Smarter Grower Champagne launched by former KPMG accountant

Published: 07 January, 2013

Former KPMG accountant Ken Davey has launched a boutique grower Champagne business, Smarter Grower Champagne, after being made redundant from the corporate world.

The business, which Davey runs with his partner Svetlana Lindholm, is an official importer and wholesaler for a select number of independent growers from Champagne houses producing fewer than 150,000 bottles a year.

The vineyards are owned, or significantly influenced, by "new generation" owners (i.e. sons and daughters of the family owners who are in their 30s to 40s), who produce top-quality award-winning premium wines from four of the five wine-producing districts of Champagne.

Its clients include the Lanesborough Hotel, Mayfair wine merchants Vanquish Wine and, London's Bleeding Heart restaurant.

Davey previously ran a country house hotel with his family, back in the early 1980s and has a background of providing high-quality services, managing client relationships and has more than 12 years' international sales and marketing experience with KPMG.

Davey said: "Being made redundant is life changing - but sometimes it can change your life for the better."

The grower Champagnes are aimed primarily at upmarket hotels and restaurants, wine bars, nightclubs and event management companies. Smarter also works with wholesalers, discerning retailers and specialist shops, as well as private clients in the UK, the Baltic and Nordic countries and, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Smarter Grower Champagne is the specialist international trading arm of Smarter Limited, an international trading, brokering and professional services company.

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