Fine wine profile: Roberson

When industry expert Bob Curtis joined Cliff Roberson at the latter’s wine merchant he was given the support and financial backing to boost the company’s fine wine arm. Patrick Schmitt meets him and reports on a radical turnaround.

A simple but fortuitous combination has, almost overnight, made fine wine central to one London merchant’s operations. The right person, at the right time, with the right backing, has taken the trading of blue chip labels from an addendum to 65% of the company’s turnover in less than a year. And it appears the business still has a long way to go.

The merchant, well known to those in the wine trade, is Roberson. The investment comes from company founder and owner Cliff Roberson, who has been able to put more money and time into operations since he sold his wine importing business Buckingham Vintners to Schenk.

As for the person, that’s Bob Curtis, an expert in fine wine trading with 20 years in the alcoholic drinks business, including stints at Berry Bros & Rudd – in particular its Heathrow shop – Virgin Wines, Bibendum and Badaracco.

Finally, there’s the timing. Curtis joined Roberson on 1 March this year, when prices for fine wine were still extremely depressed, allowing him to quickly build up a large portfolio at a low point in the market.

“My first job was to look at the business and find out the priorities,” begins Curtis. “It was clear that if we were going to grow as a company it was going to be through the fine wine side.

“I came along at the right time for Roberson and I was able to do a quick fix. Cliff is very entrepreneurial and backed me with deep pockets so I started buying stock quickly. The market then provided a great opportunity to buy and buy big so we developed a very healthy stockholding of blue chip wine at very depressed prices.”

As a result, Roberson is now trading fine wine at 35% above last year’s peak and the target for this year, which Curtis is comfortable he’ll beat, is 50% more than what he’s just achieved. “It has been a very quick transformation,” he records, and already Roberson is planning to expand the team to handle the new business.

While that increased demand is coming from a variety of sources, it’s mostly driven by fine wine consumption in the Far East. “A lot of our new demand is coming through Asia although not always directly as we sell a lot to UK merchants who are then selling on. I’ve also brought on a lot of private clients.”

Experience counts

Essentially, Curtis has boosted Roberson’s fine wine business with both his contacts and expertise. “I’ve brought to the table a 360-degree overview of the wine trade from my experience in duty free, a dot.com start up [he worked at World Wine Exchange], retail [Augustus Barnett], private clients, wholesale clients, sales, and buying – I have very good understanding on lots of aspects, including logistics from my time at Badaracco.

"It’s about managing the mechanism properly,” he continues. “I try to instil a holistic approach and look at every process, from the buying, logistics and  storage.”

He also mentions the efficacy of simple touches like putting the newly expanded portfolio on Wine-searcher. “It gives immediate visibility to an international audience,” he says. “Every week we have a new lead, it has made a massive difference.”

Key to this, however, has been “pricing at the bottom end of the market, which you can only really do if you own the stock”. This latter point ensures Roberson is “able to supply the wine at short notice”. For example, only minutes before meeting Curtis, a call came in from Harrods, the world’s most famous department store, for a bottle of Pétrus 1990. “They want it within two hours and it will be delivered immediately by our staff in our vans.”

Curtis goes on: “We do have stock in bond but we also have a proper cellar downstairs which is pretty expansive,” referring to the company’s Fulham warehouse beneath his office.

“Most important, however, is that the customer gets the wine at the end – too many businesses drop the ball at this point. You must look after the last piece of the jigsaw to retain loyalty and the confidence of the consumer.”

Has he seen much change in the market? “The fine wine market is quite patchy at the moment,” records Curtis. “There’s not been much change in the last 12 months except the panic has gone out of the market. Prices are firming, but if you take out the Asian demand it’s tough.”

However, he is confident for the future. “I feel very optimistic. The fine wine market is a strong proposition and at the top end you have the benefit of finite availability and increasing demand – people are drinking more. I can only see prices going up.”

Curtis is now “trying to buy for the company as a whole – I have been buying fine wine for trading but I should be buying for the shop and the on-trade too. There is always strong demand for the likes of Larose, Léoville, the Lynches and Talbots and we are crazy to be buying at market prices.

"I can pick up chunky parcels at good prices and feed into the business giving better continuity of supply and if we pass on the savings, better throughput.”

He’s also planning to boost Roberson’s Hong Kong contacts and already, Curtis says he’s increased the company’s database five fold. “People are starting to recognise Roberson as a serious stockholding of fine wine with provenance at good prices.”

2009: success so far

• Grange ‘04: “We sold 50 cases. We had a lot of interest from private clients. Robert Parker hasn’t come out on it and I felt it was a bit of a risk but it has paid off and it’s nice to do stuff outside Bordeaux.”

• Sassicaia and Ornellaia 2006: “Thanks to Armit we got a good allocation of Super-Tuscans and we sold a huge amount. We also expect Masseto to work very well but the quantities are smaller.”

• La Tâche 2006: “This has been one of the biggest successes of the year. Outside that I’m very careful with Burgundy as prices are all over the place and demand is patchy – it’s easy to get your fingers burned.”

• Rhône: “People are a bit Rhôned-out from so many good vintages, which is a shame as it offers exceptional value. Having said that we’ve had a fair bit of success with La Las this year.”

• California: “I don’t think there is the market for it right now – people are sceptical, they feel it is too Parkerised. This may be one area where his influence doesn’t help.”

• Overall: “One year ago I thought we’d see trading down from first growths to the likes of Lynch Bages or Léoville Barton, but the interest is still in the first growths. I am keeping away from ‘06 and ‘07 Bordeaux at the moment because prices are plummeting and you must make sure you pick up at the bottom of the cycle. Also, it’s easier to sell 2000s, ‘86s, ‘82s – there is very high demand for the latter.”

• Roberson’s fine wine portfolio is 90% Bordeaux. “The list reflects fact I am very commercially oriented when I buy,” explains Curtis.

CV: Robert Curtis

• Robert Curtis is commercial manager at Roberson Wine

• He has been in the wine trade for 20 years

• He started his career at Augustus Barnett

• He then worked for Berry Bros & Rudd at the merchant’s new duty-free shop in Heathrow Terminal 3

• He later moved to dot.com start-up World Wine Exchange (the wine trading website never went live)

• Following this he worked briefly for Virgin Wines before joining Bibendum as sales director for private clients and the broking team

• After four years at Bibendum he joined Badaracco

• He worked there for five years; increasing the business three fold (UK sales eight fold)

• He then joined Roberson on 1 March

• Roberson’s fine wine department was launched fours years ago by Ben Dawson, who left the merchant one year ago to set up his own fine wine business (see the drinks business August 2009)

• Curtis’ most memorable wine: Palmer ’61. “I had it over 16 years ago and that’s when the light came on.”

• Curtis on his current role: “I love fine wine trading – the buzz of wheeling and dealing, reading and beating the market. There’s a double adrenalin: one from the purchase and the other from the sale.”

Patrick Schmitt, 19.11.2009