“We want to challenge perceptions and offer wines that people wouldn’t automatically think of cellaring for any period of time.”
That’s how Richard Girling, Fell’s fine wine director, introduces the importer’s new fine wine initiative, Vinothèque, that potentially gives sommeliers the opportunity to list and offer sought after aged wines to their customers.
The new programme, launched at the end of July, seeks to tackle head-on the issue of entire vintages of fine wines selling out before they are sufficiently aged by storing small quantities and only releasing them when they have reached their optimum drinking window.
Fells' new Vinothèque initiative is designed to give sommeliers and fine wine restaurants access to aged wines ready to sell now
In this way the programme aims to support those many on-trade businesses which often lack the cellar space or the capital to age wines themselves, and to provide them with access to perfectly aged stock just when they need it.
“The Vinothèque release programme now holds more than 70 wines from across the Fells portfolio, representing 30 wineries and we are adding new wines to it all the time,” explains fine wine director, Richard Girling.
He says just under 2,000 cases have been laid down in total, and that Fells was particularly focusing on those producers from whom the company is typically unable to source older stocks.
“While we have a number of wineries that have a museum release programme, with around four or five that actively do it, there are a considerable number who don’t and our concern – and theirs – was that many of these wines being released are being consumed within a year and before they reach their best drinking window,” he explains.
The programme also enables winemakers, often frustrated by the fact their wines are frequently consumed before they are at their best, to see the fruits of their labour achieve their maximum potential.
The new Vinothèque initiative will allow fine wine producers, like Virginia Willcock of Vasse Felix in Margaret River, to sell more of their aged wines in the UK market
“One of our key winemakers, Virginia Willcock at Vasse Felix in Margaret River would love her Chardonnays to be released four or five years later, but due to business demands and rate of sale, they have always had to release the new vintage early,” adds Girling. “She is confident her wines will benefit from the additional ageing.”
Being more relevant
These concerns prompted Fells to ask how they could make their portfolio more relevant to the premium on-trade, and this led to Girling coming up with the concept of ageing wines for the wineries in their storage warehouses and releasing them into the market after three to five years, when they had reached their potential.
After the inevitable cautious response from the finance department, the programme was given the green light and is now being rolled out to its existing premium customers and open up its wines to new ones too.
The main benefits of the initiative, he claims, are that it enables restaurants to be able to offer more mature wines by the glass to their customers, which are not available from other suppliers. In that way it is a key point of difference for Fells.
“This is mainly targeted at the on-trade, and to be sold by the glass – we want the wines to be sold and drunk, not left sitting on a retail shelf,” he says, adding that Fells are not excluding the retail sector entirely. “I think further down the line we may look to incorporate the independents, but at the moment we are focusing firmly on the on-trade.”
Wines in the programme are all from Fell’s existing portfolio and in addition to UK aged stocks, the initiative will also include occasional parcels of more premium museum release or “ex-winery” stocks where the wines have been aged in the cellars of the winery themselves rather than in the UK. When released, many of these parcels will have enjoyed up to ten years ageing in the bottle.
Some wines included in the programme in the future may have an extended period of ageing, to generate more interest amongst customers. Examples of these include Marc Brédif’s Vouvray Classic and Pewsey Vale Riesling.
Getting ready
Fells' new scheme will include classic fine wine producers such as Bouchard Père et Fils and its Château de Beaune
Fells has spent the past few years laying down stocks of wines that typically sell out on release, and the first four wines to be included in the initiative are: a 2018 Meursault premier cru from Bouchard Père & Fils; a 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione from Barone Ricasoli; and two single vineyard wines from Tyrrell’s, including a 2018 Old Hillside Shirazand a 2015 Old Vine Chardonnay.
“Our on-trade customers want something they can sell by the glass with a bit of maturity to it, something with a point of difference, and we think that the Vinothèque programme can offer just that,” stresses Girling.
“Ultimately, we wanted to find wines they can sell by the glass that are appealing and attractive to their customers, and we liked the idea of a mature vintage offering.”
But Vinothèque is not primarily aimed at the most premium or age-worthy wines in the Fells portfolio. “This is not necessarily about putting Grand Cru Burgundies into the ageing programme,” he explains. “[While] we have reasonable access to back vintages of Grand Cru Burgundy, given their higher price tag the rate of sale on a restaurant list is not as fast as you’d expect for by the glass wines.”
The programme is more suited, he continued, for those wines sitting at the £20 - £60 retail mark, making them ideal contenders for inclusion in a by-the-glass list in restaurants, and that are moving into their optimum drinking window after three to five years.
As for the cost, the wines in the Vinothèque programme only carry a small premium, to cover the warehouse costs.
“The idea is we are not going to go out on a huge premium on these wines, as the objective is to make this affordable. We will obviously factor in the storage costs, but essentially the wines will be available at a similar price offering to the current vintage.”
Customers are currently limited to a maximum of one case each, to avoid “customers coming in and clearing us out.”
“The idea is to spread this as widely as possible, either to our direct customers in London or to our wholesale partners around the country.”
He adds that most customers are happy with this allocation, as the majority of on-trade businesses simply don’t have the storage space for a huge number of cases. “So offering a case is ample for most of our customers to be able to feature the wines by the glass on their lists.”
Strong reaction
The vineyards at Barone Ricasoli Colledilà whose Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 2016 is part of Fells' Vinothèque programme
So how well has the inaugural programme been received by the sector? “We have had some great feedback from sommeliers who love the initiative,” says Girling. “They are genuinely interested in seeing how the programme is going to develop, and it’s a great talking point.”
And wine producers too seem equally enamoured with the offer. “They all love the UK on-trade and have ambitions to have their wines served in the best restaurants in the country, so they are delighted to be featured – Tyrell’s in particular are pleased, as they have two wines included in the first phase.”
Vinothèque will release wines every quarter, with the next tranche being offered to customers in October. “The wines will be selected as appropriate to the seasons, and obviously we will taste the wines prior to their release along with our consultant master sommelier Stefan Neumann to ensure they complement seasonal menus and are in their perfect drinking window.”
The wines are cellared in an LCB warehouse in Eton Park, Burton on Trent, separate from the rest of Fells’ portfolio. “If the sales team see a stock sheet they will automatically want to sell everything on it, hence why we are keeping these wines from the programme apart from the rest of our portfolio in a separate warehouse.”
Wines in the programme can be delivered to customers within 24 – 48 hours (subject to geographical location), and orders are co-ordinated with Fells’ main warehouse.
As to the future, Girling says that he doesn’t anticipate the Vinothèque programme becoming huge, but will certainly be looking to add wines to it over the years.
“We want to keep it tight, and don’t think we’d want to offer hundreds and hundreds of wines. However, I want it to keep evolving, so that and the same wines won’t feature every quarter, though there are others such as the Vasse Felix that definitely will be offered more frequently.”
* You can find out more about the Vinothèque programme at Fells' website here.
* Fells is a commercial partner to The Buyer. To find out more click here.
