New deputy chairman for Madison Wines

Andrew Bigbee has joined Madison Wines in Hong Kong as deputy chairman and has declared he wants to “bring the fun back to wine”.

With a background in IT but a longstanding passion for wine triggered by trying Pichon-Lalande at a Commanderie de Bordeaux dinner, indeed he is the commanderie’s grand maître in Shanghai, Bigbee decided to pursue his interest more intently three years ago as he felt the tech industry was “moving too fast”.

Speaking to the drinks business, Bigbee explained that he had been brought in to help manage the company and was looking forward to bringing some of the “fun” back into wine.

He said that even though Madison was a young company – it was founded in 2010 – it was off to a good start, with a strong list, making an effort to engage with consumers and “quite aggressive in the marketplace”.

Nonetheless, he said he saw room for improvement particularly in training sales staff to, “really have a better understanding of our clients, to listen to them and learn the charcteristics of the wines they enjoy. Not about selling this wine at a cheap price, I want to focus more on the service and focus on the customer.”

He added that he wanted Madison to get behind more education, tastings and dinners, “really engaging with our customers”.

With the original shop in Central still going despite being in a stop that doesn’t allow for much foot traffic, he also mentioned that a further outlet is earmarked for Wan Chai at a future date.