Greg Sherwood MW: Navigating fine wine’s turmoil and embracing a new era

With news hot off the press that one of the UK’s most iconic independent merchants has announced that it will be closing its doors after 30 years, the wider wine trade is now in staunch agreement that the entire wine industry at all levels, from production all the way up to consumer-facing retail, is facing an unprecedented existential crisis.

Many leading South African producers will have cut their teeth in the London market selling their wines through Philglas & Swiggot, who’s humble origins started at their first shop in South London’s Northcote Road in 1991 before successive sites were developed, the final retail attraction being a charming little shop in Marylebone. While never exclusively reliant on passing footfall retail, the company also offered a successful online selection, a notable private client service and of course, ongoing En-primeur pre-release fine wine offers.

But even more notably, Philglas & Swiggot were one of the original innovators and disruptors of traditional, boring wine retail making a name for themselves in the early days specifically by offering a dynamic selection of new and unique New World wines from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa at a time in the late 1990s when a new generation of budding wine consumers were looking for more approachable styles of wine with more accessibility, more fruit-forward concentration and ripeness, single varieties, simpler labelling, and a generally more fun approach to wine retailing.

This sad news will of course be yet another hammer blow to the UK wine trade that is still busy digesting the announcement that iconic wine merchant Berry Brothers & Rudd were making around 30 people redundant from within the business and were also putting their No.1 St James’s Street freehold up for sale for £25m to £30m. Not to be a doom monger, but one just can’t help but feel that these ongoing industry tremors are just the beginning of what looks like being another very challenging year for the wider wine industry.

For many in the wine trade, there does however seem to be a concerted effort to clearly examine and better understand the changing environment we currently all find ourselves in. The mood is moving past the straightforward shock and whinging, to a more constructive, questioning environment, where leading industry movers and shakers are applying their considerable knowledge and expertise to bring a greater level of analysis to the current as well as future potential problems facing the global wine industry.

Only this week, I was pleased to attend a very interesting fine wine seminar hosted during the annual Indigo Wine Portfolio Tasting in London, the erstwhile UK importer of famous South African wine brands from Natasha Williams, Bernard Bredell and Johan “Stompie” Meyer. The seminar was expertly organised by another darling of the Cape winelands, Pauline Vicard, co-founder of Areni Global, who has been deeply involved in many of the past industry seminars hosted locally in the Cape.

Pauline, a Burgundian native, has over the past few years, conducted extensive research into the wine trade and more specifically, into what we mean and understand by the concept of “fine wine.” Coming at a time when the entire fine wine industry is grappling with some pretty deep unravelling traumas, the seminar titled “Reimagining Fine Wine” presented some useful, practical as well as philosophical perspectives for those of us active in the trade.

While I normally leave the deeper philosophical musings around wine to Winemag’s resident specialist Mr Tim James, it now seems clear that to properly understand the multiple mini-crises the wine industry is facing we are going to have to re-examine everything we think we know about the fine wine industry.

Areni Global is an independent think tank specifically dedicated to the future of fine wine. Headquartered in London, its mission is to study, debate and discuss the critical issues facing fine wine, to help everyone across the supply chain understand and adapt to change. As well as in-depth research into trends, economics, markets and social developments, it produces podcasts, publications and articles, and also brings members of the trade together at immersive events such as this seminar held recently in London.

On the panel to debate this fascinating topic was Christopher Sherwood (sorry no relation!) – the owner of independent wine merchant Bottle Apostle; Clara Rubin – head of wine at the Hawksmoor restaurant group and who I judged with for the IWSC in Margaret River, Australia, in June last year; Honey Sencer – author, sommelier and co-owner of Sune Restaurant in London; Giles Gooper – buying director at Chelsea Vintners; and Regine Lee – managing director at Indigo Wine.

We all realise that the ‘fine wine’ category, as we traditionally know it, is rapidly changing. Evolving consumer tastes and the ascent of non-traditional fine wine producers and regions have meant the wine industry has to adapt. The Areni Global wine industry think tank has done fascinating work identifying these key trends, and in conjunction with Indigo Wine, has been on the forefront of new wave producers across the world who are considered on the ‘cult’ side of the fine wine market.

Lubricated by a fascinating flight of ‘new wave fine wines’, the panel was invited to discuss and drill down on some very interesting aspects of the industry and what exactly is meant by the term “fine wine”. Setting the tone, each panellist selected a fine wine to illustrate the evolving wine market:

Sugrue South Downs The Trouble With Dreams 2019 Chardonnay / Pinot Noir Brut, South Downs, Sussex, England @ £38 per bottle retail.

Greg Sherwood MW rating: 96/100

Champagne Huré Frères Memoire Extra Brut NV Pinot Noir / Pinot Meunier / Chardonnay, France @ £58 per bottle retail.

Greg Sherwood MW rating: 94/100

Tamerān Malvasia Volcanica 2022 Malvasia Volcanica, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain @ £28 per bottle retail.

Greg Sherwood MW rating: 94+/100

Domino del Aguila Reserva 2020, Ribera del Duero, Spain @ £47 per bottle retail.

Greg Sherwood MW rating: 96+/100

Volare del Camino Malbec 2021, Gualtallary, Uco Valley, Argentina @ £70 per bottled retail.

Greg Sherwood MW rating: 95/100

Going back to basics, establishing the meaning of what is a fine wine is always an intriguing pursuit as the opinions differ so greatly depending on what segment of the fine wine trade you operate in. But general agreement has settled on a wine showing a certain internal harmony; that has the prerequisite interest on the nose and an impressive palate that builds towards the finish; possess a balance between its essential components; is capable of ageing yet is drinkable at every stage of its development; and has the ability to develop in the bottle and in your glass.

But moving away from the textbook technical definitions, a great emphasis for fine wines is also placed on their capacity to provoke emotions. Wines that are philosophically timeless, speak of a universal truth, represent a sense of place, are memorable, possess shared energies, touch your heart and soul, encapsulates its origins, offer pure fulfilment, bottled poetry, carries a message, stops time, is a real alchemy and is usually unique in some way.

Fine wine is shaped by more than just the perceptions of trade professionals or consumers, and the winemaker’s intent also plays a crucial role. They normally have a great respect for nature and protecting the environment, they cherish their vines and wines and are passionate and intelligent individuals. Also, how winemakers operate will be greatly influenced by family tradition or the history of their domaine or offer a modern interpretation of winemaking, bringing a willingness to transfer their personal approach to viticulture and winemaking.

It is also considered that within the definition of a fine wine, should be an integral objective of sustainability with a long-term approach allowing wines to acquire recognition both locally and globally. Nailing these concepts all together, the summarised definition of a fine wine was stated as: “A fine wine is complex, balanced, with a potential to age – though highly drinkable at every stage of its development. It has the capacity to provoke emotions and wonder in the one drinking it, while reflecting the expression of truth intended by its maker. It is widely recognised, while being environmentally, socially and financially sustainable.”

Any discussion on the definition of a fine wine will, in my opinion, always have to broach the topic of pricing, organised scarcity and supply and demand economics. Quite clearly, what was considered a traditional fine wine for one generation might not be considered a fine wine for another. Taking the Ribera del Duero region and its wines as an example, few will dispute the fine wine status and stature of Bodegas Vega Sicilia who produce iconic wines under their Unico, Valbuena 5 and Alion labels. But what about a small artisanal producer down the road? Are they invited to the fine wine party if their quality is considered critically exceptional, yet the price is perhaps only £35, £40 or £50 per bottle rather than £300 or £400?

Evidently, taking all the established fine wine definitions into consideration, these newer producers and their newer labels do fall into a new generation of fine wines and the panel was certainly in agreement on this matter. The illustrative tasting example of Dominio del Aguila Reserva 2020 was indeed a very distinguished wine receiving a rating from Luis Guitterez at Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate of 97/100 points. Where the heat started to be turned up on the panel was surrounding the more recent advent of fine wine as purely a luxury product.

It seems that certain global producers and brand owners choosing to break the established fine wine mould and position their wines, that may have very little track record, purely as an incredibly high-priced luxury brand, like a watch or a handbag, was a cause for concern and a clear contributing factor to many of the recent criticisms levelled at the fine wine category in general as being an industry obsessed with price over substance, marketing over track record, branding over innate quality, profit over sustainability.

For me, panellist Giles Cooper identified the perfect brand that typified this new and slightly worrying cynical trend – the Grange La Chapelle Syrah / Shiraz from Penfolds and La Chapelle Hermitage, recently released as a collaboration between Peter Gago and Caroline Frey, at “an incredibly premium price” for collectors and connoisseurs. They argument was that few connoisseurs would see the logic in something as vulgar as a Australian / French blend, negating the history and tradition of these two great wineries in the name of creating a new “luxury brand.”

Unfortunately, just as the audience and panel began delving into the crux of the matter, time was called on the seminar. Clearly, there is still much to be discussed, argued and contemplated before we can conceptualise some tangible courses of action and changes in industry behaviour that my remedy some of the current ills affecting the fine wine industry. But the direct of travel certainly seems in the right direction.

• Greg Sherwood was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and as the son of a career diplomat, spent his first 21 years traveling the globe with his parents. With a Business Management and Marketing degree from Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Sherwood began his working career as a commodity trader. In 2000, he decided to make more of a long-held interest in wine taking a position at Handford Wines in South Kensington, London, working his way up to the position of Senior Wine Buyer over 22 years. Sherwood currently consults to a number of top fine wine merchants in London while always keeping one eye firmly on the South African wine industry. He qualified as the 303rd Master of Wine in 2007.