IMW partners with Avino

By Lisa Riley

Published: 30 March, 2021

The Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) has selected wine tasting solutions company Avino to supply remote sample bottling and distribution in the UK.

IMW said it had chosen Avino due to the “outstanding quality” of its 12-step bottling process, as well as the “quality, freshness and brightness“ of its samples, alongside its ability to maintain the wine’s primary characteristics both in terms of colour and flavour.

In addition to the “excellence of its samples”, Avino was also able to offer the IMW, and the wine trade in general, a 92% reduction in carbon use with its exclusive new bottling process compared to sending out 750mil bottles, added the IMW.

“We are delighted to have found Avino and to be working with them in support of the IMW education programme,” said Adrian Garforth MW, executive director of the IMW, who devised the competitive process for potential partners.

Sample bottlings, including a range of wines which were bottled one week apart for four weeks, were tasted blind by a panel of MWs who looked for signs of degradation of quality caused by the bottling process. The MWs were unable to detect any noticeable degradation of quality over 31 days with Avino’s bottlings.

“Quality has always been our main aim and we couldn’t be happier that this has been endorsed by such a prestigious organisation as the IMW," said Darryl Mattocks, chairman of Avino.

“Working with the IMW to optimise our unique 12-step process led to the bottling being done under full hypobaric chamber conditions with a specially selected, superior grade of argon used throughout. A thick protective blanket of argon is also put in every sample tube as well as special seals in the caps designed by Avino to reduce oxygen ingress into the samples during storage and transit,” he said.

Moreover, Mattock added that in addition to enabling Avino’s trade partners to maintain customer contact and promote brand awareness, its hypobaric chambers and sample bottles cut carbon use by 92% and costs by 67% compared to sending out traditional full 750mil bottle samples.

“Now it’s more important than ever in the wine industry that we prioritise the environment and Avino’s unique bottling process offers a way of doing this.”

Initially set up in 2019 by wine industry professionals Mattocks and Marie Anderson to remove the intimidation factor from in-home wine tastings, Avino now facilitates online trade tastings and education, and focuses on getting high quality wine samples delivered to its trade customers and strategic partners including retailers, wine clubs, producers and distributors.