Financial Mail 23 April

It was a light-bulb moment. Barging with friends on a river in France’s Champagne district, former Wooltru financial director John Newton and the ex-Zimbo import-export agent who is now his wife, Jane Greenwood, kept stopping off at villages to enjoy the crisp delights of a variety of champagnes they’d previously never heard of.

At one small family-run wine estate, where the bubbles in their glasses were tiny, slow-rising and soft in the mouth — sign of a better-quality vintage — an idea crystallised. As Greenwood describes it: “We began discussing the fact that there were probably loads of these smaller unknown guys making great champagne at good prices, not spending money on promoting themselves. How wonderful it would be, someone said, if we could get their products into SA. That was how the idea started.”

Back home they began contacting champagne houses whose websites appealed. It wasn’t long before they’d brought in renowned Cape wine master Allan Mullins — Woolworths’ senior wine buyer who’s been involved with the Ruinart and Charles Heidsieck labels — and formed a start-up venture with their barging friend, Hirsh Aronowitz, who has handled importation and distribution for Woolworths.

That was five years ago. Cuvées Classiques has since become the only wine importers specialising in champagne in SA. They operate out of a long, low, attractive brick-lined cellar in The Palms decor shopping centre in Woodstock, where they do tastings as well as sales. Tastings are a vital part of their business, conducted in venues all over the country, both private and corporate.

“When you’re selling unknown brands into a market dominated by the big brands, tastings are the only way you can get people to try something new,” says Newton. “In the emerging market, people choose only known brands.”

Their portfolio contains seven champagne houses, some established and some unknown. They have sole distribution rights in SA.

Mullins did the selecting. “He has the palate that picks up what he thinks will work in the SA environment,” says Newton. “And we looked for champagnes that have a story, like Drappier, which has been in the family for eight generations. The winemaker Michel Drappier lives above the cellar built in the 12th century by Cistercian monks. They own three- quarters of their own grapes so they’re not held over a barrel on price.”

Entry-level of the portfolio’s brands is R259 for a Georges Lacombe Champagne. (Moët et Chandon is about R450.) Their equally competitively priced houses are Champagne Colin and Marguet Père et Fils, both new to SA. At the other end are Lallier and Duval-Leroy, whose top- priced bottle in the portfolio is Femme 1996 at R1245.

Jacquesson is the star of the squad. Owned by two passionate brothers, Jean- Herve and Laurent Cliquet, it’s one of France’s most progressive small houses, championing a drive for terroir and individuality over the process practised by the bigger houses of blending wines from different estates and often different years, to produce consistency. Jacquesson’s output is about 350000 bottles a year compared with the world’s biggest champagne producer, Moët et Chandon, which produces about 25m and is part of the LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) group.

One champagne that’s likely to be in short supply in SA during the World Cup is Drappier’s Grande Sendrée, R650/bottle. “When Sepp Blatter was here for the draw, entertaining Fifa execs at Buitenverwachting, Drappier’s Grande Sendrée was the only thing he would drink,” says Greenwood. “They phoned around and we supplied. It’s a fabulous champagne. He has an excellent palate.”

Cuvées Classiques will deliver anywhere in Cape Town and courier all over the country. Their champagnes are in top restaurants and on sale mainly in wineshops like Vaughan Johnson, Wine Concepts, Norman Goodfellow, Caroline’s and Manuka.

CONTACT THEM

Tel: (021) 461-7498

Go to: www.ccq.co.za