Argentina’sSusana Balbo Wines, Spain’s Bodegas Martín Códax, Italy’s Frescobaldi and Australia’s Teusner are all major producers that have joined Enotria&Coe in recent months as it gears itself up to supply a very different wine industry than before Covid-19, explains Ants Rixon.
Wine importers are very different businesses to what they were 50 years ago. In fact, some – particularly the big national distributors – are unrecognisable to where they were 10 years ago. No longer are they seen as simply suppliers of wine. The best are regarded as business partners where the actual wines and spirits they offer are only the starting point to a much bigger relationship. A partnership that might cover everything from category and range planning, to devising menus and wine lists, to even working on exclusive drinks just for your venues, or helping out with your social media, designing a new website, to planning where the best site might be for your next restaurant or bar.
That’s very much the world where Enotria&Coe, and all the various parts of the business sits. A company that has three clear business principles: “obsessive product knowledge, the creation of strong partnerships, and a commitment to excellence in everything we do”.
A clear message from Enotria&Coe on its corporate site for customers to see
It’s no longer good enough to scour the world for the best wines and spirits to import, at the most competitive prices for its customers. The best distributors add multiple layers on top and use their market insights, data and expertise to offer tailored solutions to an increasingly more demanding customer base that are only too aware they have alternative, equally well equipped suppliers to work with.
The more expectations your customers – and potential customers –have is both a challenge, but also a major opportunity, says Ants Rixon, managing director of Enotria & Coe .
If it is doing its job right, then it should have the answers and the solutions any competitive restaurant, bar, pub, or specialist drinks retailer is looking for, he adds. Which also means being continuously on the front foot, following and leading market trends and making sure your offer is in tune, if not ahead of what your customers are looking for.
Which is hard to do in normal times, even more so when you have been in the business version of a washing machine in the last 24 months dealing with national on-trade lockdowns and the majority of its staff being on furlough for so much of it.
New partners
Ultimately, though, he says the heart and DNA of any wine distributor is the range it can offer its customers and the producer partners it works with. “That’s what we are judged on. We are very much focused on wine and the people we work with,” says Rixon.
It’s why it has been so important for the business, and also a clear sign of its strength going forward, that it has been able to sign up so many significant and world leading producers in recent months, that it was able to introduce to the trade for the first time at its recent ‘New Producer Launch’ tastings.
They included: Susana Balbo Wines from Argentina previously with Las Bodegas; Bodegas Martín Códax from Rias Baixas in Spain previously with Liberty; Frescobaldi, one of Tuscany’s crown jewels, that has moved from Hallgarten Druitt after 20 years; Teusner from the Barossa Valley in Australia; and Casa Valduga, from Brazil, previously with Berkmann Wine.
Attracting Susana Balbo to the group has been a bit of a “coup” for Enotria & Coe says Ants Rixon
He says each of the new arrivals are a bit of “coup” of the group, and will help complement the producers they already have in the business, like Penaflor in Argentina and Susana Balbo. “We are very excited to be working with Susana Balbo, Argentina’s first female winemaker,” he says.
Bodegas Martin Codax is a great opportunity to bring in in premium Albarino and have wines from the cool climate of Galicia in north west Spain, he says. Teusner brings quality old vine wines from the Barossa, that allow you to “drink premium Australian wine much younger” than normal.
Then Frescobaldi “just fits so well with our culture and the other premium Italian and Tuscan producers” in its portfolio and helps position E&C as a “specialist Tuscan” supplier.
E&C, he adds, always has what he calls an “aspirational list” of producers it would like to work with. Clearly during the height of lockdown it had to concentrate on what it had and making sure it was getting wine and spirits to the customers that needed it. But coming out of lockdown it has had the opportunity to push ahead and look to bring some of those producers into the business.
“As soon as we saw the on-trade opening up again, we were able to put our footdown and bring new producers in,” he says.
Focus on heritage
He says part of the focus for E&C’s 50th year anniversary is to celebrate the wine heritage it has in the business. It certainly feels appropriate that Frescobaldi, such a legend of Italian wine, is joining the company for the first time.
It joins a portfolio that includes producers that have been with Enotria for all its 50 years, whilst many have been part of the company for at least 30 if not 40 years.
Its anniversary is a great opportunity for the group to open up its portfolio and shine the light on the world leading estates that have worked hand in hand with E&C over the past decades, says Rixon.
Customers can expect to see dedicated activity in the coming months, including specialised tastings, that focus in on itsheritage and a chance for E&C “to go back to its roots”.
An opportunity to take a fresh look at producers that have been part of wine lists for years, and re-assess what they have in their ranges, and what new styles might be suitable for lists today.
It’s also a key time for E&C to re-engage with both its long-term and new producer partners and make sure as many staff as possible get the chance to go out and meet the wineries and winemakers they work with so that they can re-connect after so long apart.
“That’s a key part of our 50th anniversary commitments. Making sure people can connect personally again with our producers,” says Rixon.
Key milestones
Ants Rixon says its 5oth anniversary is an opportunity to look back at some of the key trends in drinks, but also look at what we can expect more of in the future
It’s a theme that E&C wants to examine later in the year with a particular focus on how wines and drinks overall have evolved over the years, and what was in vogue 20 to 30 years ago is very different to how wine and drinks lists are put together today, explains Rixon.
“We also want to reflect on how the world of drinks has changed over the last 50 years,” he adds. “A chance to look back on history and what have been the big step changes. Like the emergence of the Super Tuscans, right through to CBDs.”
An opportunity for customers to talk to its sales and marketing teams about how they can bring certain wine, spirits and drinks to life with a fresh focus, he says. “It’s a great time to show how Enotria has evolved and developed over the years.”
Celebrating talent
As well as helping its wine and spirits producers and its customers grow over the last 50 years, E&C takes great pride in how it has invested in its people and wants to reflect that through 2022 with an additional focus on helping to grow the talent currently in the business, explains Rixon.
“We want to lay the foundations for how hospitality can grow in the future by supporting our talent,” he adds.
It has already helped a number of members of staff sign up to the MW, MS and WSET Diploma programs and invest in special study trips for members of staff looking to help with their wine education.
It is all part, he stresses, of E&C’s on-going commitment to be a “fulfilling place to work” with a series of initiatives that help its staff grow, develop, take on new skills and move through the company.
“We are over investing time with our people, to help with their training and continued improvement which is part of the cultural values of the company,” says Rixon.
Environmental push
E&C wants to drive forward on its sustainability charter to mark its anniversary
Helping its people grow is also very much part of ‘E&C’s Sustainability Charter’ which the company will be looking to enhance and implement through 2022.
It plans to publish specific steps it is taking to tackle environmental challenges later in the year and look to work far more closely with producers in helping to publicise but also promote the work they are doing in their vineyards, wineries and with their suppliers.
That has to be the way forward for distributors, says Rixon. It is one thing putting the right steps in place within its immediate business, but to make a real impact importers need to work with their producer partner and the supply chains they have to make sure they are following the right guidelines and introducing the correct measures.
Relevant and effective
After such a difficult time for everyone in the wine and drinks industry it looks like E&C could not have timed their 50th anniversary any better. A time when things are more than just getting back to normal, but an opportunity to take advantage of what is clearly a very different tradingenvironment than prior to Covid-19. Restaurants, bars and retailers have all had to evolve, and adapt and make themselves stronger and more flexible and customer focused than ever before.
It’s the same for E&C, says Rixon. “We have come out of all this as a much stronger business,” he claims.
It has also given it the time to re-assess its own channel strategies and to make sure it is working with customers and routes to market where it can provide the most efficient, effective and profitable service. It has given parts of its business, like The Great Wine Company, an opportunity to really come to the fore with its strong retail and e-commerce model.
It’s certainly now not a case of going back to how things were in March 2020, before the first lockdown. “It’s a completely different situation. We have had to re-structure the business to be as relevant as possible.”
Which has meant taking the steps to strengthen its offer and teams for each of the trading channels it serves. Which, in turn, has meant understanding the challenges each of those channels were facing – be it the on and off-trades, brokers, direct to consumer, or corporate – and providing them with a service that was “ahead of what they were doing”.
Rixon says E&C is looking forward to getting back to servicing the number of sporting contracts it has won in recent years, including being the official wine supplier to Lord’s Cricket Ground
He is particularly excited to see the corporate and events channels opening up again, particularly as E&C had done so much prior to Covid-19 to sign up key accounts with racecourses, and other major sporting venues, like Lords. All of which open up doors for over events and stadiums. Only now is it able to really work with many of those partners to see what it can offer.
It has also been quick to sign fulfilment contracts with the new on demand grocery services like Zapp, Gorillas and Getir and Rixon says it is going to be fascinating to see how they grow in the years to come and the impact they have on retail overall. Which is why it has been crucial for E&C to be working with them from the outset.
It has also been a “massive test of its systems to be able to supply them” and it is learning all the time about how these apps are being used and where the growth opportunities are.
“The new normal is likely to be having grocery solutions delivered to your door before going out for a special occasion,” says Rixon.
Supply chain solutions
Ants Rixon says E&C is in a good position to offer the stability, security, and reliability that customers are looking for
But it can also only operate within the trading conditions of the market, and it too is having to cope with the major on-going problems in the global supply chain which means wines are being held in the system for weeks more than usual.
It has also had to source more volumes of different wine from existing producer partners to make up for shortages in supply from key countries and grape varieties, most notably New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. It has increased, for example, its Sauvignon Blanc supplies from Italy by 54%, as a result. South African supply is up 32%, and Australia by 25%. It is also looking to open up more white wines from Rueda as well.
“It’s going to take a while for New Zealand to recover and we are likely to see issues again this year,” he adds.
Again for Rixon and the E&C team it means being on the front foot and “pro-active” in talking to its customers about what is happening. “It’s a case of managing customer expectations so that everyone understands the situation. We are being very clear about what is happening so that they can adapt their businesses as well,” he explains. “People don’t like surprises.”
We’ve hadenough uncertainty in the last couple of years. It’s E&C’s job to offer stability, security, and reliability to the customers it works with, stresses Rixon.
- Enotria & Coe is a supplier partner to The Buyer. You can read more here.
