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Rhône puts its best foot forward at Yapp

As a testament to the strength of its long-standing and still growing portfolio, Yapp has maintained a Rhône focus since it started in 1969, when founder Robin Yapp began snapping up some of the region’s top wines – most of which were unknown in the UK at the time, according to chief executive Tom Ashworth.

In 2023, the Rhône is still Yapp’s number one value driver, accounting for 25% of sales (and 20% in volume). It now positions itself as a one-stop-shop for France via the Rhône and the Loire in particular, while also expanding to include wines from Australia, Spain, Germany, South Africa and Argentina.

• Read more: France Report – The Rhône’s great whites

At yesterday’s 67 Pall Mall tasting, it was clear that the Rhône remains a keen area of interest, both for the supplier itself for those visiting, which included several well-known drinks communicators and buyers for some of the UK’s top-rated restaurants.

“Back when Robin started, nobody was really shipping Rhône and certainly not the Loire,” Ashworth told Harpers. “So, he was able to do something of a smart land grab of names like [Jean-Louis] Chave, [Domaine] Clape, Chateau Grillet and Domaine Vernay, which were little known. As those wines have grown, people have come looking for those names and they are world-renowned winemakers.

“Top restaurants now want to have a strong Rhône section on their list. And although prices have crept up over the past ten or 20 years, compared to Burgundy and Bordeaux – and considering the small volumes they’re made in – between £200 or £300 for the top end, is very good.”

There is plenty to be found at the entry-level, too. Wines from the Ardèche coop, (£11-12 including VAT) and the IGT Méditerranée, Gigondas (£11.75) stood out, in particular, alongside pricier offerings.

The Rhône also has a star player in Châteauneuf-du-Pape – not only in terms of quality, but availability.

“Châteauneuf volumes are more like Bordeaux than Burgundy: it has over 3,000ha under vine with several hundred producers. So, wines like Beaucastel – which are at the top of the tree, but are also widely available – are very useful for customers, which want to buy in volume. It can be difficult to sell areas like Cornas to the independent retail sector, as we might only get a hundred cases in total for the UK, for a producer. Whereas in Châteauneuf, we get 500 cases from a good vintage,” Ashworth added.

Over the years, Yapp has built up a strong portfolio of on-trade clients through consistent levels of service, country-wide next day delivery and low minimum orders.

However, sales to private clients, including an ecommerce platform which gathered momentum under Covid, have also gone from strength to strength.

As well as its annual autumn tasting, which it alternates between a Rhône-specific and more general portfolio format, Yapp now participates in a number of tastings throughout the year.

This includes a recent tasting of The Dirty Dozen and also The Bunch – a collective of suppliers established in 1993 focused on indie wines, which was set up to offer a trusted, no-quibble returns guarantee, in the following the Hungerford wine scandal.

• France
• rhône
• french wines
• Yapp Brothers
• Tom Ashworth