Inverarity Morton overhauls portfolio

One of Scotland’s leading wholesalers, Inverarity Morton, has unveiled a revamped wine portfolio with a greater focus on exclusives and higher end labels.

The company has spent the past three years overhauling its list following its 2013 acquisition of Forth Wines.

Wine Buyer Toby Sigouin (pictured) explained to the drinks business that when he joined Inverarity Morton (having been a buyer at Forth Wines) he, “inherited over 3,000 SKUs.”

Over the last few years he has cut the range down to a still large – the company supplies 25% of the wine to the Scottish on-trade – but more manageable 1,430 different wines, with a greater emphasis on either Scottish or UK exclusivity – “more agency led”.

At the entry level there has been a revamp of the company’s own label wines. “We’ve done a lot of rebranding – refreshing tired, old labels,” said Sigouin.

Certain areas have been given more care and attention, notably Italy and South Africa.

The Italian portfolio before was “a lot of Pinot Grigio and Prosecco” but not much else, whereas now it includes wines such as ‘Caiarossa’, the Tuscan estate owned by Dutch businessman Eric Albada Jelgersma, who also owns châteaux Giscours and Du Tertre in Margaux. The company is also now the UK agent for Lomond in South Africa which was previously owned by Distel.

With the evolving nature of the Scottish on-trade and success of Scottish craft brewing, wine is an increasingly important and valued product and the overhaul of Inverarity’s portfolio was a reflection of this, said Sigouin.

Although he stressed that Inverarity Morton would not be completely forgetting its role as a supplier to the Scottish off-trade at all levels, he also said he wanted to see a change in the perception of the company and its offer.

Last year he said there was a marked increase in sales for wines that would sell for £25 on a restaurant list, which made him increasingly confident of being able to “bring in producers at a higher price point.”

He was also pleased to see that the company was being approached by the on-trade, including venues in London, because of some of the new wines on its list.

Speaking of England, he added that there were plans to gradually increase the company’s operations south of the border. Inverarity currently has a three-man team covering England and Wales who were, “doing really well but there’s a limit to the distance they can cover.”

Back in Scotland, the nature of the sales team was also likely to shift in the coming years with a greater emphasis on wine-focused sales staff.