New merchant targets independent retailers

New fine wine merchant Carte Blanche has designs on the UK off-trade with its portfolio of hard-to-find, independent and terroir-driven producers.

Founded last year by Benjamin Llewelyn and Rupert Nicholson – who saw a “gap in the market” for a small, independent importer – its aim is, in the words of Llewelyn, to: “Bridge the gap between producers with beautiful wine and independent retailers.”

The pair met during the Masters of Wine course although, both have very different experiences within the trade. Llewelyn, an old Enotria hand, has his background in sales and Nicholson is more of a winemaker, with vintages at Cloudy Bay, Dr Loosen and Camel Valley to his name, among others.

The current list is dominated by French and Spanish wines but there are also some New World offerings from New Zealand and Australia.

Metis, the joint project between Pascal Jolivet and John Hancock, is a notable addition to the Antipodean input alongside fellow Hawkes Bay winery Alluviale and the three Barossa Valley properties.

Talking to the drinks business, Llewelyn and Nicholson said, in a slightly uncommon move, that the next wine countries to be added to the list would probably be Germany, Austria and even Slovenia.

Despite living in Italy and having a great interest in Italian wines, Llewelyn was unsure if they wanted to start adding them to the portfolio just yet, saying: “If we open the floodgates to Italy it’ll never end.”

In another interesting departure from current trends, when it comes to enlarging the New World lists, the pair have focused their sights on Argentina rather than Chile, which Llewelyn dismissed as “too homogenous”.

“Chile is done,” he continued. “I don’t believe what we’re seeing from Chile is what it’s all about.”

He conceded that eventually something from that country may find its way onto the portfolio, but “whatever it is we’re not going to find it in London, we’ll have to go there and find it.”

Rupert Millar, 30.09.2010