Armit Wines’ portfolio tasting showcased a range of new producers today (10 March), including the distributor’s first-ever Austrian maker, Bernhard Ott, from the Wagram region.
Also new for the portfolio tasting were Marchese Luca Spinola and Cascina Baricchi from Piedmont; Domaine Philippe Bouzereau and Domaine Rossignol-Trapet from Burgundy; Samuel Billaud from Chablis; and Fèlsina and Montepeloso from Tuscany.
Speaking to Drinks Retailing in a room just away from the main tasting, MD Brett Fleming explained: “Bernhard Ott approached us at Wine Paris last year and I couldn’t believe how good the wines were.”
A natural fit, Fleming added that Bernhard Ott’s desire to enter the premium on-trade made the producer an obvious choice for the company. However, he continued, the pick wasn’t just for transactional reasons but also passionate ones.
“In the wine trade, we’re often very privileged to taste some of the best wine estates in the world and there is a danger that you can become a bit blasé. But I remember sitting with Bernhard in his little booth and I couldn’t find the words because of how good these wines were,” he said.
It was a decision made as much from the heart as the head. “With producers, you have to have that intangible feeling where it becomes obvious you’ll have a good relationship,” Fleming continued.
That sense is something the team at Armit got about all the new producers, which are defined by the common theme of elegance, said Fleming.
“Montepeloso from the Maremma region [in Tuscany], for example, has created wines that are lifted, ethereal, elegant,” he commented, noting that this is the style that consumers are interested in, moving away from big, robust and overly alcoholic wines.
These are trends that Armit is aiming to respond to, notably reacting to a consumer which is focused on both health and sustainability.
Luckily, “This isn’t too hard because John Armit was well ahead of his time and the business is set up for this because of what John did”, Fleming said.
Talking about the business more generally, Fleming shared that Armit’s Wine Club, which was launched last year, is going well. A way of bringing new private clients into the business, the company is looking to expand the types of people it serves: “If you look at traditional private clients, who are people like me, as a group we’re dying off; not buying wine like we used to. So, we must bring it back to the beginning of the wine-buying journey to meet new consumers, and that’s the purpose of the wine club.”
As an expansion of this, “We’d like to do things like cookery courses with the wine club where we bring over chefs as well as the winemaker”, something that will connect consumers to the wines in a holistic way.
Elsewhere, Armit is also focused this year on getting out the message that it offers wines outside of the ultra-premium category.
“We’ve also got so much more to offer though,” Fleming said, with entry level wines also part of the portfolio. “One of our challenges, ironically, is that our premium image can actually impede us. We’d like to change the perception that that’s all we do.”
A business seeking a gentle expansion, both in terms of the styles it offers and the clients it wants to connect with, the Armit Wines tasting demonstrated a well-considered portfolio – one with an eye on elegance and relationships too.
