How do you reflect on 2024 going into this year?
The last 12 months have been extremely positive. Opening our new London depot at the beginning of the year was a real milestone. Significantly larger than our previous depot, its allowed us to better serve our customers in London and the South East, with a particular investment in servicing premium and fine wine.
We’ve also been very lucky to be recognised by the wider industry, winning New World Merchant of the Year at the Sommelier Wine Awards and IWC’s Wine Educator of the Year for our trailblazing training team. Hosting exciting tastings is always a highlight of our year, and our Bordeaux Collection tasting in October was a standout, showing some truly exceptional fine wine.
We’ve also had some new talent join the team, particularly in our premium sales team, who all bring with them a love of wine and industry knowledge. At Bibendum, we’ve always had a pioneering spirit, and this year has resulted in launching the New Bordeaux School, our fine wine course aimed at sommeliers and taught by some of the region’s top chateaux.
Where were you in terms of achieving your commercial goals and targets?
Jamie Avenell says Bibendum had an overall "positive" 2024
We’re delighted to say that we’ve grown our share of wine across the UK on-trade this year, and we’ve seen fantastic performance over the past 12 months in the Republic of Ireland under the Bibendum Ireland brand. As announced at our half year results, we are trading in line with market expectations.
What are your thoughts going into 2025 and what you see as the big opportunities you can build on from this year?
As a distributor that serves customers across the UK, we see great opportunities in the north and in Scotland, and we have invested in extra resource to help us win business and grow our share of premium wine. We have brought in some fantastic talent and energy to our regional sales teams over the last few months, particularly in London and have had a real focus on ensuring that our service for customers is market leading.
We have some exciting plans with our long term partners who are the key to our success, but I’m also looking forward to welcoming some new suppliers to help us bring some fantastic new wines and areas of innovation to our customers.
There are a lot of concerns over the big changes in duty rates happening in February -how do you reflect on those changes and what impact they will have you and the business?
The changes to duty will have a significant impact for us and our suppliers. They add bureaucracy and complexity to our business and make the UK market more difficult to deal with for our producers. Luckily, we’ve had robust plans in place to prepare for this change and means we can help our suppliers, and our customers navigate the changes.
Bibendum sets out the changes to wine pricing after the duty changes
My greatest concern is for the consumer’s overall perception and enjoyment of the wine category. The new duty rates encourage the reduction of alcohol volumes to take commercial advantage of the system rather than a focus on quality that is key to delivering consumer experiences that will enhance the long term prospects of the wine category.
Whilst we have worked with some producers to reduce ABVs on some volume wines to ensure customers can have the value they are looking for; with others, we will maintain the original ABV because that’s the right thing for quality and customer experience.
What specific steps are you putting in place to handle the extra admin and complexity of the multiple duty rates?
We have implemented comprehensive systems with our office teams and in our depots to be able to handle ABV changes. We currently have a project team working on revised processes to ensure the added complexity does not impact on, and actually enhances customer service and order fulfilment where there are ABV changes.
Will you be actively looking to source lower ABV wines and if so what specific ABVs are you looking for?
We already have some products at lower ABVs to ensure the right value proposition for customers with entry level wines, and some options for consumers looking for lower ABVs for moderation or “lighter” drinking occasions and I think these areas of the market that will continue to see some growth.
But I think we need to be careful in over-engineering product and remember that quality, experience, and authenticity are key drivers for consumers when they go out and product needs to deliver first and foremost in these areas.
What style of wine at lower Abvs would you consider listing in terms of how they are made - spinning come vs other de-alcoholising methods?
Technology has and continues to develop rapidly in this area, but it’s a tricky area for wine and the best lower ABV wines are still made in the vineyard rather than by post-harvest manipulation.
Do you see any risks to the overall wine category if we see more lower ABV and questionable quality wines in the UK market?
Jamie Avenell worries about the future of the wine category if sourcing ABV over quality becomes the norm at lower price points
It’s my greatest fear of the new duty system, that particularly in retail where shelf price point is so critical, that the focus becomes too much on ABV reduction and not enough on quality. It’s quality and consumer experience that will enable success and category health for the wine category and I think some of the recently publicised consumer pushback on reducing ABVs should act as a warning for the industry.
The new duty regime encourages the wrong thought process.
Do you also see opportunities and ways in which you can help and support customers with these changes - If so how?
We have been working closely both with our suppliers and customers to explain these changes and what it means for them, for example, how they can amend their range to get the best value and maximise profit. We are also working on delivering a systems solution to aid customers and enhance our service delivery when there is an ABV change on any product.
What other major plans do you have for next year in terms of wines, ranges, events, tastings and activity in the trade?
Bibedum's upcoming tasting in February
We’ll be hosting our portfolio tasting in February, where we will be presenting over 300 wines from our award-winning portfolio. This annual event is always a great opportunity to show off our incredible portfolio and demonstrates the very best of Bibendum. We’ll also be welcoming some fantastic new producers to our range early in the new year, who all bring some different and unique to our portfolio and will excite customers.
- You can find out more about Bibendum’s Moments in Time tasting on February 5 at The Pelligon in 43 Bank Street, London, E14 5NX.
- Bibendum is a commercial partner to The Buyer. You can find out more about the services it offers the premium on and off-trades here.
