Hennings pulls record attendance at 65th anniversary tasting

By Andrew Catchpole

Published: 10 March, 2025

West Sussex independent Hennings Wine Merchants has bucked the generally subdued mood enveloping the on-trade by delivering its busiest annual trade tasting to date.

The event, which took place at Chichester’s Festival Theatre last week, attracted 160 on-trade customers, with the regional indie-wholesaler giving some of the larger seasonal tastings a run for their money.

Circulated ahead of the event to allow attendees to plan, the tasting booklet revealed much to attract in the Hennings portfolio. Rosé and orange wines led into a 150-strong French-leaning selection, folding in many sustainable and organic wines, along with lighter and fresher styles, plus a reordered layout to help with ‘sale price point decisions’.

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Third generation MD Matthew Hennings (pictured) told Harpers that he was keen to highlight the success of the tasting to “fly the flag for the indies as its mainly the big chaps doing trade tastings at this time of year”.

He added: “We were really pleased that we had a good response, because we all know that we’re in a difficult environment, and as an independent to have success is important, to have that uptake.”

Hennings revealed that the attendees included new faces alongside long-established accounts and were drawn from as far afield as The New Forest in Hampshire and Tonbridge in Kent. That, in turn, suggests that hoteliers and restaurateurs are still prepared to attend trade tastings and make portfolio decisions despite a tough trading environment – if the wines on offer are attractive for them and their guests.

“We have quite a focus on sustainability, and we’ve also been introducing lighter styles, and we’ve been more on-trend with how the labels look too,” said Hennings.

“Wines in the past that might have been a bit too trendy for Hennings, but that are good for people that perhaps find wine a little intimidating, or younger people, making it slightly easier for them to buy in and try something.”

Hennings Wine Merchants, which was voted a Top 10 business in Harpers 50 Best Indies 2025 listing, has around 300 active wholesale accounts, having grown its trade side to close on 60% of turnover over the years.

“I was concerned that this year we may not have as many people, but to get more, including a lot of people that we don’t deal with, so prospective as well as existing customers, shows that there is some positivity and interest out there,” said Hennings.

He concluded by noting that whereas in the past at tastings more generally there had sometimes been an element of “a day out and a bit of a knees up”, today’s attendees to events like the Hennings tasting tend to be “far more focused and professional” in their approach.

This, in turn, means that merchants need to be far more attuned to the needs of their existing and prospectives accounts to attract those tasters along. And for Hennings Wine Merchants, at least, this approach is clearly working.

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