Matthew Clark tops on-trade league table

Matthew Clark has retained top spot in the 2010 UK on-trade distributors league table released by Australian consultants Wine Business Solutions. However, the firm’s lead shrunk on last year, as Bibendum, Enotria and Liberty all gained market share.

Of over 560 distributors claiming national on- and off-trade coverage in the UK, WBS calculated that its top 30 firms accounted for 61% of all listings.

WBS awarded the title of “best on-premise distributor” to Hallgarten Druitt, which took fifth place overall, thanks to “the construction and conciseness of its portfolio, as well as the high number of listings per brand achieved.”

Alongside the league table, WBS released further details of its top 30 most listed UK wine brands, which placed Cloudy Bay in the number one spot.

The New Zealand brand narrowly beat Liberty’s Alpha Zeta from Italy. The top 10 also featured Louis Latour, Yalumba, Michel Torino, Concha y Toro and Quady.

The report noted that Champagne took 12 of the top 15 wine brand places, although its combined share suffered as a result of the global financial crisis, with Italian Prosecco the main beneficiary in the sparkling wine category.

Considering wider trends from the 4,400 wine brands detected in the 2010 survey, WBS noted: “While the big name, listed company-owned, Australian brands are dropping out of UK restaurants, five of the 12 ‘First Families of Wine’ companies made it into WBS’s list of the Top 30 most listed wine brands.”

Gabriel Savage, 21.12.2010