Wine needs ‘cocktail flair’, distributor says

The on-trade needs to bring more flair to serving wine, by tapping into the excitement for cocktails, according to Bibendum PLB boss Michael Saunders.

Speaking to the drinks business this week, Saunders said there was an opportunity to bring more flair and flavour to wine lists, particularly in bars, where cocktails are still creating genuine excitement for younger consumers and bar staff alike.

“In a cocktail bar, you can see the bartender’s body language change as they’re asked to pour wine – with cocktails they can really get into it with flair and personality, but with wine they literally just open it and pour,” he said.

Wine, he added, had some work to do, and one of the first step was in rejuvenating the wine list.

“Our heart is in wine but we want to bring our learnings from other categories and bring some ‘sizzle to the steak’,” he said. “The direction of travel is very clear – these categories are inter-meshing and I’m clear that’s where the future is. Why not bring the category to life and bring the passion to how we communicate with customers?”

The company has grown its training team over the last year, to seven, in response to increased demand for training from consumers.

Next week it is taking training to another level, with the launch of a new wine tasting ‘concept’ for consumers at The View from The Shard.

The group’s on-trade company, Bibendum is working with London’s highest viewing platform to offer the first ‘Sky High Wine’ tasting on 11 November, which Bibendum hopes will be the first in a series of educational events for consumers to make wine tasting and education “more fun”.

Visitors to The View from The Shard will be able to buy a £10 tasting card allowing them to taste wine from some of Bibendum’s South American producers, including larger producers Catena and Argento from Argentina and Vina Ventisquero, Valdivieso and Fresita from Chile, and emerging regions including Garzon from Uruguay and Miolo from Brazil. In the evening, Level 69 will be turned into a South American fiesta, with sparkling wine and South American food available to visitors.

They will also be able to talk to representatives from the wineries about the wines themselves and regions they come from.