“Bal-Ham, Gateway to the South’ was the comedy line made famous by Peter Sellers in the 1940s which was meant at the time to be a tongue in cheek reference to what was an unremarkable London suburb.
Fast forward 50 plus years and Balham also plays an important part in the success of Top Selection for it was from the spare bedroom of their family home in this now up and coming London neighbourhood that Ákos Forczek, and his wife Michelle, hoped to start up their own wine distribution business in 2000.
Akos Forczek was able to bring the experiences learned at LVMH into starting up Top Selection
It was a start-up, though, with the advantage of Akos Forczek’s experience working in a senior role at drinks powerhouse, LVMH and Michelle Forczek’s background as a partner at Deloitte and managing director of Deutsche Bank.
“One of the biggest things I learnt at LVMH was the importance of controlling your own distribution. That is the key to delivering good service. Then you need to be able to tell the story behind your products and build your reputation around the quality of those products,” he explains.
Which is the basis on which Top Selection has found its own “gateway” to the world by signing up key sought after producers over the last 25 years. It was the signing, for example, of Hungarian winemaker István Szepsy that first gave Forczek the chance to get his toe in the door of some of London’s finest restaurants with his iconic Tokaji wines.
Finding and signing long term partnerships with such respected winemakers as Hungary's István Szepsy has been cruical in how Top Selection has developed as a highly respected wine importer
That toe soon became a foot, then a leg and has now grown to a business employing 15 people with a hugely admired portfolio of nearly 100 plus family-owned producers from 19 countries.
“We wanted to work with the best possible producer we could in every major region. Whether they were already super stars in their own right, or they were just starting out. To work with producers that would not be in competition with each other,” he explains.
“We have built that expertise,” adds Matt Ellis, marketing manager. “Our high end accounts don’t want layers of complexity. They know they can work with us with one brand from one region. That focus and consistency is beneficial for both our customers and producers.”
Other key signings in its early years included the iconic Egon Müller in 2005, Alves de Sousa in 2006, David Duband in 2007 and Yves Cuilleron and André Jacquart Champagne. Fast forward to 2025 and Top Selection is still celebrating the fact that legendary Californian producer, Duckhorn, chose to align itself to Top Selection in 2020, rather than any of the bigger, arguably more high profile distributors in the UK.
Armed with such a strong portfolio gave Forczek the ammunition to get listings on the country’s best wine lists.
He recalls a tasting with Isa Bal during his time at the Fat Duck when he arrived with 24 wines to taste but Bal only had 40 minutes to taste them. He ended up listing 21 out of the 24.
“That is the biggest confirmation I have ever had that we had built something - from scratch - that people liked,” he says.
It is a similar story with its portfolio tasting where sommeliers say they can come and know every wine will be at a certain level. “We are not wasting anyone’s time. You don’t need five hours to taste through our entire range to find something you are looking for,” he explains.
True partnerships
Forczek says looking back it all appears to have come together like some clever, long term cunning plan, when the reality was very different. “We went against the norm,” he says. “We did not have a business plan.”
Other than its commitment to work with producers on an exclusive basis and to build the business very much as a true partnership with them and by focusing on getting them in listings in high end restaurants. “We have all grown together,” he says.
Top Selection's first invoice was sent to Le Gavroche...
He certainly started off in the right places. His first on-trade invoice was to Le Gavroche, the first retail customer was Harrods and by 2003 it was the biggest wine supplier to Coutts and its invaluable network of private clients.
“We have built it all on relationships. One thing has led to another,” says Forczek.
He is also quick to stress the importance and impact of working first with István Szepsy, and then Egon Müller in Mosel, Germany which quickly established Top Selection’s credentials as a serious wine supplier. A reputation which then helped it attract other key producers, such as Alves de Sousa, in the Douro, Portugal and the reputation of David Duband in Burgundy.
“People knowing we could supply them with top end Burgundy on a constant basis was a big turning point for us. It was really crucial,” he adds.
Top end to entry level
Top Selection’s range, however, has been carefully put together to ensure it also has what Forczek calls its “cash flow products” which help balance out a high end customer’s wine list.
Producers that can offer “value and quality for money across the range, from the bottom to the top”. It’s why it is increasingly open to work with major wine producers that can provide large volumes of say Malbec at entry level, but “the quality has to be most superior in that category”.
In fact it arguably takes more time and effort for the Top Selection team to pick out the house wines it is going to work with, he adds.
“The best restaurants want exceptional quality at both the top end and at entry level. It’s why we might taste, for example, 500 Italian wines in order to list just three.”
Earning its customers’ respect for both the fines wines it can offer, but also the quality and value of its entry level wines is what has helped it build and forge closer ties with those restaurant customers.
“It’s said you can judge the quality of a restaurant by the standard of its toilet. It’s the same with its wine list. If the quality of its entry level wine is very good, you know what its top end wines are going to be like,” he adds.
Top Selection is particularly proud to have been named Sommelier Wine Awards Fine Wine Merchant of the Year (2018-2020) for three consecutive years which Forczek sees as a “remarkable achievement in the face of all the competition out there”.
Game changer
With longstanding relationships across the premium on-trade the next step for Top Selection has been to establish a similar network with the country’s most senior independent wine merchants - a move it stepped up during the long lockdown months of Covid.
He says it was particularly pleased to be recently listed at 19th in Harpers’ Top 50 suppliers to independent wine merchants - which was the first time it was nominated.
Alastair Moss says Top Selection is like a "new shiny toy" to many independent wine merchants
“For many of the regional independents we are like a new shiny toy to play with. We are also not turning up with a minimum order requirement. Instead we have a range of authentic wines to choose from and hopefully a compelling list to select from,” says sales director, Alastair Moss.
“We also hopefully stand out because we are not just a wine supplier, but here to represent the people and producers we work with,” says Forczek. “We truly value them. We know the names of their children. It’s the same with our team. We are a family.”
Its independent retail strategy was helped enormously when it was approached by Duckhorn in 2020 to take on the exclusive distribution rights for its portfolio of premium wines from Napa Valley and California.
“It has provided the access to independent wine merchants and top end retail that we have been looking for,” says Forczek. “It has been a game changer.”
Working exclusively with iconic Napa producer Duckhorn has been a "breakthrough" for Top Selection accessing more premium on-trade and retail accounts
Duckhorn has been the catalyst to helping Top Selection build up what is now one of most prominent Californian and US portfolios in the UK that has seen boutique producers such as Elizabeth Spencer, Trois Noix, Precision Wines and New Yorks Nathan Kendall join the range over the last five years.
“Prior to 2018 our wines were mainly in the London on-trade and a few luxury retailers and a few independents. That changed with Duckhorn, who we took on just three weeks before lockdown in 2020.”
A brand with such clout and prominence that Top Selection soon had potential customers coming to us to see if they could buy the wines. “We have had to put extra means behind us in order to handle what Duckhorn has brought us.”
“Covid opened a lot of doors for us and we started to work far more outside of London,” said Forczek.
How it buys
Top Selection has built up its range without the need for a head wine buyer. Instead the entire team gets involved in the process, says Forczek.
“It is a total team effort. We all come together and talk about the wines we are tasting.The pros and cons of each one. Our palates are now very similar but we also know which wines are going to fit in terms of price, quality and the overall portfolio.”
But most of all a wine has to be “balanced” in order to find itself on the Top Selection list. That is what its customers are looking for and that is what it has to get right, stresses Forczek.
The buying process is very much a team effort at Top Selection
If they like a wine they will then go out and visit the producer in or order to do “due diligence on them,” says Forczek.
Ellis adds: “Our name is Top Selection so we have to go out and do that. Our success relies on it and we need to have a very clear message about who we represent.
Quality service
In order to provide the best quality service it runs a combination of its direct next day delivery in London and then works on a 48-hour basis with an increasing network of regional wholesalers to serve the on-trade around the country and the growing number of independent wine merchants it supplies.
It even has a full-time member of staff working within its London-based warehouse, EHD, in order to ensure the right vintages and wines are picked for its customer. An investment it is willing to make in order to further guarantee the quality and level of service.
If anything does go wrong then it how you “rectify the problem that you are most going to be judged on”, says Forczek. “Do we make mistakes? Yes. But we work as hard as we can to provide the best quality service. Relationships in business are like a marriage. You can’t sulk when things go wrong. You have two work even harder to rectify it.”
That determination to try and do the right thing also plays out with the Top Selection team, says Forczek. “We provide private healthcare for everybody. That is an important principle for us. I came from a world where you had private healthcare and believe strongly we should be providing it for our staff,” explains Forczek.
The culmination of all the hard work put in by Forczek and all the Top Selection team will come to the fore in May when it is able to celebrate its 25th anniversary at a special tasting and event on May 12.
A chance to celebrate how far it has come, but also how it has been able to build long term partnerships with both its premium restaurant and now retail partners and its long list of loyal producers.
Top Selection may have outgrown that spare bedroom in Balham over the last 25 years but at its heart it remains a family-owned, independent business rooted in the same values as when Ákos and Michelle Forczek first started out.
* You can find out more about Top Selection at its website here.
* Top Selection is a commerical partner to The Buyer. Click here for more information.
