has led to really good loyalty, and very good distribution, across the whole country. With that comes with the need for them to have some wines that they feel are their own. We have a huge challenge trying to manage that. Sometimes we might have four or five labels for the same liquid. It’s important we get that right.

It’s important that independent regional wholesalers feel secure. We respect the fact that they need a degree of exclusivity in their area. That does throw up obvious challenges. You might be in an area where we have very good distribution through wholesale, we have a couple of very good retailers, and we are at almost saturation point. Every month there’ll be a situation that comes up where we have to ask if we can work with someone.

We don’t want to turn business away. But there needs to be degree of understanding that if we open an account in a busy area, there may be wines that we can’t offer.

We have a duty to our agencies to give them good distribution, and that’s not always easy: we have plenty of great wines that don’t get enough distribution. I think most of our customers would accept that. I guess the challenges come more regionally where retailers feel they have an area for themselves.

“Accounts

need some wines that they feel are their own. Sometimes we might have four or five labels for the same liquid.”

Alex Gittins

Boutinot

We try not to shut the doors completely. At the same time, we have to respect the business we’ve got and what someone’s built up: it’s not really us building that business up, it’s that customer doing a great job for us. The reality is, if an independent is doing good business in a small town, they would be concerned if a potential rival opened up. That’s not to say we would definitely not deal with the newer store, or that we would. I think we’d always like to try and find a way to work with someone, because we have a huge range of wines, certainly on the agency side, that we really need distribution for.

So it’s tricky, and there are no hard and fast rules. Every situation can have so many nuances.

Winemaker Profile

Henry Laithwaite Harrow & Hope, Marlow

When you chose your site, was the decision based on science or on gut feel?

Bit of both, really. You do get a good feel about a site just by standing in the middle, even on a wet February day. But we’d done our research on the local geology and were aware of the chalk groups/ formations and the Thames Gravel terraces that sit on the hill tops. Once we started prepping the soil, we got a better idea of differing soil types and where each variety should be focused. Fifteen years later, I’m glad to say we wouldn’t have changed much with the extra knowledge we now possess.

Tell us a little bit about your terroir and the challenges it presents.

The main issue in the early years was the sheer volume of gravel and flint. It looked great but because I had decided never to use herbicide it meant that mechanical weeding and tillage caused a lot of damage to tractors, harrows – where the name comes from – and dog paws! On the plus side, the stones gave amazing drainage and heat retention. The irony now is we have moved to no-till organic farming so life is a lot easier on machinery.

What was the best advice you were given in the early days?

It was probably from Dr Tony Jordan, our mentor. He said make sure you get the grapes as ripe as possible, don’t overcrop, and start building up your reserves from day one. All still hold very true today.

You’re devoted entirely to sparkling wine. Is that a policy you're ever tempted to revisit?

We’ve dabbled in the hot years with still wine but I’ve never been convinced. Our site, being on chalk and focused on Champagne clones, is all geared to producing sparkling. If I was to focus on still I’d choose a different site, soil and clones.

How would you describe your winemaking style, if it’s possible to generalise?

These days we’re pretty minimalist. Everything is now certified organic; we ferment everything using ambient/wild yeast and sulphur levels are at an all-time low. We ferment about 50% in used oak 500-litre puncheons, but the focus has always been on ripe fruit without overbearing acidity. Yeast age is a minimum of three years but we’re hoping to slowly push that out over the coming years.

What changes have you made to the way you

Henry Laithwaite's pioneering Harrow & Hope estate in Marlow specialises in sparkling wine, available to indies via Jeroboams Trade jeroboamstrade. co.uk 020 7288 8888

Sponsored feature

work over the years?

As above, really. In the early days I’d never produced a bottle of sparkling, always made red wine. So we kept it pretty safe and by the book. But the more confidence you get in your site and the fruit, you then start to ask why you are doing certain things. Going by the book was starting to cause more issues than it solved. Hence why we eventually moved to organics and the winemaking processes that followed. The conversion period was hairy at times but now the vines seem stronger and healthier than they’ve ever been, with all the benefits that come with that.

In the UK we tend to regard climate change as good news for our vineyards. But is the reality more complex than that?

Always. It makes frost more of a risk because of freakishly warm periods in March. There’s an increased chance of heavy rain during the summer months. Yes it is undoubtedly warmer, but increased warmth and humidity causes greater disease risk. Just look at how quickly disease can spread in Bordeaux. Overall it does give you a greater chance of getting the grapes ripe, but I’d happily give up making wine in the UK if I could reverse climate change.

Your dad, Tony Laithwaite, is a pretty good judge of wine. What has he made of your efforts? I think he’s just happy to see me doing what I love. Laithwaites is known as a wine merchant, but we’ve always run vineyards and produced wine, so it’s in the blood. The most important thing Dad always said is that anyone can make wine, but selling is the hardest. You need a strong story and identity to give people a reason to buy, then hopefully the quality will keep them coming back.

Rosé 2020

From a very ripe, low yielding and concentrated vintage. Assemblage method with 7% red wine addition. Punchy, bright, red Pinot character and a soft, elegant, lengthy palate.

RRP £35.95

into a very

wine.

RRP

Brut Reserve No 8

The eighth release of our multi-vintage blend based on 2019 with 20% perpetual reserves held in oak. Toasty richness balanced against bright red fruit.

RRP £33.50

Blanc de Blancs 2018 Wine GB Trophy winner 50% fermented in oak puncheons and developing

complex

Apple tart and cream with a very fine and lingering finish.

£39.95

Delamain celebrates in style

As this famous Cognac house marks its 200th anniversary, Delamain has two premium launches to delight its followers, joining a line-up that already includes single-cask expressions and the iconic Pale & Dry XO.

New cellar master Charles Braastad talks to Sarah McCleery

This year marks the bicentenary of Delamain Cognac, and a change of cellar master: momentous times for one of the region’s most highly regarded houses.

Ninth generation and a direct descendant of James Delamain, Charles Braastad has Delamain Cognac running through his veins. He has also been working at the house for more than 25 years, the last seven as managing director.

Still, it’s hard not to wonder if the job doesn’t feel just a bit burdensome, especially with oil-painted ancestors peering down on him from the office walls. “I have been preparing for this job for 28 years,” he responds. “I’ve been tasting the Cognacs, working in the vineyards, in sales and in marketing. Latterly I have been running the business, and now I am the cellar master. Sure, there’s pressure, not least to continue and maintain the style of the iconic Pale & Dry XO which has been made for over 100 years.”

So, is he having fun? “Of course. Meeting longstanding clients, having nice dinners with them and drinking great Cognac – it’s fun! With the Pale & Dry XO it is important to maintain its style and character when blending, With the single-cask Pléiade Cognacs there is more opportunity to be creative: they give the chance to select different styles and to tell their story.”

Pléiade – a cluster of stars – also refers to a collection of writings of some of France’s greatest poets and writers. It is a fitting name for a fine

L’Oiseau Rare, a blend of very old eaux-devie aged in a foudre, will be a permanent addition to the Delamain range

collection of unique Cognacs. Take, for instance, Domaine La Rambaudie: a Cognac made from an exceptional 21-hectare vineyard in Grande Champagne, bordering the woods in Malaville. The Cognac is aged in 350-litre well-seasoned Limousin oak barrels, in a small 13th century vaulted cellar with a full south-facing exposure.

Launched this year, L’Oiseau Rare will be a permanent addition to the Delamain range and is the creation of Braastad’s predecessor, Dominique Touteau. A blend of unique, very old (in some cases over 60 years in age), eaux-de-vie, the Cognac is aged in a foudre housed in the Grand Chai in Jarnac.

Explaining the name, Braastad says: “The literal translation is ‘rare bird’, but in France we say l’oiseau rare when we talk of exceptional people, who really stand out.

“It seemed a fitting name for that reason, but also because my ancestor, Jacques Delamain, was a reputed ornithologist whose book, Why the Birds Sing, is still read today.”

The bottle is simply stunning and includes engravings of robins, swallows and orioles, amongst other local birds. There is a kestrel, highlighted in gold. “It is a very elegant and fruity Cognac,” Braastad says.

There is a still grander bicentennial creation underway at Delamain: a unique 10-litre blend of extra-old Cognacs, containing eaux-de-vie selected and nurtured by five cellar masters over the course of a century. Named L’Edition Rare du Bicentenaire,

this is set to be a Cognac like no other, the blend including eaux de vie from the 19th century. It is pleasingly touching that it was created by both Braastad and Touteau.

The bottle is being decorated by the elite jeweller and goldsmith Goossens. This exceptional piece of craftsmanship will include 245 individuallyhammered pieces, including leaves, grapes, birds and other references to nature. Delamain has released teasers on its Instagram account, giving no doubt as to the impressive final look.

The bottle will be sold at an online auction by Bonhams between November 17 and December 6. It seems impossible to imagine what the final hammer price will be, but with Braastad heading out on a global roadshow to promote the bottle to Delamain’s most loyal clients, you’d have to think the number will be substantial. There will be a limited release of just 200 bottles of the Cognac in sandblasted bottles and wooden boxes, with the asking price set to be between €6,000 and €7,000.

Braastad’s eyes twinkle with excitement when he talks about L’Edition Rare du Bicentenaire, an expression he sustains when he returns to Pale & Dry XO which is “a high-end Cognac, made from Grande Champagne vineyards. It is delicate and subtle; a noninterventionist Cognac, with no caramel, no sugar.”

To join in the bicentenary celebrations from a distance, Braastad has some tried and tested ways to enjoy the Pale & Dry XO. “Don’t add ice, which can give it a soapy taste … but you can chill it to minus 18 degrees, in the freezer!”

It was Touteau who discovered frozen Pale & Dry XO’s potential. “He was very imaginative, innovative and liked to cook … he just decided to try it one day,” Braastad says.

“It’s amazing. The Pale & Dry XO comes out so aromatic and then continues to release its power and taste.” He adds: “Pale & Dry XO is very good as a digestif, as we all know, but it’s also very good with desert – an apple tart, for example.”

The long-standing excellence of Pale & Dry XO is a testament to the people who have contributed to its continuity – from vineyard to cellar – since 1920. To enjoy a glass is to celebrate them. IN ASSOCIATION

Above: Charles Braastad has been preparing for the new role “for 28 years” Below: Delamain Pale & Dry XO, straight from the freezer

New discoveries on the Setúbal Peninsula

We’re back in our favourite region of Portugal where a host of winemakers are keen to show us the fruits of their latest labours

The Setúbal Peninsula has given The Wine Merchant a warm welcome for three summers in succession, each time with a different group of indies eager to make their own discoveries in this friendly region just south of Lisbon.

This is a land influenced by two rivers and the Atlantic Ocean where many grape varieties thrive, and experimentation continues. But there are a few varieties that dominate the picture.

Castelão is the most important red grape. It’s often blended (it makes up at least two thirds of wines from the Palmela DO) but on its own it’s noted for its red-fruit character. Aged versions, particularly from older vines, can be rich and multi-layered.

Among the whites, Fernão Pires is prized for its versatility. Again, it’s common to find it within a blend, with its fruity, aromatic character combining well with varieties such as Arinto, Chardonnay or sometimes

Producers on the 2024 itinerary

Adega de Palmela

A cooperative of 300 growers, accounting for 15% of the region’s vineyards. Like most producers in the Peninsula, its focus was originally on bulk wines, but now it bottles under its own name, specialising in blends of local grapes.

Quinta do Piloto

Filipe Cardoso is the fourth-generation winemaker at this Palmela producer, which has been releasing wines carrying its own name since 2013. A restless innovator and experimenter, Cardoso seems to enjoy tasting his own creations as much as his guests do.

even Sauvignon Blanc.

Then there’s the fortified wine, which comes in two forms: the widely-planted Moscatel de Setúbal (the local variant of Muscat of Alexandria) and the onceendangered Moscatel Roxo.

Both are made by stopping fermentation with brandy, followed by a period of ageing to bring out the nuances and complexity prized by consumers. Moscatel de Setúbal, frequently enjoyed as an aperitif, often has gorgeous notes of honey and orange blossom, underpinned by a keen acidity. Moscatel Roxo, typically more perfumed, is savoured locally after a meal.

We asked our five independent guests to give us their impressions of what they discovered in the Setúbal Peninsula, and you can read what they had to say on the following pages. For four of them, it was a first visit to the region. But for one of them, the surroundings were very familiar.

José Maria da Fonseca

Founded in 1834, this is one of Portugal’s oldest wine producers. We try some highlights from its range in their natural environment, over lunch, before a tour of the ancient, atmospheric cellar where there is Moscatel de Setúbal dating back to 1880.

Venâncio da Costa Lima

This fourth-generation family business is proud of the awards it has won for its Moscatels. Its new winemaker João Ramos has big shoes to fill but is already thinking about some new ideas, including barrel fermentation of Castelão.

Adega de Pegões

Another cooperative, which caps its membership at 100 and describes its range

as “good, cheap and beautiful”. The business has been investing in high-tech winery equipment and increasing its output of white and rosé wines.

Adega Fernão Pó

Winemaker João Palhoça, charismatic grandson of the winery’s founder, has firm views about what works best in Setúbal, all rooted in science and experimentation. He only makes the wines he wants to drink, and always enjoys them with food.

Herdade de Espirra

Peacocks dart among Espirra’s old Castelão vines, which are lovingly nurtured by Ana Varandas. The fruit is all foot-trodden and the wines have a bracing freshness, even after a year in French oak and bottle ageing.

Peninsula

In association with

Sociedade Vinícola de Palmela

Dating back to 1964, this cooperative is owned by around 50 farmers. The group bottles some of its wines under the Serra Mãe label which are imported by Raymond Reynolds.

Horácio Simões

This business started out in 1910 and takes its inspiration from the ideals of its patriarch, who died in 2019. Highlights include old-vine Bastardo aged in old oak.

FR Wines

Pharmacist Filipe Rodrigues makes adventurous wines from the vineyards he’s gradually acquired or planted. He likes to blend his Castelão and uses Arinto as the backbone of his white wines.

Quinta de Catralvos

This estate has a thriving tourist trade and produces the full gamut of wines – red, white, rosé, sparkling and fortified. The oak influence is unobtrusive and well judged.

A Serenada

Old-vine Castelão and gastronomic whites are Serenada’s hallmark, with Old Vine Cepas Cinquentenario Branco – a barrelfermented field blend of five varieties –arguably the highlight.

Cadeado Wines

Consultant winemaker Mafalda Saianda makes some enjoyable Castelão-led blends, an elegant strawberries-and-cream rosé and a beautifully fresh Antão Vaz with enticing brioche notes.

Jean Carlos Grega Cambridge Wine Merchants

For Grega, the trip was both a homecoming – he spent his formative years in the town of Setúbal –and a pleasant surprise.

“I left Setúbal in 2005 and at the time we didn’t have any singlevarietal wine and nearly everything was supermarket wine,” he says. “Now they have amazing wines, including single varietals. The 100% Castelão wines are fantastic and really interesting for indies.”

Grega’s highlights from the trip include the Quinta do Piloto wines (“great balance with full flavour”) and José Maria de Fonseca’s Moscatels – especially the 1998 Moscatel de Setúbal Superior. In this wine, the fermentation is halted not with neutral spirit but with Cognac. The effect is incredible, adding a dried-fruit note in place of the familiar orange, as well as hints of caramel and coffee.

Graeme Woodward

Grape Minds, Oxford and Wallingford

Woodward names Adega de Palmela as a highlight of the visit.

“I was really impressed,” he says. “I thought their entry-level wines, their Moscatel de Setúbal and a couple of their better wines were actually really good. I could envisage us ordering mixed pallets regularly.”

Like others in the group, Woodward was also impressed by Adega de Pegões’ Fonte do Nico 2023, a 9.5% abv white with about 8g/l of residual sugar and some light carbonation. An easygoing blend of Moscatel and Fernão Pires, it shows surprising depth and minerality for a wine this light. “For €1 [ex cellars] it will be a steal,” he says.

His take-away from the trip is that the region is “clearly making great wines, particularly at the entry level” which could help indies looking for on-the-shelf bargains and regulars for their wholesale lists.

The group with Filipe Cardoso at Quinta do Piloto

Marc Hough

Cork of the North, Manchester

Pleasure you can’t measure

Visiting Setúbal was fascinating – and with its unique climate and terroir, it wasn’t difficult to recognise why it is such a perfect location for viniculture, as it is influenced by the proximity of both the sea and the hills.

Before this visit, the only wine from the region that I was very aware of was Moscatel de Setúbal, and I hadn’t really come across their main red grape –Castelão – very much at all. But I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that not only does Castelão make delicious wines, but it’s such a versatile variety. Not only does it work well on its own, but it is often a real revelation in blends, with indigenous grapes like Touriga Nacional, but also with international varieties, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.

Another important discovery for me was how wildly different the Castelão could be, depending on the winemakers.

We had young Castelão wines – like the ones made by Ana Varandas at Herdade de Espirra – which had a really racy acidity

Marc Hough

to them, and those contrasted massively with the big, bold, rounder wines aged in oak that we sampled. Throw in old-vine Castelão, and even carbonic maceration Castelão, and you have an enormously broad range of styles.

Ienjoyed many of the white wines we sampled on this trip. I am quite familiar with the local grape Fernão Pires, and I already stock wines made under the grape’s other name, Maria Gomes, which are zippy, zesty whites made to be drunk young. When blended with Arinto, Fernão Pires is a real winner for me, and sure to be a real crowd pleaser for the UK market. It’s fantastically fresh. But another revelation on this trip was trying oak-aged Fernão Pires, and also those blended with Chardonnay, which were delicious.

At Quinta do Piloto, I was fascinated to learn how using the power of gravity in the winery enables them to keep their carbon footprint low, but of course the most impressive thing about that place is the undeniable quality of their wines.

White-wise, their unfortified Moscatel is sublime, but it is slightly puzzling. It is so fragrant on the nose you believe it will taste sweet, but on the palate it’s as dry as bone, which kinda messes with your head, but in a good way. I can see this wine would be an incredible pairing with sushi, or even Thai food that is heavily-laden with red chilli. This would comfortably sit on the shelf at a retail price of just under £20, which offers incredible value.

Piloto’s stand-out red is Alfrocheiro – an incredibly juicy and rewarding red with intense aromas of rhubarb and raspberry that follow through effortlessly onto the palate. I already stock this wine, as

Raymond Reynolds currently imports it –and I will be on the phone to Raymond this week to ask if he can also start to import the Piloto Reserva too, which is epic.

Piloto’s fortified Moscatel de Setúbal is the real star of the show, though. It has the trademark syrupy orange flavour you would of course expect, but also boasts an exhilarating freshness which made it really stand out from many of the other fortified Moscatels we tried on the trip.

José Maria da Fonseca showed us some fantastic wines. I particularly liked Periquita Reserva 2022 – a blend of Castelão, Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca. Apparently, this is a very famous and historic wine, as it was the first red wine to be bottled in Portugal. It is brimming with both black and red fruit flavours, and is soft and round.

I absolutely adored the fortified and aged Moscatel de Setúbal made by José Maria da Fonseca, especially the ones aged in Cognac/Armagnac and acacia barrels. The

profiles of these fortified Moscatels vary so much: from the juicy, fresh and orangey style that works just as well as an aperitif or even as a long drink with tonic to the dark, rich, raisiny style that works as an obvious digestif, with a slice of blue cheese, or even a cigar in a leather armchair … I was asked which style of Moscatel I liked best, and I said that I couldn’t pick out a favourite. That would be like asking which one of my girlfriends I prefer. Both are beautiful, but are suited for different occasions.

Now onto Fernão Pó. I was blown away by the wines produced here, and by the enigmatic winemaker João Palhoça, whose scientific approach to the intricacies of winemaking had me both fascinated and flabbergasted.

All of his wines were incredibly impressive. The white we tried, the ASF Branco 2021, was a revelation. Made with the Viosinho grape, it is tangy and zesty, a

mouthwatering fruit-bomb that explodes on the palate and reminds you of lemon sherbet bonbons. Reds-wise, his Fernão Po 2019 is a beautiful easy-drinker, made with 50% Cabernet and 50% Castelão. I can see this would work very well in the UK, with black fruit notes, and a hint of chocolate on the finish. The ASF red 2019 was another standout: pure, concentrated fruit, a bit more complex, but with a great acidity to give it lift and elegance. Excellent.

But for me, the star of the show – and perhaps my favourite wine of the entire trip – was his ASF Reserva 2019, a blend of Tannat and Touriga Nacional. It is truly outstanding: rich and complex with dense, dark fruit, and a nice acidity to balance out the haunting, savoury quality.

I’m in discussions with another merchant about bringing his wines to the UK – they really are something else. Every now and again, when I come across wines as good as these, it reminds me just why I am in this business. It’s pleasure you can’t measure.

Jonathan Cocker

Martinez Wines, West Yorkshire

“Setúbal has that raw undiscovered feel to it, which is always exciting to an independent,” says Cocker. “New grapes, new tastes, new discoveries.”

“At Quinta do Piloto I found my favourite entry-level Moscatel de Setúbal and a new Reserva,” he says. “The winemaker, Filipe Cardoso, has excellent wine knowledge and communication skills and of course the wines are great too.”

Cocker also picks out José Maria de Fonseca – “great wines, an interesting and beautiful winery and some fantastic aged Moscatel” – and Adega de Pegões.

He has already started ordering Fonte do Nico. “With the new duty increases this wine will be very affordable and will get Martinez in the door with wholesale customers,” he says. “Also the 9.5% volume will help with the growing trend towards lower alcohol consumption.”

Corinne Anderson

The General Wine Company, Hampshire

“Herdade de Espirra was beautiful,” says Anderson. "I enjoyed walking around the vineyard and seeing the old Castelão vines and the traditional lagares.”

Anderson’s highlights include Fernão Pó ASF Reserve Red – “a great range of flavours from red fruits through to mocha and dried fruits” – and Quinta do Piloto 10-year-old Moscatel de Setúbal with its “well-integrated flavours of orange blossom, dried fig and walnut”.

Anderson discovered some “hidden gems … wines which are gastronomically friendly and offer great quality,” she says. “The people of Setúbal are proud and humble and there is great character to be found in the wines and the people of the region.”

Moscatel de Setúbal and pastel de nata: a winning combination

Heading for the home of Riesling

Schloss Johannisberg in Rheingau claims to be the birthplace of Riesling.

There’s over a thousand years of winemaking history on the estate, thanks to its origins as a Benedictine monastery, and it has been exclusively Riesling since 1720. This rich history is worn lightly, as under the stewardship of Stefan Doktor there is continuing innovation and experimentation that ensures Schloss Johannisberg remains synonymous with some of the world’s finest Rieslings.

Driving from Frankfurt airport, following the rather swollen River Rhine, we reach the castle, whose gates are festooned with banners for the forthcoming music festival. Not only famous for its wine, Schloss Johannisberg has a distinctive fairytale air; a castle rising from a perfectly manicured courtyard, surrounded by 50 hectares of vineyard, high above Oestrich-Winkel, it has obvious appeal as a venue for weddings and concerts.

We are met by Stefan Doktor who has been with the company since 2008 and at the helm as managing director for the past eight years, and he takes us in his jeep for a vineyard tour. Whizzing past the medieval church, beehives and “Goethe’s Viewpoint”, and then down among the vines, I remember that Doktor is a champion luger, bobsledding for his native Slovakia as well as representing Germany in the sport, and double-check our seatbelts are securely fastened. But he takes it easy on us and we come to a sedate stop so we can get down to some tasting.

“The vines are planted on 45-degree slopes,” explains Doktor. “Riesling needs long sunny days and this steep angle affords the highest degree of sun influence.

“What is really nice in our region is that you always have differences in vintages. Schloss Johannisberg is not only the name for the castle and the winery but it is the name for this vineyard, and every one of our bottles is a single vineyard wine and we only have only a single grape variety, so vintages help us get more complexity in the portfolio.”

In the vineyard we taste Gelblack Riesling Trocken 2023, which is a cool light

Claire Harries and a group of three independents take a brief but memorable trip to Schloss Johannisberg – one of the most iconic and historically important wine estates in the Rheingau, and arguably the whole of Germany

yellow with nectarines and other stone fruits on the nose. Doktor says: “What I really like about this Gelblack is there is very nice complexity. That’s what makes it so interesting because it’s much deeper and concentrated with high acidity. 2023 was a vintage with slight rain, but it was warm and when you have humidity in the soil, the grapes are full and rich and the plants are very healthy. It is still very young, so the primary aromas of the grapes are showing. With ageing, that will settle down a little bit.”

Over a picnic lunch Doktor explains his work launching a new classification, Rheingau Riesling. “The point is to create something easily recognisable so the consumer knows what to expect,” he says. “A prime example of that is the success of Picpoul de Pinet, and it is even more easy to associate as the appellation includes the name of the grape variety.”

The Prince Metternic Rheingau Riesling,

2023 (named for the Austrian who was gifted the estate after the Napoleonic wars) is the first bottle to carry this new classification. “Riesling shows so many beautiful faces. The RR is fresh, fruity, very well balanced and easy to drink,” says Doktor.

For the UK market, where consumers can find German labelling confusing, an easy signpost such as RR could go a long way to promote quality German wines. But how long do these things take to catch on? Doktor is in no hurry. “It takes a generation to create an icon. You need time,” he says.

Of course, this medieval castle comes with a very deep and expansive cellar and we journey down 8.5 metres below the earth to wonder at the treasures beneath. The abbey cellar is the home of the Bibliotheca Subterranea, housing around 25,000 wines dating back to 1748.

“We like to let Riesling age for a long time and the temperature down here is a very steady 10.5 degrees, whether it is August or January,” says Doktor.

The determination of the vines is evident in the cellar as we see the roots working their way inexorably through the earth and looping poetically near the bottles.

“This is quartzite and loam, so you can see how the root system gets its water and all the minerals. This is why you can keep bottles of Riesling for 200 years because of its very high mineral content.”

Aside from the prized bottles, there are barrels of varying sizes, all made from oak taken from the 250 hectares of forest owned by the estate. “The wood is seasoned outside for at least four years in the rain, wind, snow and everything, so it is less aromatic,” Doktor explains.

Stefan Doktor, Schloss Johannisberg’s MD

“Riesling doesn’t need aromatic wood but it helps us get a good structure in the wine. Every wine has a distinct place in the vineyard and a distinct way in which we work pressing the grapes, the skin contact and the kind of yeast used, as well as the time spent in the barrel.”

Back above ground in the warmth of the sun, we discuss alcohol levels and how climate change might make those lower ABVs harder to achieve.

“I do a lot of sport and I don’t like to suffer under alcohol and that’s why it’s good to get density and concentration without alcohol muscle,” Doktor says.

A lot of the estate’s wines have comparatively low ABV, including a winner from this year’s Wine Merchant Top 100, Schloss Johannisberg 50 Degree Riesling at 11.5% and Silberlack 2022 at 12%. “I see how the plants completely assimilate to the climate and how they can deal with it, so I’m not afraid of climate change in that respect. It’s also about canopy management and all the knowledge we have at our disposal.”

After a tasting where we are lucky enough to try the limited-edition ExBibliotheca Cuvee 100, we agree that while drawing on the knowledge and expertise of the previous millennia, Doktor isn’t afraid of being creative, and the result is a diverse portfolio of wines that delighted our merchants who can’t wait to introduce them to their customers.

Wines that show the true versatility

Schloss Johannisberg has three quality levels of wine: Bronzelack, Silberlack and Goldlack. “If you have a single vineyard with one grape variety, and you want to make three different types of dry Riesling, I believe you need to make them have big differences,” says Stefan Doktor, “and we have done that in the hope it will help people understand Riesling. Each step is from a different place in the vineyard and has a different character.”

Bronzelack Trocken 2023

RRP £48

“This wine represents the coldest part of the vineyard and is a true representation of the terroir. It’s aged only for four or five months, 50% in barrel, 50% in tank, so it comes relatively fresh into the bottle. This is made for Riesling-crazy people and James Suckling was crazy for this wine. People might say the acidity is high but if you look for truly a Rheingau style without the higher-end sweetness, you will get this really mineral style. There are flavours of citrus, lime and grapefruit and it has a very intense finish.”

stainless tank before bottling. Here there is also 10% of skin fermented Riesling. It’s a great food pairing wine, which could age for 30 years and is now beginning to show its complexity. It has a combination of citrus and stone fruit, but also some sweet spices and herbs and maybe a slight kiss from the oak.”

Goldlack Trocken 2021

RRP £245

“Immediately you can tell this is a completely different dimension of Riesling. Already it is complex because you have the cold environment of the storage in the Bibliotheca for a long time, and you can feel the influence of the oak barrel, but this is something that becomes completely integrated; tasting the 2019 vintage, you don’t feel it anymore. It has flavours of pithy lemon, a bit of saffron and dry flowers on the nose.”

Silberlack GG 2022

RRP £76

“This comes from one terrace above the Bronzelack vines, so a little bit higher, on the south western part. It’s fermented in barrel and spends a year in

Victoria Vereha

Cellar Door Wines, St Albans

Orangelack Kabinett 2023

RRP to be confirmed

“The first Orangelack since 1971. I said to my team, ‘forget everything you think you know about Kabinett and let’s create something new’. We spent €100,000 on a new basket press because everything is about belief. Flavours of rose petals, orange peel and ginger with a slight hint of root vegetables in the depths. It has 35g of residual sugar and it’s great because you have the strong aroma and the acidity is so balanced.”

Riesling is one of the most essential wines at our shop. Apart from Germany, we have Riesling from Ukraine, Alsace, New Zealand, Slovenia, Canada, Bulgaria, Austria, South Africa, Australia and the USA. But mostly customers ask for Riesling from Germany. Having Schloss Johannisberg would be a cherry on the top as our customers love rich history and interesting stories about wines.

I was really impressed by how versatile the grape can be. I had no idea that you can get so many styles from one variety. I’m not usually a fan of medium or sweet wine, I always prefer dry, but Riesling from Schloss Johannisberg changed my mind by showing that medium and sweet wines can be more elegant, soft and enjoyable.

versatility of Riesling in a special terroir

Grünlack Spätlese 2022

RRP £56

Schloss Johannisberg accidentally created an entirely new style of wine, Spätlese, in 1775 when the courier carrying the grapes for approval arrived late, delaying the start of the harvest. By that time the grapes were covered in noble rot, in those days completely unknown to winemakers. But they decided to go ahead and since then Spätlese has been a trademark of Schloss Johannisberg.

“Beautiful intense aroma, still with citrus and stone fruit,” says Doktor. “It’s unbelievably intense on the palate. It works so well with Asian and Mexican cuisine.”

Rosalack Auslese 2023

RRP £91

“This is a noble sweet wine but we are not creating a very rich Auslese; this is more spicy and mineral driven rather than very sweet. Botrytis usually overpowers the wine and that is all you can taste, but with this wine we don’t allow it to do that. Instead we have the mineral character of the quartzite stone and Riesling with the help of the citrus and exotic fruit notes.”

back to 1915. Next year is the 250th anniversary of Spätlese and as very few people in the world have tasted 100-yearold wine, this wine, partially made from old vintages, will make that possible. We cannot list every vintage but there is a high portion from the 40s, 60s and 70s as well as 1915.

“The first challenge was to taste all the bottles and not make a mistake because you have some cork issue and it goes into the blend, everything is destroyed. So we carefully chose the wines and created a blend. It came through the filtration process to become even purer without losing any of the complexity. This was a creative process and I love it. You can open a bottle of wine that costs £50 or £100 and say it tastes expensive but it could be from anywhere. But this wine is truly unique.”

Purpurlack Beerenauslese 2003

RRP £176

Ex-Bibliotheca Cuvee 100 Spätlese

Price on application

Cuvee 100 is a blend of vintages going

Mirka Kohutova

The Salusbury Wine Store, west London

Riesling is a must-have category in our wine shop. Especially in summer when people prefer lighter and fresher styles of wine with more delicate fruit aromas and flavours. Sweeter styles are more sought after for pairing with curries and Asian dishes. The portfolio of wines we tasted at Schloss Johannisberg would fit perfectly in our range.

The Silberlack GG 2022 was showing beautifully in the glass. It’s got everything I love in wine. It’s big and complex but elegant and precise at the same time, with lovely notes of ripe citrus, peaches, hint of lemongrass and Asian spices not to mention the long ageing potential.

“We created three noble wines this year and this was described by one critic as the best in our history. So we have botrytis Riesling Beerenauslese which typically has a very complex nose and high sweetness. What is unusual is the acidity which is really high. A beautiful combination of exotic fruits, orange and apricot marmalade and some marzipan and a bit of coconut. You need a very experienced cellar master to get this right and it was a lot of hard work but at the end you have 100 litres of this wine. It's a high price but it's great stuff.”

Marcus Breese

The Grape to Glass, Rhos-on-Sea, north Wales

To try the Cuvee 100, containing a blend of vintages going back to 1915, was absolutely incredible. It spoke volumes of the consistency in quality Schloss Johannisberg delivers every year.

Just stunning!

The passion and pride in making the best Riesling possible was wonderful to see as well as the commitment to biodiversity in the vineyard, the place was full of bees, butterflies, deer and birds. The entire experience was like going back in time.

As Stefan said when explaining this wine, you can sometimes try to push the boundaries and you can make a beautiful wine, but this is truly exceptional and like no other you’ve ever tasted. Credit must be given to Stefan and his team as they continue to push these boundaries.

Before going to Schloss Johannisberg, I very much preferred a dry style of Riesling. However the quality of these semi-sweet wines have now made me rethink that and I will enjoy a Spätlese style more often.

Riesling is very important to us as a category at The Grape to Glass as it provides diversity across our range. Most of our dry style Rieslings come from Germany and Austria and off-dry Rieslings mostly from Australia, the USA, and only a couple from Germany.

In terms of German Riesling, both dry and off-dry have slipped under the radar for our customers; they favour other dry wines, and only buy off-dry wines on occasion, for pairing with food or for their lower alcohol content. I think this is about to change as we forget that Germany is the origin of Riesling and after visiting Schloss Johannisberg, I believe they’re the ones who do it best, so it’s time we remind our customers of that and tell the story.

A world of whisky

There’s no such thing as “world whisky”, of course. It denotes neither a particular style nor mode of production, but it has become a handy catch-all for anything not from Scotland, Ireland or the US. We might just as easily use the term “other”, but it wouldn’t be so evocative.

Wherever the definition falls, there’s no disputing that the modern consumer’s spirit of adventure has thrown the spotlight on this broad category, among Gen Zs and millennials in particular.

Brands are proliferating. Cask Liquid Marketing is the UK home to the highlyrated Australian producer Starward and Canada’s Signal Hill.

Speciality Brands has been at the forefront of bringing such whiskies to the UK, and has amassed a portfolio that includes the highly-rated Kavalan from Taiwan, India’s Amrut, and Chichubu and Nikka from Japan.

Mangrove has a portfolio that comprises Mexico (Absalo), Denmark (Stauning), Texas (Balcones), Canada (red Bank and Bearface), New Zealand (Poleno) and Japan (Akashi) – and it’s the official distributor for Norfolk-based English Whisky Co.

The Scotland-centric nature of the global whisky market gives some legitimacy to throwing the relatively young English whisky-making movement into the “world” umbrella, and such producers give England’s independent retailers the opportunity to embrace the spirit as a local product.

Producers of note include Cotswolds – founded by the New York financier Daniel Szor, who saw the barley fields of rural Oxfordshire as the ideal setting to pursue his whisky-making dream – and the Lakes Distillery, intriguingly bought by English wine producer Nyetimber for £46m this year.

SPIRITS TRENDS

Nigel Huddleston examines four major trends in a dynamic drinks category

The agave conundrum

Tequila continues to be a tricky one. The modern industry’s preferred narrative is that shots have been banished and the category has become all about sophisticated cocktails and sipping, led by the US market. Whether the UK has quite caught up remains a moot point, but there’s no doubt that the tequila market has been hotting up, and Statista forecasts further growth of 6% in 2025.

But there’s a danger of over-committing to a talked about category that has seen a deluge of new launches over the past couple of years. Whether the UK market is yet big enough to sustain them all is questionable.

For retailers, navigating through the noise is difficult, but one tip would be to look for producers with a genuine Mexican heritage – a sense of place and family ties; the sort of things that resonate in the wine world, rather than brands created off-the-peg by groups of tequila-drinking friends during lockdown, of which there are plenty.

Mangrove’s portfolio includes Arquitecto tequila – made only from mature agave cooked, crushed, fermented and distilled by Enrique Fonseca at his Tequileña distillery in the town of Tequila – and La Trevesia mezcal, a 100% agave small batch spirit with a strong smoky flavour from its long ageing process.

Spirits Cartel has some serious contenders that have performed internationally in the form of Clase Asul and Terralta tequilas and San Cosme mezcal.

Penderyn – notable for its all-female distilling team – has given whisky a similarly local profile on the independent scene in Wales.

There’s also growing UK interest in niche Mexican spirits such as raicilla – made only from the specific agave varieties lechuguilla and puta de mula, and with a typically sweeter, fruitier flavour than tequila or mezcal – and sotol, made not from agave but a similar succulent called desert spoon, tending to deliver more herbal or smoky character.

The adventurous might try Speciality Brands, which handles La Higuera sotol and La Venenosa raicilla.

DISTILLED

category that’s always got something new for indies to explore

Rum’s day arrives

After several false starts, rum finally seems to be gaining genuine traction in the UK market as the gin bubble slowly deflates.

A survey by Straits Research suggests that almost four in 10 Gen Zs drink rum at least once a week, notes Paragon Brands – which has just launched the cross-Caribbean blend Anne Bonny.

Marussia Beverages has a diverse range including the highly-rated Barbados producer Foursquare, led by head distiller Richard Seale. The portfolio presided over by Seale includes prestige blends under the Foursquare name, the premium Doorly’s range and the eponymous RL Seales’ 10-yearold.

The importer also handles the more mainstream flavoured range Red Leg.

Speciality Brands is a bona fide specialist in rum and is good hopping-on point for retailers looking to create ranges with excitement and points of difference.

They include the traditional Haitian rhum Clairin, a range made using native sugar cane varieties that gives white rum a good name. Another jewel in the Speciality portfolio is Hampden Estate, a Jamaican distillery in operation since 1753 that uses prolonged fermentation with wild yeasts, tropical ageing and pot still distillation, with no added colours or sugar.

Spirits with a hint of wine

Spirits that borrow from wine production or culture in one way or another seem a natural fit for independent wine merchants.

The Proof Drinks portfolio is awash with options. Ramsbury is a Wiltshire gin and vodka producer that takes the ethos of single-estate wine and transfers it to gin and vodka by using only grain grown on the property.

Four Pillars is an Aussie gin range that includes a Shiraz variety, made with Yarra Valley grapes.

Burnt Faith is a London-based brandy blender, whose output includes Batch 001, made with Trebbiano, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat Blanc grapes and aged in four types of wood, including former Pineau des Charentes barrels.

Finnish whisky producer Kyrö – handled in the UK by Maverick Drinks – has the single-batch Kyro Malt Oloroso, a rye whisky finished in sherry casks that give it a sweet honey and raisin character.

Bapt & Clem’s is, in its own words, an “unusual spirits collection” that majors on rum, created by the Armagnac producer Darroze, including rums from Trinidad & Tobago and El Salvador, both aged in Sauternes, fino, oloroso and manzanilla casks. The range is available through Speciality Brands.

A deep dive into GARDA

The gaggle of national and international wine writers who gathered in Verona in June had come to an annual event called Garda Wine Stories. Led by the Garda consortium, the visit’s objective was “to etch the identity of our exceptional varietal and sparkling wines in people’s minds – wines that are intertwined with our enthralling region”. So said Garda DOC president Paolo Fiorini.

Over two days we attended presentations, tasted on the shores of Lake Garda, visited wineries and took a boat trip across the lake’s glassily pristine waters. The people were charming and welcoming, the scenery stunning, and the weather blissfully warm.

On the flight home I was seized by the sort of panic that came when my primary school teacher, Mrs Brown, asked me to tell the class what my book I was reading was about. Could I deliver a succinct precis that would accurately describe the story and, more importantly, enthuse others to read it? What is the story of Garda wines, and why should buyers consider them?

Garda DOC: some helpful things to know Vineyards eligible for Garda DOC are located between the provinces of Brescia, Mantova and Verona.

“Garda DOC wines have their origins in a matchless geographical area, a unique place enveloped by the Alps and lit by a captivating light that is reflected in the waters of the lake,” says Fiorini.

“Here, the hills, dotted with vines, speak of a landscape rich in iconic features whose story is fundamentally intertwined with that of the vine growing.”

The consortium was established in 1996 and today represents 250 producers. Its principal objective is to represent the area’s varietal wines. Altogether there are 30,000 hectares of vineyard eligible for DOC status. We are told that the stony,

Sarah McCleery heads for one of the most picturesque corners of Italy to be part of this year’s Garda Wine Stories event.

DOC GARDA FACTFILE

STILL WINE VARIETIES: Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Riesling B, Sauvignon Blanc, Cortese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Corvina, Pinot Nero and Marzemino

CHARMAT VARIETIES: Garganega, Trebbiano du Lugana, Pinot Grigio

She discovers that winemakers in the region are open about the challenges they face – but confident that their wines have what it takes to claim their rightful place on the world stage Feature produced

calcareous soils vary little in terms of their make-up across the DOC. Owing to their coarse texture and poor structure, they do not hold water.

Garda wines are typically fresh, with good minerality, thanks not just to the vineyards but also to the moderate climate that Fiorini says “seems to recall the Mediterranean but also enjoys the breeze from lake Garda, a one-of-akind luminosity and sun exposure that guarantees exceptional grape ripening”.

CLASSIC METHOD SPARKLING WINE VARIETIES: Chardonnay, Pinot Nero and Corvina for sparkling whites. Marzemino, Corvina, Pinot Nero for sparkling rosé.

In 2023 18,753,867 bottles of DOC Garda wines were produced. 5,400,667 of these were Chardonnay (29%), 4,198,400 were Garganega (22%) and 3,572,800 were Pinot Grigio (19%). Frizzante made up 13% of wines bottled and sparkling a more modest 3.3% (an almost tenfold increase over the past seven years).

Garda DOC president Paolo Fiorini

27 million tourists can ’ t be wrong

The visit begins with a presentation from the team at the Centre for Research in Viticulture & Oenology at the University of Padua.

Their brief has been to research the perception of Garda DOC wines at home and abroad.

Nobody could accuse the team of being anything other than thorough with the SWOT analysis identifying a few critical weaknesses: a lack of specific identity, varied pricing, and a hugely diverse vinous offering. These challenges are compounded by a lack of a shared understanding among stakeholders of the DOC and its potential.

The conversations around pricing were revealing, with the administrative difficulties in securing premium classifications for the wines – such as riserva and superiore – acknowledged as a significant hurdle.

This seems the moment to raise the gecko in the fermentation tank.

Garda DOC is a denomination whose geographical area encompasses some immensely popular and notable DOCs. These include Bardolino (established 1968), Custoza (1971), Lugana (1967), Soave (1968) and Valpolicella (1968). These wines have an established following, and their respective consortia are pushing their individual qualitative credentials hard.

The fact that the Garda DOC is comparatively new presents some novel challenges, with the wagons having rolled on well ahead of the horse. It is hard to dismiss this local conflict, especially with the SWOT homing in on local confusion about the DOC Garda offer.

The team at Garda DOC are clear that their focus is on varietals, most notably

Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio, as well as sparkling wines. That’s all well and good, but to give these protagonists a chance of competing with the hefty global competition, they are going to need a cover story that’s richer and more individual than the Garda location alone.

The Padua team were quick to focus our attention on the good news for producers and retailers of Garda wines. There are plenty of strengths to celebrate, most notably Garda the word, and the place. It is immediately recognisable to millions, and easy to pronounce and to spell. Garda conjures up a sense of place, with people readily visualising the location, and the lake, in their minds.

Garda has 27 million tourists each year, giving the local wines an enviable shop

International guests learn about the breadth of the Garda DOC offer

“Garda conjures up a sense of place, with people readily visualising the location, and the lake, in their minds”

Wine highlights

front to the wine drinkers of the world.

Sizeable plantings of globally-familiar grape varieties such as Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio increases the wines’ appeal to potential consumers.

The feedback from buyers is also positive, especially regarding the qualityto-price ratio that the wines provide.

Lots, then, for the consortium and its producers to think about. There is clearly a lot of work that needs to be done to leverage the impressive tourist footfall, and this will be a critical step in creating a stronger link between the place and its wines. The savvy might note that, while there is (for example) an obvious Bardolino Wine Route, this isn’t yet the case for DOC Garda. There was also some discussion about packaging. Given that the DOC talks a good deal about the innovation that exists within its community, maybe it should be considering alternatives to glass bottles. Perhaps the suggestion that premium Chardonnay in aluminium might find a home on the luxury yachts of the Med was a little ambitious. But maybe canned wines could be an element of Garda DOC wine tours.

The reputation of Garda wines as light, refreshing and mineral fits well with current market demands. Though

this is understood by wine professionals, the consortium agrees there is a need for more consumer and trade tastings. These events would be supported by increased, targeted communications to both trade and consumers. Entering Garda wines into competitions, such as those organised by consumer magazines, will also be considered more seriously.

The need to research and highlight the area’s suitability for grape growing, and drill down into specific terroirs, was identified as a project for the future. This did again raise the question about how to bring individuality to what is indisputably a broad proposition.

But the passion for what the DOC represents, and its desire to get its wines into our glasses, is undeniable. The mood is upbeat and the will to succeed unshakeable. With the Garda breeze at their backs, you wouldn’t be betting against the consortium and its members.

When the visit wraps up, there are parting words from the consortium, and the message is clear: they hope we have paired memories of the people and the place with the wines we have tasted.

Certainly, the winemakers and the consortium team have an informal charm and openness that was as readily found in the wines they showed us. Nobody can visit Lake Garda and not find it scenic and frequently stunningly pretty. The wines can clearly be as attractive.

The Garda DOC has work to do to bring its protagonists to life, and to make its wines the ones that people champion, hunt down and stash on their shelves. It is true that the likes of Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio are immediately recognisable, but such fame can come at a price, and the competition is fierce.

There is quality in Garda, no question. The opportunities are there; the challenge is to run with them.

Pratello wines, represented in the UK by Berkmann Wine Cellars, are justifiably very popular. Forever Young 2023 is Pratello’s Garda Rosso, a blend of Merlot and Rebo. If ever a wine captured the energy, the freshness and the holiday spirit of Lake Garda, this is it. Pratello also has a deeply impressive Garda Bianco Brut: a traditional method, 95% Chardonnay, 5% Erbamat that was arguably one of the most elegant sparkling wines of the visit. Pratello also gets a rare red wine mention, as its Nero Per Sempre 2019 from 100% Rebo is a cheeky Garda Amarone, made from fruit dried for 25 to 45 days. Supple and delicious.

Bellebolle Brut Rosè is a charmat method spumante made by the team at Monteci. Ridiculously drinkable, it has commercial success stamped all over it.

With dinner we had the Colombara Chardonnay 2021 from Gozzi, which really came into its own with a plate of spaghetti and Garda lemon. A very moreish pairing indeed.

It’s frustrating that Ricchi does not yet have a UK importer. Its 2023 Meridiano Chardonnay is a superstar and justifies all the talk of premium potential. Gorgeous baked green apple fruit, tropical citrus and praline with lovely weight, texture and length. An equally glowing report follows for its 2021 Ribò, a classy blend of 75% Cabernet Franc and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon. I loved the wine’s crunch, freshness and energy.

Prendina’s UK importer is Vinum Terra. The Pinot Grigio 2023 is a thirstquenching drink with generous fruit and a sophisticated feel. Riesling 2023 is a deliciously limey, stone-fruit surprise.

Under the Tavine label, Tenuta La Presa gave us another tasty Pinot Grigio: nicely weighted and with tangy preserved lemon fruit.

It would be remiss not to mention the one 100% Marzemino of the trip, from Averoldi Francesco. A quick Google search on the grape and you’ll land on many YouTube videos of the Don Giovani aria, where Marzemino is tunefully lauded as an “excellent wine”. It was refreshingly different and poured from a tin. Served with a plate of antipasti on the Garda shores, you’d have had no complaints from me. S McC

Another thing I relish about my gallop into middle age is that although people expect me to know things, I know less than ever. What are you having for lunch, someone asked, again, because it’s an easy shoehorning in of Lunch – Amazing! – and lunch has a way of returning, doesn’t it, every day, not in a Bokey Mackerel Way but as a cyclical motif of diurnal reckoning, not in a Revelations Way but just in a pleasant Daily Dirge Way.

Anyway, my lunch caller was Prince Harry (NTO) on the cellar side of the slide door separating the land of numbers and ideas from the land of intoxicating things. I was watching a video with ducklings and a bear which I quickly shut off and rolled the door open dramatically like I had nothing to hide, allowing two empty Scampi Fries packets to flutter to the ground. We’ve somehow, despite our biannual date-checking and occasional vigorous stock rotation, allowed two cards of Scampi Fries to pass their bestbefore, much to the joy of myself and Mike (WMOMNBL). As the finest of the maize baized snax – essentially raw corn I’ll think you’ll find – with the added benefit of a step beyond yellow label, this is a free-pass food item, akin to the negative calorific properties of celery. They are

43. NO FACTS, NO REASON

Phoebe Weller of Valhalla’s Goat in Glasgow doesn’t know what to have for lunch, and it’s probably a position that Keats would have some sympathy with

you haven’t at all you just don’t want to look uncool.

That is, when one is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason, said Harry.

A few days later I was visited by a NZSB producer. Let’s call him Glen or Ben because everyone in New Zealand is called Glen or Ben. We tasted the tasty wine and Gben talked a bit about Dundee, which I liked (best river) and then, without much gusto, thiols.

But why thiols, said the most astute and hirsute of all the reps.

plucked like ripe, crunchy, fishy plums, sometimes hourly. What a harvest.

I don’t know, I said to Harry.

A powerful position, not knowing, said Harry. We have some good chats in the cellar, me and Hazzle. He is exactly the type of person you would not move away from in the pub.

I wonder whether you have come across Keats’ Negative Capability?

I don’t know, I said to Harry, in the way that you say yeah, I’ve watched/read/ heard that I just can’t remember it when

“Got any of them Scampi Fries left?”

Gben sighed and said the phrase that has followed me about for the past two years, Is just is, following with gusto that although knowing some stuff like thiols and methoxypyrazines is pretty impressive, so is knowing that not knowing is an awful lot more useful than knowing because there is so much more, there is always so much more than knowing will get you to know, like how does the abundant nitrogen in the atmosphere actually get into the soil and something about high pressure and low pressure and the soil inhaling and exhaling and you know that smell, that smell just before rain when everything goes quiet, that’s the breath in or breath out.

What’s the word for that, said the astute hirsute rep, reaching for his information device.

Gben and I wrestled the device out of his hands and smashed it into tiny pieces and snorted it, chanting Without any irritable reaching after fact and reason! Without any irritable reaching after fact and reason!

Why did you do that? The rep asked. Don’t know, me and Gben mumbled, ashamed.

Bloody Keats. (Petrichor.)

The Wine Merchant Cheese Masterclass

Organised in partnership with The Academy of Cheese, this one-hour webinar, starting at 10.30am, is free for any independent wine merchant to attend.

The Academy’s Charlie Turnbull will help indies to get to grips with the basics of making cheese an integral part of their business.

There will also be contributions from two wine merchants who have already developed a specialism in the category.

To register, contact charlotte@ winemerchantmag.com.

Tuesday, September 3

Zoom link provided on registration

Swig Portfolio Tasting

The annual tasting will showcase more than 240 wines from the Swig portfolio.

For more information and to register contact robin@swig.co.uk.

Tuesday, September 3

Dartmouth House 37 Charles Street

London W1J 5ED

Howard Ripley Germany Tasting

Howard Ripley Wines is billing this as its biggest German tasting of the year, where it will showcase upcoming releases of grosses gewächs and reds, alongside a sneak preview of auction wines and new releases from JJ Prüm.

Doctor Heger, Schäfer-Fröhlich and Maximin Grünhaus are among the other featured producers.

For more information and to register contact emily.jackson@howardripley.com.

Tuesday, September 3

The Royal College of Nursing 20 Cavendish Square

London W1G 0RN

Wine GB Tasting

The annual generic tasting features a selection of producers from across England and Wales.

It’s an opportunity to assess the progress domestic wineries have been making with their increasingly-acclaimed still wines – and in the growing charmat category – as well as with the more established traditional-method releases.

To register, contact office@winegb.co.uk.

Wednesday, September 4

Battersea Arts Centre Lavender Hill

London SW11 5TN

Paz Levinson presents Argentina

Reloaded

Join celebrated sommelier Paz Levinson to taste a selection of 70 Argentinian wines.

To register contact anny@westburycom.

Paul Brajkovich

Kumeu River Masterclass

Paul Brajkovich from acclaimed New Zealand wine producer Kumeu River will be in London for this masterclass to launch its 2023 vintage, hosted by importer New Generation Wines. Kumeu River is known for its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir varietals that Brajkovich has described as “new world wines with an old world twist”.

For more information and to register contact valerie@newgenwines.com.

Monday, September 9

67 Pall Mall

London SW1Y 5ES

Indigo’s 21st Anniversary

Tasting

The Indigo team will be celebrating with tastings in Manchester and London.

To request an invitation email nancy@

Paz Levinson

Maisons Marques et Domaines Icon

Tasting

MMD's annual portfolio tasting will include Cristal, Château Pichon Comtesse, Corton Clos des Cortons Faiveley, Castillo Ygay, Ornellaia and Diamond Creek, among others.

For more information and to register contact lucy.bingham@mmdltd.co.uk.

Tuesday, September 10

Wild By Tart

3-4 Eccleston Yards

London SW1W 9AZ

Halo Wines

Autumn Tasting

Halo will offer a large selection of wines from its portfolio.

The tasting will cover Champagne, Alsace, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Loire, Bordeaux, south west France, Montalcino, Marlborough, Douro, Dão and Bairrada, with new wines from Spain and Mosel.

Email violaine@halo-wines.co.uk.

Tuesday, September 10

Chapel Market Kitchen 2 Chapel Market

London N1 9EZ

Altair Vertical Tasting

An exploration of 20 years of Viña San Pedro’s Altair wine will be led by head winemaker Gabriel Mustakis.

The winery is based in the foothills of the Andes mountains in Chile’s Cachapoal Valley.

Contact vicky@majorpr.co.uk.

Thursday, September 12

67 Pall Mall

London SW1Y 5ES

Wines of Tejo

Tasting and Masterclasses

Join 11 of Tejo’s leading producers to taste “a selection of diverse, relevant and good-value wines”.

It will include two in-depth masterclasses led by Tejo expert Dirceu Vianna Junior MW, one focusing on the region’s two flagship varieties and the other on Tejo’s diverse terroir.

For more information and to register contact emma@eviva.co.uk.

Monday, September 16

The Fountain House 14 Albert Square Manchester M2 5PF

Hatch Mansfield

Autumn Portfolio

Tasting

The agency heavyweight’s autumn tasting is part of its 30th anniversary celebrations.

It offers the chance to taste wines from the company’s premium portfolio –including many indie exclusives – and meet winemakers.

Highlights include a masterclass celebrating the company’s three decades, hosted by chief executive Patrick McGrath MW.

For more information and to register, email events@hatch.co.uk.

Monday, September 16

Institute of Directors

116 Pall Mall

London SW1Y 5ED

Explore Tejo’s terroir on September 16

Hallgarten & Novum Wines

Regional Tastings

Hallgarten travels the country with more than 130 wines for three events. Highlights include the Grape Unveiling, a feature giving independents a sneak preview of award-winning producers that have just joined the Hallgarten portfolio. For more information and to register, contact sarah.charlwood@hnwines.co.uk.

Monday, September 16

Bread Street Kitchen 11-14 South Place

London EC2M 7EB

Tuesday, September 17

Gonville Hotel 2 Gonville Place

Cambridge CB1 1LY

Wednesday, September 18

Citation

40 Wilson Street

Glasgow G1 1HD

Wines of Greece Highlights Tastings

These tastings will focus on top wines made with indigenous Greek varieties.

These include Agiorgitiko, Assyrtiko, Liatiko, Malagousia, Mavrodaphne, Moschofilero, Robola, Roditis, Savatiano, Vidiano, White Muscat, Xinomavro and many more.

In all, 44 producers will be represented, from all the major Greek winemaking regions: Macedonia, Central Greece, Attica, Peloponnese, Cephalonia, Samos, Santorini, and Crete. Seven of the producers are seeking UK representation.

At the Edinburgh and Manchester tastings, the producers will be showcasing their best two cuvées, with a total of 90 wines being poured on the day. For the London tastings, most producers are showing an extra bottle, taking the total number to 125 wines on the day.

Contact info@westbury.co.uk.

Monday, September 16

Smith & Gertrude Stockbridge 26 Hamilton Place Edinburgh EH3 5AU

Tuesday, September 17

Blossom Street Social 51 Blossom Street Manchester M4 6AJ

Monday, September 30

Lyle’s

56 Shoreditch High Street London E1 6JJ

Graft Wine

Portfolio Tasting

Join the Graft team to taste 100 wines from across their portfolio.

The tasting will range from well-known names such as Murdoch Hill and Clos

Cibonne to new additions Maison Altisolis from Burgundy and Monte Pio from Rías Baixas.

Winemakers from South Africa’s Lowerland and Thistle & Weed and Spain’s Bodega Nekeas will be in attendance. Contact jenny@graftwine.co.uk.

Tuesday, September 17

One Marylebone

1 Marylebone Road

London NW1 4AQ

Thorman Hunt Autumn Tastings

Three showcases – in Bristol, London and Manchester – will feature around 100 wines produced by family growers from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Lebanon, California and Argentina.

Highlights include Thorman Hunt’s newest listing, Quinta de la Rosa, alongside the likes of Lyrarakis, Massaya, Brumont and many more.

Richmond Wine Agencies will be jointly presenting at the Bristol tasting.

For more information and to register for any of the events, contact lucy@ thormanhunt.co.uk.

Wednesday, September 18

St Martin’s Hall

St Martin-in-the-Fields

Trafalgar Square

London WC2N 4JH

Tuesday, September 24

The Airstream Paintworks

Bath Road

Bristol BS4 3EH

Tuesday, October 1

Salut Wines

11 Cooper Street

Manchester M2 2FW

BITTER BRAMBLE

What you want to call this cocktail really depends on your vantage point. It could just as easily be called a Sweet Negroni. It serves both as a more on-trend version of the classic Bramble – created by bartending legend Dick Bradsell in the 1980s and containing gin, lemon juice, crème de mûre (a red winebased blackberry liqueur) and sugar syrup – or a fresher, more summery take on the allconquering bitter Negroni.

5cl London dry gin

2.5cl fresh lemon juice

2cl Campari

2cl Monin cane sugar syrup

Fill a tumbler with crushed ice. Put the gin, sugar syrup and lemon juice into a shaker with ice and give it a vigorous blast. Strain the contents into a glass. Dribble the Campari over the ice and watch it run pleasingly through into the rest of the drink.

IWSC Margaret River Wine Tasting

This tasting offers the chance to try the IWSC 2024 award-winners from the Australian region.

For more information and to register contact astrid@spritzmarketing.co.uk.

Monday, September 23

67 Pall Mall

London SW1Y 5ES

Top Selection

Autumn Tasting

The Top Selection team will be showing more than 150 wines and spirits, including the latest additions to the portfolio.

There will also be a spotlight on sparkling, fortified and sweet wines for the festive season and the chance to chat to winemakers from the UK, US and France.

Registration is essential by contacting events@topselection.co.uk.

Monday, September 23

Maxwell Library

IET London

2 Savoy Place

London WC2R 0BL

Goedhuis Waddesdon Commercial Collection Tasting

This is the first tasting since the merger of Goedhuis and Waddeson Wine and will showcase many wines from the Rothschild portfolio.

There will be representation from all of its producers, including DBR Lafite, Edmond de Rothschild Heritage, Barons de Rothschild Champagne, Penfolds and Hundred Acre Wines. The trade session is from 12 noon until 4pm.

To register contact sarah@ goedhuiswaddesdon.com.

Tuesday, September 24

73 Waterloo, St John’s Church

73 Waterloo Road

London SE1 8TY

Bourgogne On Tour Masterclass

The Bourgogne Wine Board hosts masterclasses in Cambridge and Edinburgh, focusing on AOC Chablis Premier Cru.

Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW will navigate guests through a selection of terroir-driven wines from Chablis Premier Cru climats from the left and right banks of the Serein.

Places are limited on a first come, first serve basis through aloisel@sopexa.com.

Monday, September 16

Riddles Court

322 Lawnmarket

Edinburgh EH1 2PG

Monday, September 30

Cambridge Brew House

1 King Street

Cambridge CB1 1LH

Grapest Hits Tastings

Two tastings in London and Manchester will show off the best from co-hosts North South Wines, Marta Vine, Moreno Wines, ABS Wine Agencies, Hayward Brothers and Raqk Wines.

The tastings will feature the importers’ best releases and new additions for the independent trade.

North South Wines will feature Tuscan wines from Vernaccia di San Gimignano, and new additions from Giesen in New Zealand and Brotte in Rhône.

Marta Vine is showing Elemart Robion, a fifth-generation Champagne producer from Vallée de l’Ardre.

Moreno’s focus will be on “modern classic” Spain, including sherry, and new agencies from Greece, France and Tenerife.

The first Grapest Hits appearance for ABS will feature wines from Chilean “kings of Carménère” Casa Silva and Bon Courage from Roberson in South Africa.

Hayward Brothers will be showing wines from producers as diverse as the oldest port house Kopke and Flint Vineyard in Norfolk.

The South African specialist Rakq will have an array of wines from established producers and newcomers.

For more information and to register, contact felicity@northsouthwines.co.uk.

Wednesday, September 25

Crypt on the Green Clerkenwell Close

London EC1R 0EA

Monday, September 30

The Storehouse

Whitworth Locke

Princess Street

Manchester M1 6JD

Renée Ary, winemaker at Duckhorn, one of Top Selection’s California agencies

LOUIS LATOUR AGENCIES

12-14 Denman Street London W1D 7HJ

0207 409 7276

enquiries@louislatour.co.uk www.louislatour.co.uk

@louislatouruk

New Bank House 1 Brockenhurst Road Ascot Berkshire SL5 9DL 01344 871800

info@hatch.co.uk www.hatchmansfield.com

@hatchmansfield

Simonnet-Febvre – Chablis

Simonnet-Febvre’s situation was critical at the start of the year, with frost affecting the lower slopes at the end of April, and hail hitting the vineyards in early May. These conditions affected 1,000 hectares – approximately 15% of all Chablis vineyards. For Simonnet-Febvre, 25% of their vineyards were affected.

Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaume 2022, 95 Points (jamessuckling.com)

Stunning quince and pear fruit is counterpointed by an intense stony minerality that drives this concentrated, medium-bodied structure. Long, vibrant and tense finish that’s really exciting.

Simonnet-Febvre produces the only sparkling wine in Chablis, as well as a range of award winning, Village, Premier & Grand Cru wines.

For more information, contact sales@louislatour.co.uk or scan the QR code.

richmond wine agencies

The Links, Popham Close Hanworth

Middlesex TW13 6JE 020 8744 5550 orders@richmondwineagencies.com

@RichmondWineAG1

@richmondwineagencies

AWIN BARRATT SIEGEL

28 Recreation Ground Road

Stamford Lincolnshire PE9 1EW 01780 755810

orders@abs.wine www.abs.wine

@ABSWines

NEW IN

Award winning wine by DFJ Vinos has arrived

Winemaker: José Neiva Correia

Grape varieties: Alicante Bouschet 100%

GRAND’ARTE ALICANTE BOUSCHET

Vinho Regional Lisboa red 2017

RRP: £15.95

Save the date

Richmond Wine Agencies Autumn tasting (jointly with Thorman Hunt) September 24, 10am-4pm at the Paintworks in Bristol, BS4 3EH

RSVP to tim@richmondwineagencies.com

UPCOMING DATES FOR THE DIARY

LONDON

Monday 16th September 10:30am-5:00pm

MANCHESTER

Wednesday 18th September 10:30am-5:00pm etc. venues, 11 Portland Street, Manchester M1 3HU

LONDON

MANCHESTER

Monday 30th September 11:00am – 4:00pm The Storehouse, Whitworth Locke, Manchester M1 6JD

Tasting,

sector.

jeroboams trade

7-9 Elliott’s Place

London N1 8HX

020 7288 8888

sales@jeroboamstrade.co.uk www.jeroboamstrade.co.uk

@jeroboamstrade

hallgarten wines

Mulberry House

Parkland Square

750 Capability Green

Luton LU1 3LU

01582 722 538

sales@hnwines.co.uk www.hnwines.co.uk

@hnwines

mentzendorff

The Woolyard

52 Bermondsey Street

London SE1 3UD

020 7840 3600

info@mentzendorff.co.uk

www.mentzendorff.co.uk

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

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

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

Ready-to-drink cans provide 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.

Award-winning wines from the te Pā winery

Based in the Marlborough Region, te Pā has a history stemming back almost 800 years. Set up by the MacDonald family whose Māori lineage goes back to 1350, the te Pā estate spreads over 400Ha of vineyards in Marlborough’s Wairau and Awatere regions.

These internationally acclaimed wines are available in 5 varieties including a Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir Rosé and a Pinot Noir; they boast complex flavour profiles from a unique climate, crafted by a family dedicated to continuing the heritage of the land.

thorman hunt

4 Pratt Walk, Lambeth

London SE11 6AR

0207 735 6511

www.thormanhunt.co.uk

@thormanhunt

sales@thormanhunt.co.uk

Please RSVP: vanessa@thormanhunt.co.uk

walker & Wodehouse

109a Regents Park Road

London NW1 8UR

0207 449 1665

orders@walkerwodehousewines.com www.walkerwodehousewines.com

@WalkerWodehouse

Partnership with Pol Roger

Walker & Wodehouse is thrilled to announce a new, exclusive distribution partnership with Champagne Pol Roger in the UK!

This collaboration will allow you to seamlessly add Pol Roger Champagnes to your orders alongside your existing Walker & Wodehouse favourites, at competitive prices. This eliminates the need for separate orders and simplifies reaching minimum order quantities, making it easier to access the complete Pol Roger portfolio.

This partnership unites two historic brands with a shared passion for quality, heritage and a pioneering spirit. Ultimately, it ensures a wider availability of these exceptional Champagnes to discerning customers throughout the UK.

Contact your account manager to build these wines into your listings.

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

An Award-Winning Range

Wiston Estate, which has been owned by the Goring family since 1743, is now recognised as a leading producer of top-quality English sparkling wine and a beacon for those who share the Gorings’ stewardship values. It has been named ‘Winery of the Year’ in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

delibo wines

The Old Pigsty, Rose Cottage Church Hanborough OX29 8AA 01993 886644

orders@delibo.co.uk www.delibo.co.uk

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

Need a magnum to sell but you can’t find one in time – sound familiar? Well, your troubles are over.

Don Cristobal 1492 Malbec, probably the best-selling Malbec magnum in the world

RRP £25-£30. Good to fabulous margins. Reserve yours NOW for a great end to the year. Available from October.

For magnum details and everything Bodega Don Cristobal (Lapania family owned; estate grown; estate bottled; all vineyards certified organic) contact Delibo Wine Agencies: orders@delibo.co.uk.

Noelia Verdejo

Diego Medina

Cristobal Lapania

020 7720 5350

order@libertywines.co.uk www.libertywines.co.uk

@liberty_wines

Looking ahead to our September portfolio tastings

Please get in touch with our Events team on events@libertywines.co.uk if you would like more details or to register your attendance:

Australia Tasting – Tuesday 10th September in London

Discover why Australia is one of the world’s most diverse and dynamic wine-producing countries today as we showcase over 120 wines from across our portfolio of renowned estates, regional heroes and emerging trailblazers, including recent additions Chatto, House of Arras, Mount Pleasant, Nocturne and Protero. We’re delighted that Elena Brooks, Stephen Chambers, Mel Chester, Vanya Cullen, John and Tim Duval, Jeffrey Grosset, Johann Henschke, Julian Langworthy, Charlie Melton, Stephen Pannell, Brett Schutz, Stephanie Toole and more will be joining us - don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to meet and taste with the winemakers!

London Autumn Portfolio Tasting –Tuesday 17th September

Edinburgh Autumn Portfolio Tasting –Monday 23rd September

Differing in format to our producerfocused portfolio tastings in January/February, our Autumn tastings are arranged instead by grape variety and price to facilitate comparative tasting. There will be over 600 wines on show in London and over 300 in Edinburgh, including our exciting new additions from Serbia, Greece, Croatia and more. liberty wines

top selection

23 Cellini Street London SW8 2LF

www.topselection.co.uk info@topselection.co.uk

Contact: Alastair Moss Telephone: 020 3958 0744

@topselectionwines

@tswine

AUTUMN TASTING

Monday, 23rd September 2024 IET Savoy Place, London WC2R 0BL

Join us to discover the latest additions to our award-winning portfolio. Meet our winemakers and taste over 150 wines.

Register at: events@topselection.co.uk Registration essential. Trade & Press Only.

Q&A

“I have a talent to gather people who compensate for my weaknesses”

Michael Saunders, Coterie Holdings

Born in 1963, Michael Saunders was part of Bibendum’s original 1982 team. He became MD in 2000, selling the business to Conviviality in 2016. He returned as CEO in 2018 when Bibendum was acquired by C&C Group. He joined Coterie Holdings as CEO in 2024. The business owns Hallgarten & Novum Wines and Lay & Wheeler.

What’s the first wine you remember drinking?

German Riesling. What it was I can’t recall. But my father absolutely loved the wines from all across Germany. Then the most seminal early moment was when I started working at Sherry Lehmann in New York –I went to stay with a friend of my parents, who was a huge oenophile. He took it on himself to educate me on how great wine should be consumed, as he thought the trade could take itself too seriously. So immediately after a breakfast he got a bottle of d’Yquem 1967, took it to a table in the garden and we drank it (all) there and then. I will never forget it, him or the fabulous wine.

What job would you be doing if you

weren’t in the wine trade?

I hate to think. I probably would have ended up as a salesman in the City. And I often now think what I would have missed. All the people; the travel; the fabulous food; and this great industry of ours. As you know, I just can’t stay away.

How do you relax?

My family would say that I don’t. I would say that I love socialising with my friends; watching far too much sport on television; going to restaurants; and pretending I can play golf. My new game is padel, which is such fun.

The best book you’ve read recently? Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Not my usual fare (and given I am allergic to IT, I surprised myself by really enjoying it).

Give us a Netflix recommendation. I go back to watching Money Heist (in Spanish with subtitles). A great plot, great characters, and really compelling viewing. The other series I hugely enjoyed recently was Gomorrah. My wife refused to watch it, saying there was too much killing. I loved it!

Do you have any sporting loyalties?

Yes – quite obsessive. Chelsea since I was a very young boy; England at most sports.

Who’s your favourite music artist?

I’m quite “old” in my tastes. So I veer from the Stones to ABBA – I went with my family to ABBA Voyage last year. We all dressed up and had a huge blast.

Any superstitions?

The usual – not under ladders.

Who’s your favourite wine critic?

I read quite widely. Jancis of course is a palate I have followed for years, think I understand, and trust.

What’s your most treasured possession?

I have a beautiful modern sculpture (by Rose Pabba-Jones) I bought with a small legacy from my godmother. It sits in my TV room and I’m constantly drawn to it. Somehow I find it very peaceful and calming.

What’s your proudest moment?

I suppose I am meant to say when we sold Bibendum – which was a reward for very long-suffering shareholders. But it’s not. My daughter got married at the end of May and that trumped everything.

What’s your biggest regret?

Not travelling more earlier on in life. I was so work (Bibendum) obsessed I refused to give myself the time. I am well-travelled for work, but have missed on so much more. Time to fix that …

Who’s your hero?

Easy: Dame Karen Jones. She is a brilliant businesswoman; she has helped me numerous times in my career simply out of kindness, and her energy levels and intellect are truly formidable.

Any hidden talents?

I think the best answer is a talent to gather people around me who I trust and who compensate for my many weaknesses.

What’s your favourite place in the UK? Again, easy. I moved to Shropshire around 25 years ago, in the hills outside Ludlow. I always feel so blessed when I get home. There can’t be a better place to live (if you can bear the travel, which I certainly can).

If we could grant you one wish … Time. More of it, please.