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Strength in numbers: Raising a glass at The CollectEve tasting

The answer is The CollectEve – the banner under which 12 female-led businesses have gathered to show off the strength of their combined portfolios. (It also just happens to highlight the rapid momentum among women business owners in an area of the industry which was once a male-dominated space.)

There is nothing official or general about the term, of course. It was coined last year by founding organisers Caroline Brangé (owner of Vin de Vie, formerly Ealing Wine Cellars) and Claire Thevenot MS (Vins-Clairs) as a way of highlighting its members’ specific ranges.

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But as vehicle for showcasing the quality and diversity of the portfolios available in the UK while also highlighting women-owned business, it’s a great place to start.

Brangé (pictured second from right) told Harpers: “Claire and I created our companies within six months of each other, and as we started to think about doing a joint trade tasting, we wondered who else we would we want to join. And there are many so many female-led importers out there doing great things, we thought ‘why not focus on female importers?’ We’re all strong on our own, but as a collective, we’re stronger.”

The collective strength of The CollectEve tasting was indeed on display at the second edition of the event yesterday (24 March) at London’s 67 Pall Mall.

In attendance were 10 of the group’s 12 members, where a number of dynamic wines spanned western and Central Europe, the US, Canada and South America. Over 150 wines were shown, with widespread themes such as sustainability, considered farming and terroir helping to join the dots.

The idea was also to offer a one-stop solution which would cater for all a buyer’s needs. From last year’s interesting sake showing – a category which continues to increase its presence on lists – to this year’s growth in wines from places such as Germany, the Czech Republic and Moldova, both the quirky and the classic are well represented among the group's ranks. This breadth of styles was also evident via classic regions such as France too, from the original and natural (Déjà Bu) to the more traditional (Vins-Clairs).

Meanwhile, Portuguese wines were given an extra spotlight thanks to Marta Vine, while the same goes for South America regions (Vinos Latinos).

Eco-packaging specialist Sustainable Solutions was also part of the mix. The wine-on-tap supplier is now headed up by Amy Roberts, who recently took over the helm from founder Muriel Chatel. (Chatel led the way for wine refill in the UK via her ‘Straight from the Barrel’ concept at Borough Market in 2002, when the business was then known as Borough Wines.)

For Brangé’s part, The CollectEve marks her own journey from fresh-faced sommelier who moved to the UK in 2010 to work with the likes of Christopher Delalonde MS and Xavier Rousset MS, before moving to Flint and Armit Wines. After a period of re-assessment, when her role as head of London on-trade sales at Armit went into spiral mode in 2020, she decided it was time to go it alone.

“We’ve created our businesses out of nowhere, so it’s our resilience and our strength that connects us,” Brangé added, speaking of the group’s genesis. Her motto, she continued, is “You can’t be what you can’t see”.

“When I started in business, I didn’t want to be a salesperson. There were barely any women in those roles, let alone leading their own importer businesses. Look at me now."

This year’s 10 specialist importers at The CollectEve tasting were: Basket Press Wines, Déjà Bu, Marta Vine, Okanagan Roots, Special Cases, Sustainable Wine Solutions, The Wine Barn, Vin de Vie (formerly Ealing Wine Cellars), Vinos Latinos and Vins-Clairs.

• trade tasting
• owner
• Caroline Brangé
• The CollectEve
• female-owned