'Tis the season

to trade upwards

Enticing customers to buy more expensive wine during the Christmas period can really boost the bottom line. Wine consultant David Furer reveals some tips of the trade and how they have affected business at two top pubs

Gastro pubs especially, though not exclusively, are in a great position during the festive season to sell more expensive wines that customers would not normally consider at other times of the year.

Up selling and expanding drinkers' tastes is the name of the game at Christmas (and perhaps shifting some of that southern Italian wine your supplier has been trying to persuade you to list for months).

Consumers are more receptive to shelling out more money on a bottle of wine because of a heightened sense of generosity towards themselves and their friends.

As well as being full of the Christmas spirit, pub customers are also likely to be ordering in a bar packed with similarly high-spirited drinkers, when the pressure will be on to make a quick decision on which wine to order.

This is when a bit of staff training can work wonders. A few words of advice from bar staff about a particularly special bottle that is only being stocked during Christmas will usually cement a consumers' decision while putting a few extra pounds in the till.

Deciding which wines to stock largely depends on the type of outlet, but food-led businesses have the added advantage of linking their seasonal specials to the Christmas menu.

The Coach & Horses in London opened in June 2003 to critical acclaim for its daily-changing gastro pub seasonal menu. Licensee Giles Webster's policy is that the wine list should reflect the variety of the kitchen in breadth, while remaining reasonably priced ­ a tough brief in central London.

"My wife, Colette, and our manager are both enthusiastic amateur oenophiles," says Webster, who also sends front-of-house staff on wine courses and involves them in the selection of wines for the list, as well as employing the more typical method of having wine suppliers run "training" tastings for staff.

Like a few other wine-oriented gastro pubs, Webster also publishes tasting notes on wines specifically for his staff, to enable them to help customers choose a wine with greater confidence. "Wine is now an integral part of the dining experience. As more and more people take more meals out, wine sales will increase," he insists.

The Coach & Horses offers 14 wines by the glass with another 56 by the full bottle, four in half-bottles, and six Bin-Ends of table wines. Prices climb as high as £78 for premier cru Burgundies, but bottles as low as £11.90 are the main volume drivers. Additionally, Webster offers seven dessert wines (four of which are available by the glass) and four Ports.

This season Webster has enlarged his wine list to include lesser known and rare wines such as vintage Delamotte and Bollinger Champagnes, 10 selections of D'Oliveira Madeira, and eight Gonzalez Byass and Barbadillo Sherries.

If this bold undertaking of expensive and traditional wines doesn't lead to an immediate sales increase it may pay off in PR value.

As its reputation as a gastro pub has grown, the Coach & Horse's wine sales have increased, with gross sales of £92,000 over a one-year period. Webster's wine and beer sales each account for between 20% and 25% of his total gross sales. Interestingly, though the sales of beer by volume have decreased, the gross sales value of beer has not, leading to the conclusion that his customers are willing to trade up on beer as well as wine.

Another gastro pub making great strides in the wine stakes is the Atlas, near the Earl's Court Exhibition Centre in London.

Former White Horse alumnus Toby Ellis has for a few years managed the Atlas, whose list features 32 wines, half of which are offered by the glass, exceeding that of the majority of fine dining restaurants. Remarkably, the Atlas offers three sizes of wines by the glass ­ 75ml, 175ml, and 250ml.

Prices for 250ml glasses range from £3.60 to £6.60 (the highest priced glass boldly goes to an Australian rosé, no less). Ellis also has one glass each of red and white "Wines of the Moment", chalked up on blackboards, which do not feature on the printed list.

Not one to profit from big promotions, Ellis nurtures his staff with regular in-house tastings, both formal and informal.

As he has an exclusivity agreement with Liberty Wines, he is restricted slightly in terms of what he can stock, although you wouldn't know that from the range, which hails from all corners of the globe.

"Liberty is an ideal sole supplier for us as they specialise in Italians. This complements perfectly what we do in the kitchen," adds Ellis. "Quality is very important, but this needs to be balanced with reasonably priced wines, as we are a pub.

"Wine is, and always will be, an essential part of our business. Most people come here to eat, so we must offer a good wine list, with depth and value to complement this." Standard offerings include Lebrun Champagne at £26 and Roederer at £38, yet no table wine exceeds £26 per bottle.

Some seasonal patterns do emerge at the Atlas. The annual sales break down to half beer, with wine at 35%, spirits a lowish 10% and soft drinks at 5%. Ellis anticipates a normal slight swing from wine to beer in the warmer months.

Looking towards the holidays, the Atlas' wine list will remain unchanged, though Ellis expects to see massive increases in both Port and bubbly sales. By buying in bulk ­ due to the large quantities already ordered for private parties ­ he has managed to negotiate special discounted rates on his Champagne, which he passes on to the customer.

The Atlas' profile as a wine destination is helped by the occasional hiring of their party room by the London Wine Academy for its wine classes and seminars. Already a captive audience, attendees of the LWA events often stay for drinks downstairs, challenging Ellis and his staff to serve a wide array of unusual, tasty wines.

The moral of the story is that licensees who take extra care looking after the customer willing to part with an extra few pounds at Christmas will reap the benefits.

Last year, while meeting a representative from a multinational drinks company at a long-standing and famous wine bar next to Charing Cross station, I ordered a retro-cool two glasses of Fino sherry. Not only were the wines served warm, they were oxidized beyond what is standard for even this naturally "sherried" wine.

The likely culprit here was twofold; customers, for not ordering this more frequently, and the venue, for demonstrating bad storage. But both prob-lems could have been solved by simply keeping this wine where it should have been ­ in the fridge.

Anyone ordering wine in a pub should not leave disappointed. Take care of your customers and they'll take care of you by spreading the word to their friends and colleagues or simply by ordering a second round of your finely-kept drinks.

Top tips

l Use the next few weeks to train staff about any unusual wines making a one-off appearance this Christmas. If your aim is simply to sell more of your most expensive wines, then hold a staff tasting session to enable them to sample the wines.

l Use consumers' willingness to treat friends to introduce more expensive wines to your list ­ and encourage staff to explain why drinkers should spend an extra £5 on a bottle.

l Take advantage of discounts from suppliers when ordering Champagne in bulk for group bookings by taking an extra case or two and selling it onto other customers at a reduced price.

l Chalkboards with lists of special wines come into their own in a busy pub. Single out a few stunning wines that are a bit out of the ordinary and offer them by the glass.