Looking ahead: Chris Davies, GCF

By Andrew Catchpole

Published: 30 August, 2022

With the first half of 2022 already history, Harpers asked key trade figures to highlight the current challenges, ongoing trends and opportunities.

We continue our series with insights from Chris Davies, sales director on-trade & independents, GCF (Grands Chais de France).

How ‘back to normal’ are you as a business?

The business is doing well and we’re definitely about 99% back to normal, but what is normal now?! Post pandemic everything has changed and will never go back to how it was before, but trading is good even against the backdrop of dry goods’ increases, which is making life challenging for everyone.

How, if at all, have drinking habits changed post-lockdown?

We’ve certainly seen a move towards the premium end of our portfolio from our customers, which I think is in part due to consumers having had time to experiment with their wine repertoire during lockdown, and now we’re seeing these choices coming through. In our French range we’ve seen a move away from IGP towards AOP, particularly smaller, lesser- known appellations like Terrasses du Larzac in the Languedoc as consumers hunt down better value wines that are still at the premium end of things.

There’s also been a surge in the demand for no and low. We had some great feedback at Imbibe Live on our Nozeco brand, which is currently the category leader for alcohol-free sparkling wine.

How has the first half of 2022 been when compared to the same period in pre-pandemic 2019?

We’ve had a bumper six months and an increase on the same period in 2019, with a lot more premium wines in the mix and less own label and house wines. For example, our Burgundy range across all price points is gaining a lot of traction, as we’ve now got a lot more AOPs in the line under the brand Chartron Trebuchet with wines ranging from Macon Villages to Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru.

What were the highs and lows for your own business in the first six months of 2022?

The biggest low was the dramatic increase in glass costs in April and the subsequent price increases that we were forced to make in May, which I know would have had a real knock-on effect on our customers and subsequently to theirs.

The main high was definitely being able to see customers face to face again, getting out there and back into the trade and reigniting those great relationships. The other big high has been hearing that the April frosts had very little impact on our vineyards. Although there have been a few issues in certain areas, I’m very relieved we haven’t had to deal with it on the scale of last year again.

What, currently, are the biggest challenges for the trade in general?

Rising costs are a massive problem now for everyone and the trade is not escaping. Logistics and dry goods costs are rising from every angle – glass, capsules, cardboard, logistics, fuel and long lead times are all big challenges and they are still going to around for quite a while…

The cost-of-living crisis will also have an increasing impact on consumer spending as hikes in energy prices and interest rate rises start to hit in the autumn, potentially resulting in less visits to on-trade outlets and reduced spending once there.

What are your priorities and predictions business-wise for the second half of 2022?

Our most imminent main priority is our Private Wine Days ultimate portfolio event on 4 & 5 October in London, where we’ll be launching our new Signature Range of 22 top estates covering all of France’s wine regions. And where for the first time we’ll be showing over 300 wines from across our on- and off-trade portfolios featuring not only French wines, but also our new international properties, as well as a range of low & no wines and spirits, Crémant from every French wine region, orange wines and much more. We want to use this tasting to invite the trade to come and discover how much GCF has changed in recent years. (To register for the tasting please click here.)

GCF’s owners, the Helfrich family, are continuing with their programme of international acquisitions as the business becomes more international focussed. More news on that to follow soon…

What will the focus be on with regard to your portfolio and why?

The focus for our French portfolio will be the new Signature Range and also our selection of Crémants from every French wine region to respond to the on-going interest in quality sparkling alternatives to Champagne.

And we will also be focusing on our award-winning international portfolio as it continues to expand, including our new Chilean range from Las Niñas, which recently won the IWC trophy for best Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon.

Please tell us about the new Signature range and what it adds to the portfolio?

There are 22 properties in the new Signature Range from some of France’s top terroirs, all chosen for their wine making excellence and all destined exclusively for the on-trade and independents. It’s a varied and prestigious collection which represents the very best that each French wine region has to offer. It represents the addition of an icon range in our portfolio with world famous names like Domaine André Lorentz in Alsace, Château de Fesles in the Loire and Château Bastor-Lamontagne in Sauternes.

For you, what are the most significant emerging trends in the wine & spirits worlds?

Low & no is such a growing trend and the range of flavours and innovation in the sector is impressive, and also a way to appeal to younger teetotallers as well as increasingly health- conscious older drinkers. GCF has an extensive range of low & no wines and spirits which will be available at our Private Wine Days Tasting in October. And sales of our alcohol-free sparkling wine brand Nozeco, which is made using a state-of-the-art process to enable the aromas to be kept intact and improve overall product quality, continue to grow at a rapid rate.

What innovations in the drinks world do you believe will have the most impact going forward?

At-home wine deliveries which are just continuing to expand as consumers demand ever more convenience for home drinking. I can see the potential for this moving into the trade as well with outlets demanding rapid deliveries if they are running out of specific wines or spirits.

Also an expansion of the vodka category with the creation of new aromas and flavours along the lines of what has happened with gin.

And finally, a lot of work is being done on the flexibility of brand sourcing with international partnerships, which is an innovative way to solve potential issues around the wine world caused by the increasing frequency of vintage variation.

Lastly, if you could make one change in legislation/red tape/tax tomorrow, what would you choose?

I’m going to be greedy and make two! Reduction on VAT for hospitality, which would be a massive game changer, and a complete rethink of the new duty bands which are way too complicated and not going to help the industry.

Quick-fire questions:

Bordeaux or Burgundy?

Bordeaux, especially Sauternes!

Riesling or Chardonnay?

Riesling

USA, OZ or South Africa?

Cocktails or slow sipping spirit?

SSS

English fizz or Champagne?

Neither, Crémant!

Favourite fast food and drink paring?

Pad Thai with Grand Cru Gewürtztraminer