Vindependents eyes up national growth

Vindependents – the wine agency owned by and catering for independent retailers – is set to take a stand at the London Wine Fair next year in a bid to boost its reach beyond its South-East heartland.

The agency, which was set up by 17 wine merchants and started trading last November, is looking to boost its membership across the country after signing on three new shareholders this week. The new members include Old Chapel Cellars in Truro, Fraziers Wine Merchants in the West Midlands and Salut Wines in Manchester city centre.

It is aiming to recruit around ten members across the UK per year over the new few year to a maximum of around 50, managing director Jessica Hutchinson told the drinks business. 

“At our last portfolio tasting, everyone said it was a great idea, but the only problem is that the members need to be able to taste the wines,” Hutchinson said. “The only barrier to joining is that people need to taste the wine and because we don’t have sales representatives with samples, the onus is on the merchants to come to our meetings, as they ultimately decide what we list.”

Being at the LWF and adding a portfolio tasting in October would solve this problem, she added, as it drew merchants from across the country.

The group is also looking to grow its supplier base and fill in gaps in its portfolio. Currently it has around 40 suppliers, including a large portfolio of Burgundian suppliers comprising 15 domaines and agencies, as well as Argentinian, US and New Zealand suppliers.

“We’re quite a young agency and have work to do to build the portfolio – we’ve got a lot of ground to cover, but in 2016 we’ll have covered most of the major areas.” Jessica Hutchinson told the drinks business.

“From 2016, we have a list of areas we’re going to look at, so we’ll do a comparative tasting of list the best of those. From January, we’ll be looking at Australia, ‘green’ Spain and Oloron-Sainte. At each quarterly meeting we look at one area in France, one in Europe and one from the rest of the world. We have quite a lot in Italy, but we’re looking to build on Spain.”

The agency was developed from a buyers groups set up by ten independent merchants and set up to ensure exclusivity of wine supplied into the independent channel. It offers a 5% agency margins, which Hutchinson says allow its members to sell wines more competitive and retain “healthy” margins. Members also earn equity in the business based on their orders.

“No other route to market can offer that volume where wines don’t sit in a warehouse, but go straight into distribution,” she said.