Jonathan Ray Wine Blog

Friday 6 March 2009

Jonathan Ray says cheers to a coalition of independent wine merchants offering quirky lists and a personal touch


When I joined Berry Bros & Rudd as a sales assistant, one of my early jobs was to deal with messages left outside working hours on the answerphone. These included orders, questions about what food goes with which wine, queries about cleaning decanters, deliveries and special offers, and even requests for adjudication on wine-related bets. The messages were often left at the strangest times. One asking about our storage charges was timed at 3am.

I once took a call from a customer who wanted wines recommended for a birthday dinner. His voice echoed, and when I'd looked up in our records what he had bought from us previously and suggested something similar, he stopped me, saying: "Hang on old chap, need to write 'em down in the steam on the mirror." It was bathtime at the Old Rectory.

I am reminded of all this as I revisit my alma mater for a tasting and lunch with the Bunch, the loose coalition of six independent wine merchants, of which Berry Bros is the most recent recruit. Its chairman, Simon Berry, and wine director, Alun Griffiths, are our hosts, and we are joined by Rupert Farquharson, general manager of Adnams, and a group of managing directors: Adam Brett-Smith of Corney & Barrow, Johnny Wheeler of Lay & Wheeler, James Tanner of Tanners and Jason Yapp of Yapp Bros.

"Dealing with the sort of customers you mention is what the Bunch is all about," says Yapp. "It is just impossible to go into your local supermarket and say: 'Please remind me what I had last time.' Of course, there are massive benefits from buying wine at, say, Waitrose, but I reckon that it is our personalised service that gives us the edge."

Simon Berry nods vigorously. "Getting wine from independents such as ourselves is more interesting than getting wine from people who have to buy in large amounts, and who by their very nature have to ignore the smaller producers," he says. "And for us this message is more important than saying we're better than Corney & Barrow or that Yapp is are better than we are – hence the Bunch, a weird combination of rivalry and support."

Nobody is sure when the Bunch was founded. I had been given to understand that this was its 10th anniversary year, but as the wine circulates and the brains fog up, all manner of dates, as far back as 1991, are bandied around. What is agreed, though, is that it was set up in response to scandals such as that of the independent Hungerford Wine Co, when customers found that the wine they had bought and stored with the company had disappeared and that their stock lists were worthless.

"One of the catalysts in setting up the Bunch was to forge a code of practice with regard to customers' private reserves and en primeur sales," says Brett-Smith. "After Hungerford, we wanted to tell as many people as possible that here were six independent merchants they could trust. It sounds boringly noble, but we've come full circle with the recent debacle at Mayfair Cellars, where serious fraud led to the collapse of the company and the loss of many hundreds of thousands of pounds in customers' wines."

Everyone at lunch is at pains to point out that the Bunch is neither a cartel, nor a forum for fixing prices. "Absolutely not," says Farquharson. "We have never discussed prices at any of our meetings. All we want is to give potential customers the confidence to buy from us, to tell them that any wine bought from us is safe in our custody and to say that our wines are probably more interesting than those you can get at the supermarket."

Berry Bros is the oldest of the current Bunch, having set up business in 1698, and Yapp, which has just celebrated its 30th anniversary, is the youngest. Two of the Bunch's founding companies, Armit and Layton's, have since left the group. I do a hasty back-of-the-envelope calculation (as hasty as a five-time failure at maths O-level will allow) and reckon that, between them, the current six companies in the Bunch boast 915 years of experience.

"I don't want to knock the supermarkets," says Berry. "They revolutionised the wine trade, which is great for all of us. But many wines slip under their radar. Take the 2001 Verdicchio di Matelica Riserva we're drinking now as an example. Waitrose and Tesco would never bother with it, because production is so small. But it's a wonderful wine, late-harvest and full of vibrant fruit. Not only is it hand-bought, it is hand-sold, by the guys in the shop who will take the time and the trouble to talk about it to our customers."

Tanner agrees: "It's a delicious wine and typical of the smaller estates that we are all keen to promote. And Simon's right — we can offer a level of expertise and of service that the high street can't match."

"Wine is more than just something to drink that will save you from Coca-Cola," adds Berry. "It should be fun, interesting and sold with passion and care. And if you want to order it from your bath, that's fine by us."

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Brighton, United Kingdom
Telegraph Wine Writer