ml">NEXT ARTICLE >>

e="robots" content="ALL">

Issue 2 Nov 2002

<< PREVIOUS ARTICLE | CONTENTS | NEXT ARTICLE >>

THIS WEEK I HAVE MAINLY BEEN DRINKING...

ROBIN NUGENT
AREA MANAGER

Robin joined Alliance in 2000 having previously worked for various other well esteemed merchants in the period after his "apprenticeship" at Oddbins. A healthy fellow, Robin enjoys hill walking and has also been know to air his lungs singing in a choir.

These days, when not stuck on the M25, he is more likely to be changing nappies than yomping on the hills!

So Robin, having worked for some pretty "traditional" merchants in the past, which wine at Alliance most epitomises the different philosophy here?

Any company which takes on a producer called Suckfizzle and then advertises it by sending pictures of naked men through the post has to be given credit for bravery at the very least. And I have never known anyone at Alliance shy away from enjoying a glass or six and that is what it is all about at Suckfizzle-enjoyable, drinkable wines with a hedonistic edge and a sense of fun but with a degree of style most of us can only aspire to (especially when you have a toddler and, just to clarify, it's her nappies I'm changing not a nine pints of Zinfandel meets a Balti extravaganza meets rush hour on the south-circular moment!)

You work with a lot of independent retailers, which of our wines give them the edge when it comes to competing with the "big boys"?

Wines like Apollonio's Salento Rosso and Copertino Riserva are so individual, so full of character that it makes the me-too brands flogged everywhere from the corner shop to the biggest of the multiples look like a wet day at Sandbach motorway services - very dull and unappetising. Then there are wines like Hillsview made by the irrepressible Brett Howard - crowd pleasers certainly but with a real stamp of Australia on them. Real wines made by real people not by committee.

You've done a little winemaking in the past, is there somewhere in particular that you would most like to make wine in?

My head says Spain which has such fantastic potential to produce great wines from exciting local grape varieties. My heart says New Zealand for a great lifestyle-winemaking in the week, surfing or mountaineering at the weekends. Thinking about it though there are the Pyrenees and the Picos and the Atlantic rollers coming in on the Spanish coast - where did I put the "Learn Spanish in a Week" tapes?

Which areas of our range do you think offers the best value and where do you think we need to strengthen?

We have now got an amazing range from South Africa with Bushmans Creek and Marimba made by Kosie Moller, McGregor, and on to our newest discovery Havana Hills- there is something there for everyone. The rest of the new-world is also looking pretty strong which is a good result for a company with a French MD! That said there are some lovely wines from all over France too. The new Albarino and sherries are excellent additions to the Spanish range and the new pair from Jumilla will also be great but this is an area I think we are just beginning to scratch the surface of and that there are many more jewels to be found.

Right Robin, imagine that things are going well. Sales are booming to such an extent that you now have a chauffeur to take you to sales calls (keep dreaming!) What will you be drinking in the back of the limo on the way home?

If Alliance is going to run to a chauffeur perhaps they will stretch to an in-car kitchen so I can rustle up a few grilled langoustines to go with a glass of Verdicchio Fontevecchia or maybe some of the fantastic, undervalued Gruner Veltliner from Stadt Krems in Austria. If the smoke is getting in the driver's eyes then a glass of bubbly would be good but I'd probably go for Prosecco from Villa Brunesca to conjure up memories of Verona and Lake Garda and to whet my appetite for the holiday when I am going to go to spend all that bonus!

^ TOP OF PAGE

NEXT ARTICLE >>