LIWSF / SHERRY: Voyage of discovery

Sherry has come a long way since it was served by elderly relatives at Christmas. At this year’s LIWSF, high-profile speakers told of their personal journey with Sherry at a seminar organised by the drinks business, in association with The Sherry Institute of Spain. Report by Fionnuala Synnott

Andalucia’s most famous export, Sherry, is on a journey. The wine has made the transition from British institution to contemporary wine thanks to a successful generic marketing campaign from The Sherry Institute of Spain. In particular, the campaign has involved some of Britain's top chefs, attracting a younger generation of drinkers, despite Sherry’s historical perception as the preserve of older consumers.

Rose Hernu, account director at The Sherry Institute of Spain, explains: “For centuries Sherry has been part of the fabric of daily popular culture earning it the mantle of a truly British institution.” But the wine revolution that took place in the 1980s and 1990s led to an affection for informal social drinking and Sherry increasingly became part of the old. “It remained an apéritif, a special occasion drink and a drink for the older generation with limited appeal to the emerging young wine drinkers in the UK. Its serve was too formal and out of step. Sherry did not present itself as a wine and therefore did not ride on the coat tails of this wine success,” says Hernu.

This change presented Sherry with its biggest challenge to date. The Sherry community realised that something had to be done in order to become part of this new wine drinking culture and appeal to the new, often young, wine consumer. David Fine, a member of The  Sherry Institute, explains: “Sherry had to update its image and communication and establish its credentials as a wine, probably for the first time. It had to do this by remaining distinctive and true to itself.”

Changing perceptions
Heritage, artisanship and provenance are all integral parts of the Sherry story. The Jerez region is noted for its variety, and produces a wide range of Sherry: from the driest to the sweetest wines in the world and everything in between. But carving a space for Sherry alongside the great wines of the world will not happen overnight.

The Sherry Institute was able to use spokespeople from the gastronomic world to give Sherry a contemporary voice, publishing a Sherry and food matching book, The Perfect Marriage: The Art of Matching Food and Sherry Wines from Jerez. This book forms the culmination of a four year campaign, starting out with Ten Star Tapas in 2003  “In order to be treated like a wine, you have to act like a wine. Over the past few years, Sherry has become more confident by aligning itself with contemporary cuisine,” says Fine.

Spain is hot gastronomically with tapas culture becoming increasingly popular. Nothing evokes Spain like Sherry. Just as people understand the concept of wine and food, so they understand the concept of Sherry and food. “La Cigala, Moro and Fino – all of these restaurants take Sherry seriously and sell a lot of it. High turnover means that customers get a good glass of Sherry,” says Peter McCombie, MW, who is fronting The Sherry Institute’s “perfect serve” campaign.

Neil Irvine, head of wine at St John Restaurant, says: “There has been a change as to how people think of Sherry. People in London are looking for a new experience when they go out to eat. Sherry has begun to have a foothold in these kinds of places.”

Jason Atherton, executive chef at Maze restaurant in London, adds: “The growth of Sherry in the past two or three years has been immense. Sherry has moved on a long, long way. People are now more aware of what’s out there and Sherry has become very prominent on UK restaurant wine lists. In the last five to six years, Sherry has really taken off in Michelin-starred restaurants as its different textures and its delicate flavours work well with food.”

Maze, which is part of the Gordon Ramsay empire, has a special area on its wine list dedicated to Sherry and matches different styles to its food tasting flights. “It is important to let the consumer explore the category at his or her own pace. After tasting Sherry first hand people will want to go and buy it,” says Atherton.

According to Irvine, there is room for Sherry in the kind of restaurants where good produce is allowed to speak for itself: “Sherry has a very important place on the wine lists of restaurants that focus on good food, particularly those that are conscious of where it’s sourced from.”

Perfect serve
Making sure that people taste Sherry in optimal conditions – served chilled in a wine glass – is key to getting new consumers on board. The introduction of smaller bottles has also attracted more consumers to the category and encouraged them to try different styles of Sherry. “The growing understanding of Sherry in the on- and the off-trade is key to encouraging consumers to start reappraising Sherry,” says Fine. “It is important to understand Sherry as a wine, not as a fortified wine or a spirit. Historically, customers were given a poor pour, and did not have a good experience. The perfect serve campaign aims to develop a sound case for Sherry and its commercial viability,” adds Combie.

Meanwhile, at St John, Irvine has identified three types of Sherry drinkers: those who know a little about Sherry and want to find out more but are a little afraid of it; people who have a comfort zone – either a specific style or a brand – who already know about the Sherry experience; and the die-hard Sherry fans.

He sees no point to having a huge list, preferring to keep it simple. The St John restaurants list one producer and four styles of Sherry in a range of different glass sizes. “The small glass is a great way of introducing that first and second category of consumer to different styles while the large glass is ideal for the keen Sherry drinker,” says Irvine, who only buys Sherry in small half bottles so that “customers can read the label and get a sense of origin with cold ice dripping down the bottle”.

But the most important thing is getting the staff on board. “Your staff can help with any category that isn’t moving as it should. Get them engaged, get them involved. As soon as you have a level of engagement between staff and customer, selling is very, very easy. Get your staff talking about and drinking Sherry because that’s how you will sell it.”

Off-trade success

Education is also key to off-trade success. Melissa Draycott, fortified wine buyer at Sainsbury’s, runs fortified wine workshops in order to educate her colleagues. “They begin the workshop apprehensive but leave the session wowed and with a preferred style to pass on to their customers.

“We have a 26% share of the UK Sherry market and we want to protect it and grow it.” According to Draycott the best way to do this is to treat Sherry as a wine and apply sensible margins to it. As a result of this strategy, value sales of Sherry in Sainsbury’s have grown 5% against a declining market, with the drier styles, in particular, showing growth.

Variety is also key to getting the consumer on board: “In order to educate the customer, it is important to have a comprehensive range. You have to fight to keep fortified facings.” Innovation is also key to getting consumers interested in the category. Draycott decided to put a vintage year on Sherries in the “Taste the Difference” range in order to transmit some of Sherry’s heritage.

Sherry’s Spanish provenance is as important in the off-trade as it is in the on-trade. Draycott explains: “Sherry is a modern classic. The secret to turning on new, younger consumers is by tapping into the tapas culture.”

An exciting future
As Irvine puts it, “No one wants to see Sherry become the next funky nightclub drink.” But, as a result of the educational programme undertaken by The Sherry Institute, Sherry’s image has been refreshed, with people increasingly becoming more open to the wine. Crombie adds: “Sherry is not the new Pinot Grigio but its time has come again.”

Now that Sherry has a vote of confidence from prominent retailers and restaurateurs, the ongoing challenge for the Sherry category is to continue to evolve, building on these positive trends.

“Sherry has to have confidence in the journey it has made so far but it also has to recognise that it is still in its infancy. If we keep the message fresh, there are opportunities out there for Sherry,” says Fine.

© db July 2007