As a wine importer you are clearly looking to bring in new producers to your range all the time - but it must be a delicate balance as another producer might mean another winery gets less attention...how do you tackle and address that balance?
We always ensure that when bringing on new producers, they are complimentary to our existing range. Brands are assigned to one of our brand team to ensure that each producer receives the focus, attention and expertise that they require. We often even ask our current producers their input to ensure we have their support as Armit does try and build genuine partnerships and not simply transactional representation.
What criteria do you use when taking on a new producer and their wines?
Brett Fleming says great care is taken to ensure any new producer Armit takes on complements rather than competes with any producer it is already working with
We import some of the most iconic wineries in the world, and we have a special talent for discovering the wine stars of the future. It is essential that our portfolio represents the epitome of quality and as such, new producers must fit within the existing range and remit.
Our vision is to represent the best from any region and we are justly proud of our portfolio. There are of course many great producers from any one region but we tend to look for true terroir expression in the style Armit are championing within out entire portfolio.
Will you take on all their wines - or have a strategy in terms of how many wines from a new producer you are willing to take on?
We selectively choose a small range of wines from new producers with a view to building and adapting this over time. Channel segmentation is also key, ensuring that different wines are available to go into different sectors of the market, independent retail, on-trade, multiple retail etc.
You clearly need to have your customers on board and willing to take on new wines and producers - how do you manage that?
Communication is always key here. Our customers are our partners in business as much as our producers are. It’s essential that all parties see and understand what opportunities there are. We work with a number of high calibre customers who share with us their longer-term goals of supply allowing us opportunity to support this. As we also have a strong broking department, we are able to ensure we provide back vintages of a range of producers as we get these requests.
If they take on a new producer do you have to accept that might mean they stop buying wines from another one of your producers?
We choose producers to be complimentary, strengthen our portfolio offering to our customers. The idea is that with new products come new opportunities, giving customers the chance to buy more wines from us, rather than swap one thing for another.
Can you give us an example of a producer you have introduced to your range and how you have gone about doing that in order to get customer support?
You can taste the new wines from Slovenian producer Vini Noüe-Marinič in London on October 9
We are in the process of introducing a new Slovenian Producer, Vini Noüe-Marinič into our portfolio. We will be running events on October 9, including an open tasting for trade and press at Jamie Oliver Catherine St (October 9 3pm – 5pm contact trade@armitwines.co.uk for further details and to attend) in order to introduce the brand to our customers and the press. This will give buyers a chance to meet the producer, taste the range and discuss further with the Armit team.
What steps did you go through with that producer before you decided to take on their wines?
Our buying team meet producers to develop a thorough understanding of their ethos, estate and range. The wines are then tasted by the buying team and once given the green light, they are tasted by the sales team before a final decision is made by myself in my role as managing director.
Is it harder to take on a new producer in terms of taking a risk - with all the extra administration, duty and costs - you have to make sure you are on to a winner from the off?
There will always be an element of risk in terms of financial and personnel commitments to a new producer, however, we would only bring in someone new if we were confident of their success and that they are the right ‘fit’ for our portfolio and ethos.
Brunello producer Pian dell ’Orino has recently joined Armit Wines
A good example being Pian dell ’Orino. We reduced any risk by identifying the gaps and opportunity in our portfolio and customer base to then ensure we found the right partner to work with.
How do you define success? The number of customers that list the wine, or the number of cases sold? How long do you take before deciding if a new producer and their wines are working in the trade?
Success is highly dependent on the individual brand. We take pride in securing appropriate listings for all our producers based on our joint goals and objectives for each brand, how long this takes to achieve is again very individual. It is also worth noting the success is a journey, not a destination.
We look to grow, develop and build brand equity at all stages and do not measure this as specific end results, but on-going activity forever looking at equity growth for all parties.
* You can find out more about Armit wines at its website here.
* Armit Wines is a commercial partner to The Buyer.
