Located in Seven Sisters in north London, Coulure is the latest venture by winemaker and importer Mags Jango, best known for his business MJ Wine Cellars. Designed as both a neighbourhood wine bar and shop, Jango tells Drinks Retailing how his dream for a bricks and-mortar location came to fruition.
The idea of having somewhere like this had been floating around for years, then at the start of this year it solidified into something we were going after. We saw a few spots around town but decided on this one because it’s somewhere we can keep our overheads reasonable. We also liked that it had a real neighbourhood feeling. It’s full of young families, mums, dads, prams.
When we found the spot in April, it was completely wrecked. It had been vacant for the best part of a decade, but it’s kind of like house hunting – when we walked in, there was a moment of silence, and we just knew. It’s been hands-on: cutting the boards, measuring stuff, plumbing. It was also such a team effort. To give an example, Henny [Zinzuwadia, who is creative director] was painting the final cupboard door on the units black the day we were opening.
Even before we opened, we had people knocking on the door and asking what was happening. Then, the actual first day went well. In my typical blokeish way, it was good enough. Henny rightly pointed out all the things we didn’t have, but I thought we should just roll the dice. We had wine, we had borrowed glasses from down the road, we had bottles on shelves. Then we had two people come in, which eventually turned into seven. That felt amazing.
In terms of the on-trade and off-trade ratio, it’s great if people come in and buy a bottle, but I want a bar where there is music playing, tables occupied and a hum going on in the background. One day, a woman came in at lunchtime and was doing some of her work on her laptop while sipping a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. I love that. I live for that.
In terms of the wines we sell, they are from my portfolio for a combination of reasons, but mainly some pragmatic cashflow ones. That’s not to say we will never display or pour wines from other importers, but at the moment we have enough of our own to get us through. In terms of focus, we just have great wines from around the world, and we also champion wines made by producers of colour. We have Aslina wines from South Africa, Mama Afrika, also from South Africa, and Brown Estate, which is California’s first black-owned winery in Napa.
Interestingly, some of the things that have been slower-moving when I’ve imported them are suddenly doing well here. Put them on by the glass, let people taste them, and they become the wines we’re now sold out of. One example is a skin-contact Chenin Blanc from the Aslina range, which is traditionally a slower mover but here is one of the fastest. Another is a Portuguese wine that, according to my sales report, people never order just one glass of.
Overall, being in the shop is confirming my hypothesis that if you can get people to try it, they will like it. In my other business, I love cutting a deal with a supermarket, but I think one of the reasons most people go into wine is because it’s a people business and this has rekindled that flame for me.
