Hallgarten aims for greater parity across all trade sectors

By Andrew Catchpole

Published: 06 February, 2026

Many have watched with interest as Hallgarten & Novum Wines has grown in reach and scale since its acquisition by Coterie Holdings and, with Hallgarten’s MD Andrew Bewes to step down this March, more details of its new direction are emerging. And that evolution includes driving growth across the off-trade to achieve greater parity with its on-trade sales, which traditionally have accounted for around 80% of Hallgarten’s business.

Speaking to Harpers at Hallgarten’s annual portfolio tasting at Old Billingsgate (pictured) in London this week, commercial director Will Oatley, who took up the role a year ago, explained how that plan is set to be achieved.

“Coterie bought Hallgarten at the back end of 2023 and Hallgarten had very much a focus on the on-trade; since then, we have been looking to expand the national on- and off-trade, plus regional, bringing in wines with that scalability and, obviously, quality, to enable that growth,” he said.

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“So, we’re looking to get, in an ideal world, to about half and half, national on-trade and national off-trade, and half and half regional.”

To this end, in the two short years since joining the Coterie stable in late 2023, Hallgarten has boosted its payroll from 100 to around 150 staff, to back a fast-expanding portfolio which has grown to reach 1,600 wines from 300 producers, spread across 24 countries.

And those roles are not in sales alone, with strengthened numbers in the likes of in-house design, marketing and PR, plus a dedicated insights person recruited from Nielsen – “to allow us to go to grocers and be a strategic partner, providing information and identifying gaps, rather than just being a supplier”, according to Oatley.

Hallgarten also identifies a number of its producers as ‘strategic suppliers’, sitting at the heart of its portfolio, such as Bruce Jack Wines, which can “straddle all the sectors”, with well-recognised brands to satisfy the multiples’ shelves, while having the versatility of differing labels and wines to cover the needs of other sectors of the market too.

Furthermore, in relation to the growing portfolio and team, there are more international-focused aspirations for growth, as with Hallgarten’s Coterie stablemate Lay & Wheeler and its fine wine portfolio, although with Hallgarten these plans for now remain under wraps.

Back to the UK, and notwithstanding several new high-profile additions to the portfolio – including The Garage Wine Co from Chile, Freemark Abbey and La Crema from Jackson Family Estates in California, Burgundy estate Olivier Leflaive, and Rhône Valley producer Domaine Graeme – director of regional sales Robin Knapp says that additions have “slowed down to some extent”, adding “we’ve clearly got our hands full”.

In relation to the range, Knapp talks about the strengthening of what Hallgarten dubs ‘customer partnerships’, rooted in “good service, good wines and informed account management”, with training also being strengthened, not least by the pool of new recruits.

“I’m not sure much needs to change, but we’ve made good progress in certain areas, like training, and I think our range has developed significantly, particularly at the top end, with producers like Gosset, Fevre and Elio Grasso,” says Knapp, indicating that the on-trade sector remains very much in focus.

“This will enable us to populate more lists, especially where we share lists, where [the venue] has four, five, six suppliers, and the sommelier can choose from [such] wines, so that will give us better penetration.”

On the gap to be left by the imminent departure of MD Andrew Bewes, who successfully drove Hallgarten to prominence over many years, Oatley reveals that no one will be stepping into his shoes any time soon.

“Basically, we’ve always had a senior management structure in place at Hallgarten. And the idea is that Andrew won’t be replaced and the senior management team will be experts in their particular field, and we will be given autonomy to run Hallgarten, and we will report directly into Coterie,” says Oatley.

“And Coterie, on the flipside, will have a slightly more active role in the management of Hallgarten too. So, clearly, it’s going to be a work in progress.”

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