How do you reflect on 2024 going into next year - what have been the big moments for you as a business over the last 12 months?
One of the biggest moments at González Byass UK this year was the addition of Famiglia Castellani which further strengthen our agency brand portfolio. This 120-year-old company is known for producing some of the finest classic wines in the Tuscan region and has already opened up new doors for GBUK with its broad range.
Gonzalez Byass UK is pleased to welcome the Castellani family from Tuscany into its agency range
This family business is headed up by Piergiorgio Castellani, a fourth generation owner and chief executive, who is very focused on continuing development in the UK.
As always, time spent with customers is a highlight of the year. Amongst many dinners, events and winery trips, the Tio Pepe festival in Jerez, where Take That were headlining, was a particular highlight for 2024.
We continue to win awards for our wine tourism in Spain, with our winery in Jerez being one of the most visited wineries in the world.
Where were you in terms of achieving your commercial goals and targets?
Many categories such as Beronia Rioja and Rueda, Spanish brandy and many of our third party agencies showed good growth on-year. The sherry category sales took a big hit at the end of 2023 and into 2024.
Despite much lobbying of the government by the trade and the WSTA, and I also had had a meeting with cabinet minister of the time, Grant Shapps in our office. It seemed very clear he was not close to the detail of what the proposed duty rises would do. As we know sherry, and other fortified wines, suffered the most during this period, but it is encouraging to see sales now levelling out as we continue with our strong marketing and sales push for authentic sherries which the trade loves.
What are your thoughts going into 2025 and what you see as the big opportunities you can build on from this year?
González Byass has already had to cope with the massive changes to fortifed wine duty rates
2025 is a year of celebration and reflection as we mark the 21st anniversary of opening the González Byass UK office with a special portfolio tasting on February 6 in London.
In 2004 Gonzalez Byass was best known for its sherry expertise, but today it owns wineries across key Spanish wine regions and, most recently, in Chile and Mexico.
The UK business has developed further bringing in third party agencies that perfectly complement our own production. Castellani joining in the autumn will give us a great opportunity to develop new customers and strengthen existing relationships in the coming year with their extensive range.
We are actively continuing to grow our portfolio in the UK with more news to come this year.
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?
This has already been well documented, but we continue to lobby MPs to show the error of their ways. The duty changes add unnecessary complexity for the industry and increased costs to consumers who are already feel the effects of a cost of living crisis. We have witnessed this already in August 2023 with the big the duty rises that hit the sherry category.
The duty changes in February will inevitability create challenges across the industry and additional unnecessary administration.
There is also the issue around increased Extended Packaging Responsibilities - what impact do you expect them to have and how are you planning for them?Systems are in place in our parent company, but the government haven’t given us the full financial impact yet.
Will you be actively looking to source lower ABV wines and if so what specific ABVs are you looking for?
Melissa Draycott says González Byass will never lower quality in order to source lower ABV wines
Across our wineries we are investigating lower ABV wines but, staying true to our values, ABVs will only be lowered if our premium quality of our wines can remain.
Do you see any risks to the overall wine category if we see more lower ABV and questionable quality wines in the UK market?
Lower quality wines, designed to hit lower prices exist in the market and a drive to achieve lower ABVs to drive down costs could certainly increase this part of the market.
Gonzalez Byass specialises in premium quality wines and we won’t compromise on this quality. If producers do sacrifice quality at the premium end of the market it will not go unnoticed by customers and consumers. When making purchases, consumers want to feel like they are getting value for money and wine is no exception.
If, in an effort to hit a price point, the quality of the product becomes “questionable” the consumers will not receive value. It is the responsibility of wine producers and wine buyers to provide value for money for consumers and we take this responsibility seriously.
What other major plans do you have for 2025 in terms of wines, ranges, events, tastings and activity in the trade?
As well as our portfolio tasting on February 6 we will also be getting involved in the trade with winemaker dinners, our annual Tim Pepe En Rama release, introducing Castellani to more customers in the trade, celebrations like Sherry Week and attending generic tastings such as Wines from Spain and celebrations such as the Gran Orden de Caballeros to Vinos with our customers. There will also be exciting agencies added to our growing portfolio.
Yes, 2025 will bring challenges around duty changes and EPR but at GBUK we like to bring some (Andalusian) sunshine to the table. This year we will be taking customers old and new to visit our wineries including our annual trip to the Feria de Jerez. If you haven’t been, we would highly recommend it.
* The González Byass UK 21st portfolio tasting takes place on February 6 at 2 Savoy Place in London on February 6. You can register and find out more here.
